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Saint Fremund also known as Freomund was a ninth century saint, Hermit and Martyr in Anglo-Saxon England.〔John Blair, "Anglo Saxon Oxfordshire" (Alan Sutton Publications 1994).〕 He is venerated at both the Village of Prescote, where he is patron saint and at Dunstable Priory. ==Legend and life== The following summary of the legend as it runs in John of Tynemouth's version is given by Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy.〔Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland: From 1066 A. D. to 1200 A. D, Sir T. D Hardy, Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1865〕 Fremund was the son of a pagan king who reigned in England, named Offa, and his queen Botilda, his birth being foretold by a child, who died when three days old. He is baptized by Bishop Heswi, performs many miracles, and converts his parents. Offa resigns his kingdom to his son, who, after governing a year and a half, forsakes the throne to serve God in a desert place, accompanied by Burchard (who afterwards wrote his life) and another attendant. He then embarks in a vessel, sailing from Caerleon-on-Usk, and is driven to a small island called Ylefage, sometimes identified with Lundy, which is infested by demons. Here he lives seven years on fruits and roots. Hinguar and his brother, Hubba ravage England and put King Edmund to death.〔 Offa sends twenty nobles to seek his son throughout England, and, finding him, they implore his aid, and he assents in consequence of a vision in which it is revealed that each of his companions shall appear a thousand to his enemies. He attacks and defeats 40,000 of the enemy with the twenty who have come to seek him, in addition to his two companions; in a great battle at Radford Semele and, while he is prostrate in thanksgiving for the victory, Oswi, formerly one of Offa's commanders, but who had apostatized and joined the pagans, cuts off his head. Blood spurts over Oswi, who implores absolution and forgiveness, which the head pronounces. Fremund rises and carries his head some distance, when, a spring bursting forth, he washes his wound, falls prostrate and expires. The legend has a number of historical inconsistencies. Offa's wife was called Cynethryth not Botilda and the name is not mentioned in any charter or by any chronicler. Bishop Heswi, or Oswy as the name is written in John Lydgate's Metrical Legend, cannot be identified. Offa died on 29 July 796 and was succeeded by his son Ecgfrith, "who had been anointed king in his lifetime" according to William of Malmsbury 〔Gesta Regum Anglorum, William of Malmsbury〕 and Æthelweard.〔The Chronicle of Aethelwerd〕 Egferth died the same year as Offa and so none of the legend fits the history on these points.〔 King Edmund was martyred in November 870, 74 years after Offa's death.〔''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', ed. M. Swanton (Dent, London 1997), ''s.a.'' 911-918.〕 and therefore the connection with the Danish invasion seems more probable than that with Offa, and so Fremund, if he existed, should be dated to the mid 9th century.〔'Parishes: Cropredy', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 10: Banbury hundred (1972), pp. 157-175. URL: () Date accessed: 25 January 2012.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saint Fremund」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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