What connects "Bad" King John, Charles Dickens' first novel and a wolf skulking under a hedgerow? All of them are woven into the history of the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds. Its sloping streets reflect its storied past: grand Georgian houses jostle against whitewashed, wood-beamed buildings, while at the bottom of the hill stands a ruined Norman abbey surrounded by glorious gardens.
The town first gained importance during the Middle Ages as the resting place of Saint Edmund. Following a Viking raid, this ninth-century East Anglian king was reputedly shot with arrows then beheaded after he refused to renounce his Christianity. According to legend, his followers found his head under a hedgerow, guarded by a wolf; after they retrieved the head and brought it back to his bloodied body, it was miraculously reattached - the first of many wonders attributed to Edmund's corpse.
This story is from the December 2022 edition of BBC History UK.
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This story is from the December 2022 edition of BBC History UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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