The Lost Memorials of London; the shrine of St Erkenwald, Old St Pauls Cathedral

St. Erkenwald (c630-693) founder of Barking abbey, Abbott of Chertsey and Bishop of London, once a great English saint, is now almost forgotten. His magnificent shrine stood behind the high altar in Old St Pauls and, according to Walter Thornbury in Volume 1 of Old & New London (1878) was “a source of wealth and power to the cathedral”;

Foremost among the relics were two arms of St. Mellitus (miraculously enough, of quite different sizes). Behind the high altar—what Dean Milman justly calls "the pride, glory, and fountain of wealth" to St. Paul's—was the body of St. Erkenwald, covered with a shrine which three London goldsmiths had spent a whole year in chiselling; and this shrine was covered with a grate of tinned iron. The very dust of the chapel floor, mingled with water, was said to work instantaneous cures. On the anniversary of St. Erkenwald the whole clergy of the diocese attended in procession in their copes. When King John of France was made captive at Poictiers, and paid his orisons at St. Paul's, he presented four golden basins to the high altar, and twenty-two nobles at the shrine of St. Erkenwald. Milman calculates that in 1344 the oblation-box alone at St. Paul's produced an annual sum to the dean and chapter of £9,000. Among other relics that were milch cows to the monks were a knife of our Lord, some hair of Mary Magdalen, blood of St. Paul, milk of the Virgin, the hand of St. John, pieces of the mischievous skull of Thomas à Becket, and the head and jaw of King Ethelbert. These were all preserved in jewelled cases.

Little is known about Erkenwald’s early life. He is said to be of royal descent, of the house of King Offa, though as there were two King Offas, one in Essex, one in East Anglia, both areas lay claim to him, as does Kent and Lincolnshire. He is also said to have studied under Archbishop Mellitus of Canterbury, who was a member of the Augustinian mission sent by the Pope Gregory to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons in 596 (this may seem unlikely as Mellitus died in 624 but this was, after all, the age of miracles so no one can be sure). In the year 666 Erkenwald founded the Abbey of Chertsey in Surrey for men and Barking in Essex for women. His sister, the equally saintly Ethelburga was made Abbess at Barking and a third saint, Hildelith was brought in to instruct Ethelburga. In 675 Erkenwald was created Bishop of London by Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury with the encouragement of King Sæbbi of Essex.  Sæbbi was also later made a saint but Theodore was never elevated to sainthood, perhaps because a long running dispute over theological doctrine with Saint Wilfred which Erkenwald spent much time and energy trying to resolve. The two men were eventually reconciled shortly before Theodores death and Erkenwald is seen as a central figure in the unification of the early English church. He repaired a Roman gate in London’s walls, which is still known today as Bishopsgate, and he contributed significantly to the construction of the first St Pauls. In 691 Bishop Erkenwald, and his successors, were granted the manor of Fulham by Bishop Tyrhtilus of Hereford, now the site of Fulham Palace, the official residence of the Bishops of London from the 11th century until 1973.

St Erkenwald as depicted in the Chertsey Beviary

The miracles of St Erkenwald began in a small way when he was still alive. He was in the habit of preaching regularly to the wild woodsmen of Hertfordshire from a two wheeled horse drawn chariot. When one of the wheels of the chariot came off, Erkenwald was not thrown to the ground as you would expect, because a miraculous invisible wheel took its place, allowing the chariot to run on smoothly. But it was at his death that miracles began in earnest, as documented in the 12th century Miracula Sancti Erkenwaldi by Arcoid, a canon of London and the anonymous Vita sancti Erkenwaldi. Erkenwald’s death at Barking Abbey in 696; literally took place in the odour of sanctity, those present at his expiry said “a most marvellous fragrance and sweetest odour filled the cell where he lay”, the air aromatic with the scent of civet musk, ambergris and sandalwood. The monks of Chertsey and the Canons of St Paul’s both claimed the body of the saint. While they argued a group of commoners from London placed the corpse on a bier surrounded by lit candles and set off for the capital. Before they could cross the river Roding they were caught by the Chertsey monks and the St Paul’s canons and a vicious squabble broke out. Suddenly dark clouds rolled across the sky and a storm broke out. A squally wind blew out the candles on the bier and the river inexplicably burst its banks, rising rapidly until the monks, canons and commoners were standing in a lake of water that came up to their knees. Someone shouted that they all needed to pray to the Lord and beg forgiveness. As the prayers began the rain stopped, the wind died, the clouds departed, the candles on the bier relit themselves and the waters retreated leaving a clear path across the bed of the river. Taking it as a sign from God the entire crowd set off for London, pausing only at the river Lea to marvel at a second miracle when the waters of that river also parted, Red Sea like, to allow them to cross into Tower Hamlets and onto St Pauls. 

The old gate tower in Barking; all that remains of Barking Abbey where St Erkenwald died. 

Erkenwald is credited with many other miracles, the usual restoring health to the sick, liberty to prisoners, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and making the halt and lame walk again. If he was in a good mood his response to anyone failing to show him due deference and respect would be to visit a sickness upon them until they repented and prayed for forgiveness, like the man who prevented his wife celebrating his feast day or the painter who violated his festival. If he was in a less forgiving mood his response to anyone who desecrated his shrine or his memory was sudden death, including a man who scorned his feast day and a ‘drunken buffoon’ who went to sleep inside his shrine. And when St Pauls was destroyed by fire in 1087 the saints tomb remained miraculously untouched by the flames. His most celebrated miracle is detailed in the 14th century alliterative poem St. Erkenwald, probably written by the anonymous poet who wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The poem recounts how a magnificent ancient marble tomb inscribed with golden runes was discovered during the construction of Old St Pauls. When the tomb is opened a perfectly preserved body dressed in sumptuous robes is found. When Bishop Erkenwald is summoned to see the extraordinary sight, he falls to his knees and begins to pray. As he performs a mass over the body it begins to moves, animated by a ‘goste-lyfe’ and miraculously holds a conversation with the saint, telling him that he lived during the reign of King Belinus (before the Roman conquest of Britain), and that he was a judge but not just any judge, he was that rarity, a just judge, famed for his wise and impartial judgements. As a righteous pagan his soul is trapped in Limbo, unable to be received in heaven. St Erkenwald weeps to hear this, his tears splash the corpse, baptising him and making him eligible to progress to heaven. As the righteous pagan’s soul is received into paradise, his mortal remains crumble to dust before a crowd of astonished onlookers.

In Shrines of British Saints (1905) James Charles Wall tells us that “Londoners were justly proud to have in their midst the entire body of their third bishop, Erkenwald; and the chapter of the cathedral church of St. Paul looked upon it as their greatest treasure. The bishop’s body had been buried in the crypt, and as we learn from the Nova Legenda Angliæ, the vault above the tomb was decorated with paintings.”  On the 14th of November, 1148, the saints body was moved to a new position behind the high altar to stand side by side with the shrine where the two arms (one shorter than the other) of St. Mellitus resided. The feretory, the portable shrine in which the saints remains were kept, was made of wood, covered with silver plate and decorated with images and 130 precious stones. In 1326 Bishop Gilbert de Segrave oversaw the removal of the remains to a new shrine, the one drawn by Weneclas Hollar 300 years later for William Dugdale’s History of St. Pauls (1658). The cathedrals records show that senior churchmen personally paid for the shrine to be enriched; canon Walter de Thorpe left all his gold rings and jewellery to be used on the shrine, bequeathing £5 to pay for the work and William de Meleford, archdeacon of Colchester, gave £40 to ornament the shrine, enough money to pay for three goldsmiths to labour on it for an entire year. The shrine was surrounded by a bronze covered iron railing 5 feet 10 inches high. The railing did not prevent the shrine being looted during the reformation. The saints were removed for safekeeping but have since been lost. The shrine itself survived until the Great Fire of London in 1666 when Old St Paul’s was razed to the ground.