Dear Graham Jones et al
Back in June you raised some interesting
questions on the
bestowing of martyrdom on various 9th century
saints.
You questioned the justification for blaming these
and other
atrocities in Lincolnshire on the Danes.
You wrote, inter alia:
1. There's precious little evidence of Vikings targeting
monasteries
because they were Christian (and lots of evidence that
they
targeted deposits of portable wealth
indiscriminately)
2. The supposed martyrdoms take place in this single
military
episode. Why no accounts of similar persecutions during
any
of the many other such episodes over a very long period
in
England?
At the time I wrote in support to say that I knew of
no
record of the original Saxon Church at
Burton upon Stather
having been sacked
during the pillaging days of the Danes.
Since then I have come across evidence that has made me
change
my mind. In Lincolnshire Notes and Queries Vol. 1, of
1889 (p 60)
there is correspondence relating
to burnt stones in Lincolnshire
churches namely, Stow, Bottesford,
and Burton on Stather. The
views expressed in this correspondence were that the
conflagrations must have been of Danish origin.
I felt that I ought to put the record straight.
Ron Hornsby
