medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>> There is more than one English River called the Colne
Cate and Brenda,
Thank-you so much for the edification. There's nothing like the itch of
importunate curiosity being scratched!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher M. Mislow" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 1:01 PM
Subject: [M-R] St. Alban heads west
I have a geographical question raised by the vita of St. Alban.
Bede (Historia Ecclesiastica I.7) states that, after being taken from his
home in Verulamium (now St. Albans, in Hertfordshire, England) to a judge
who condemned him, St. Alban came to a river ('pervenit ad flumen') en
route to his execution. According to the edition of Bede I'm reading (Loeb
Classical Library, J.E. King, trans.), this river is the Coln. The River
Coln, however, is a full 2 degrees west in current Gloucestershire. To go,
in the early Fourth Century, from just north of modern-day London nearly
across the entire breadth of Britain would have been quite a journey.
Although Bede doesn't say so, I presume that Alban ended up so far west
because that was where the judge who condemned him sat. Yet, given the
Roman penchant for decentralizing authority over local matters, this seems
rather far unless, perhaps, the western locale was the situs of the crime
-- i.e., the place whence the fugitive priest hidden by St. Alban had fled.
Any explanations (or speculations!) would be most welcome.
--Christopher
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|