<the monk was abused. St Edmund appeared in a vision to Sweyn, the
latter was insolent and he is supposed to have been stabbed by the poinard of
the Saint.
Pray, what is meant
by a poinard? The 15th
c and later stabbing dagger (poignard)? How did a dead saint manage to strike
someone who was alive with his dagger?
Oh, bother; it was
miracle, of course. But does this mean that the saint’s dagger appeared
in or out of thin air and stabbed him? These hagiographies are always so
unpractical….
Henk