medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Botvid (in Latin, Botvidus, Botwidus, Botwinus) is remembered as an evangelist of Södermanland in southeastern Sweden. Details of his life come from a legend that appears to have taken form in the twelfth century and that is represented in several texts from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. According to the version of his Vita printed in the _Scriptores rerum Suecicarum_ (Uppsala, 1818-1876), II, 1, pp. 377-382, Botvid was a well-off resident of Södermanland who while on a trading trip to England was there converted to Christianity. Back in Sweden, he drew many to the Christian faith though exhortation and example. Divinely granted miracles confirmed his message. One spring day, when the fish were spawning, he went to fish at a place whose owner demanded a fourth part of all the fish taken. Thinking this excessive but not wishing to get into an argument, Botvid and his servants withdrew to an island of his own in the same lake. There, the fish having followed Botvid and Botvid having prayed to God, they took so many that Botvid was able to share these in abundance with those who, having fished unsuccessfully at the other location, had now come to join him. When the aforementioned greedy owner arrived, Botvid allowed him to fish without charge. Initially unsuccessful, he accepted Christianity and his two boats were filled.
Still according to the Vita, Botvid was murdered on the island of Rogö (in Lake Mälaren) by a Wendic slave whom he had baptized and whom he was planning to return to his (the slave's) homeland; a spring burst forth at the place where he was slain. A search by members of Botvid's community led to the discovery of his incorrupt body, which latter was then brought home and honorably buried. The miracles reported at Botvid's grave over the next nine years led to the conversion of the local pagan population to Christianity. In 1129 a (wooden) burial church was dedicated to him on family land by bishops St. Henry of Uppsala and Gerder of Strängnäs. Thus far the Vita. In 1176 archbishop Stephen of Uppsala consecrated a stone church on the same site in what is now Botkyrka (Stockholms län). Botvid's feast on 28. July is recorded in the _Liber ecclesie Valentunensis_ (1198). His veneration was strong regionally in the diocese of Strängnäs, which had his cult sites at Salem (where he had first been buried) and at Botkyrka (which later received his relics) and in the diocese of Uppsala; to the south, if it were not already there informally, it reached the diocese of Linköping with the transfer of a relic of Botvid to the latter's cathedral in 1292.
28. July is Botvid's day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology.
Some period-pertinent images of St. Botvid:
a) as portrayed in a late medieval (1350-1500) wooden statue from Möja kyrka (originally Värmdö kyrka) on Möja (Stockholms län), now in the Historiska museet in Stockholm:
http://www.kringla.nu/kringla/objekt?referens=shm/object/94087
b) as depicted in a mid-fifteenth-century fresco (unfortunately defaced) in Överselö kyrka in Strängnäs kommun (Södermanlands län):
http://tinyurl.com/z3gsyxh
c) as portrayed (lower register, third from left) in a polychromed woodedn statue in the later fifteenth-century principal altarpiece (ca. 1451-1500) in Rystads kyrka in Rystad, a locality of Linköping kommun (Östergötlands län):
http://tinyurl.com/z9l7pw3
Detail view (at right, after Sts. Eskil and Margaret):
http://medeltidbild.historiska.se/medeltidbild/mbbilder/bilder/92/9221520.jpg
Detail view (Botvid):
http://medeltidbild.historiska.se/medeltidbild/mbbilder/bilder/92/9221434.jpg
d) as depicted in a later fifteenth-century fresco (ca. 1470) in Sånga kyrka on Färingsö in Ekerö kommun (Stockholms län):
http://kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/raa-image/16000200131251/normal/1.jpg
https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Fotos/Botvid1.jpg
e) as portrayed in wooden statue from a late medieval altarpiece (ca. 1476-1500) in Orkesta kyrka in Orkesta, a locality of Vallentuna (Stockholms län), now in the Historiska museet in Stockholm:
http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/bild.asp?uid=327595
http://tinyurl.com/h5s2znm
f) as portrayed in a polychromed wooden statue in the central compartment of a later fifteenth-century altarpiece (ca. 1476-1500) from Salems kyrka in Salem (Stockholms län), now in the Historiska Museet in Stockholm:
http://www.matsmedeltid.se/Botvid%20ny%202.jpg
The altarpiece as a whole (Birgitta / Bridget at far right):
https://images.mitti.se/np/200036/1024/-1
Botvid's first grave was at a predecessor of this church; his principal relics were later translated to Botkyrka kyrka in Botkyrka (Stockholms län).
g) as portrayed (third from left; second from left: St. Eskil) in a polychromed wooden statue on a wing of a later fifteenth-century altarpiece (ca. 1476-1500) from Hammarby kyrka in Eskilstuna kommun (Södermanlands län), now in the Historiska Museet in Stockholm:
http://tinyurl.com/h34hc5p
Detail views (Botvid):
http://www.matsmedeltid.se/Botvid%20ny.jpg
http://www.matsmedeltid.se/Botvid%20ny%201.jpg
h) as portrayed in one of thirteen repainted later fifteenth-century wooden altar statues (ca. 1476-1500) mounted on the early eighteenth-century parapet of the organ loft in Övergrans kyrka in Håbo kommun (Uppsala län):
http://medeltidbild.historiska.se/medeltidbild/mbbilder/bilder/94/9409831.jpg
i) as depicted in a later fifteenth-century vault fresco (ca. 1476-1500) in Börje kyrka in Börje Tiby (Uppsala län):
http://tinyurl.com/2dtb9ku
j) as portrayed (at far right, upper register) in a polychromed wooden statue on the late fifteenth-century principal altarpiece (1480s; from Lübeck) in Vansö kyrka at Fogdön in Strängnäs kommun (Södermanlands län):
http://rode.ekm.ee/static/imgs/timeline/2.a.Vanso.jpg
Detail view (grayscale):
http://kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image.html?id=16000200103227#
Detail view (in color; poor resolution):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Botvid_Vanso.png
k) as depicted in a late fifteenth-century vault fresco (before 1490 or ca. 1490; unfortunately defaced) in Ytterlännäs gamla kyrka in Kramfors kommun (Västernorrland län):
http://medeltidbild.historiska.se/medeltidbild/mbbilder/bilder/91/9127217.jpg
http://medeltidbild.historiska.se/medeltidbild/mbbilder/bilder/91/9127221.jpg
l) as portrayed (at left; at right: St. Eskil) in the very early sixteenth-century altarpiece of Netherlandic origin in Ytterselö kyrka in Strängnäs kommun (Södermanlands län):
http://tinyurl.com/mcmt2e
Detail (Botvid):
http://tinyurl.com/lb2cad
m) as portrayed (at far right) in a polychromed wooden statue on a wing of the early sixteenth-century altarpiece from Antwerp (ca. 1510) in Vaksala kyrka in Uppsala kommun:
http://www.orgelanders.se/Orgelbilder/Vaksala/2.jpg
http://dms01.dimu.org/image/032s93RXsAfc?dimension=800x800
Detail view (grayscale):
http://kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/raa-image/16000200137584/normal/1.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
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