In the late13th-century bishop of Lincoln, Oliver Sutton's
registers (edited by R. M. T. Hill) there are several instances where he
attempts to shut down pilgrimages to holy wells in the diocese. For
instance, in one case he directs one of his archdeacons to admonish the
locals in the archdeanery of Buckingham on pain of excommunication to
stop visiting a well (fons) in a field in the parish of Linslade where
miracles of healing had been reported. Part of his concern was that
there were brash claims of miracles there that had not been approved by
the church. He also charged the parish's vicar with egging people on in
this devotion in order to profit from the offerings they left at the
well. The implication of his admonition is that popular devotions at the
well were a recent phenomenon (though perhaps this was an old site that
suddenly found renewed popularity), which would suggest that holy wells
didn't need the stamp of antiquity about them to become devotional
sites. Sutton takes the same approach to a well near St. Clement's
church outside Oxford. St. Frideswide's "treacle well" at Binsey is the
most famous holy well near Oxford. It even puts in an appearance at the
mad tea party in Lewis Carroll's _Adventures in Wonderland_. But it was
a sanctioned holy site: in the early 16th century, Henry VIII took
Catherine of Aragon there, supposedly to cure her infertility.
The admonition to have a cover for the baptismal font that can be
locked appears constantly in English episcopal legislation of the 13th
and 14th centuries, and inspectors seem always to check for it during
official visitations of parishes. This would suggest that there was an
assumption, at least at the official level, that ordinary people credited
baptismal water with magical power (Bill East's "virtue"!) and might be
prone to steal it and misuse it. The place of hallowed water in popular
Christian practice seems to overflow with possibilities. For instance,
what about the role of blessed water in the ordeal of cold water, where
blessed water will reject a guilty person?
--
John R. Shinners e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Associate Professor Phone (office): (219) 284-4494
Humanistic Studies Program Phone (dept.): (219) 284-4485
Saint Mary's College Fax: (219) 284-4716
Notre Dame, IN 46556
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