10 Facts About Saint Kenelm

Saint Kenelm was an Anglo-Saxon saint, venerated throughout medieval England, and mentioned in the Canterbury Tales.

In legend, St Saint Kenelm was a member of the royal family of Mercia, a boy king and martyr, murdered by an ambitious relative despite receiving a prophetic dream warning him of the danger.

The small church of St Saint Kenelm, dating from the 12th century in a village called Kenelstowe, now stands with a handful of houses within the larger village of Romsley in the Clent Hills.

The night before the hunting trip, Saint Kenelm had a dream in which he climbed a large tree decorated with flowers and lanterns.

Saint Kenelm's soul rose in the form of a dove carrying a scroll, and flew away to Rome where it dropped the scroll at the feet of the Pope.

The remains of Saint Kenelm were buried with all honour and he has since been revered as a martyr.

The legend of Saint Kenelm is included in a medieval collection of saints' lives in Middle English known as the South English Legendary, compiled during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

When his body was disinterred, a spring miraculously appeared where Saint Kenelm had lain, as in the Winchcombe version, which is followed faithfully once more.

Saint Kenelm was succeeded by a distant cousin, Coenwulf of Mercia, whose son was Kenelm, and this would appear to be the reputed saint.

In 799, Saint Kenelm witnessed a deed of gift of land to Christ Church, Canterbury, and from 803 onwards his name appears on a variety of charters.