On the Resting-Places of the Saints

Secgan
On the Resting-Places of the Saints
Full title	The account of God's saints who first rested in England
Language	Old English
Date	mid-11th century
Authenticity	reliable
British Library: Stowe MS 944, ff 34v-39r
Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge No. 201, pp. 147–151
(A third copy, Cotton Vitellius D. xvii, was destroyed by a fire of 1731)
Latin version ('V' text): London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius A 2 ff 3-5
First printed edition	Liebermann, Felix (1889). Die Heiligen Englands: Angelsächsisch und Lateinisch (in German). Hanover.
Period covered	Anglo-Saxon England

On the Resting-Places of the Saints is a heading given to two early medieval pieces of writing, also known as Þá hálgan and the Secgan, which exist in various manuscript forms in both Old English and Latin, the earliest surviving manuscripts of which date to the mid-11th century. Secgan is so named from its Old English incipit, Secgan be þam Godes sanctum þe on Engla lande aerost reston "Tale of God's saints who first rested in England"), and is a list of fifty places which had shrines and remains of Anglo-Saxon saints. Þá hálgan (pronounced thar halgan) is a version of the so-called Kentish Royal Legend (Its incipit Her cyð ymbe þa halgan þe on Angelcynne restað "Here [follows] a relation on the saints who rest in the English nation") is a heading which appears to be for both texts, as the Kentish legend, which comes first, is actually an account of how various members of the royal family of Kent, descendents of Aethelbert, founded monasteries and came to be regarded as saints. As such it is closer to other hagiographical texts than to the list of burial sites that follows it. The texts describe people living from the 7th to 10th centuries, and they exist in both Old English and Latin versions, but both have their earliest known manuscripts dating from the 11th century.

The two texts now known as 'Þá hálgan' and 'Secgan' are known from two extant manuscripts written in Old English, that were transcribed in the 11th century. The manuscript known as Stowe MS 944, (folia 29v-39r), the older of the two, is thought to have been written shortly after 1031. Rollason (1978) argues that the scribe was including material dating to as early as the mid 9th century (for example the reference to Ubbanford).

Stowe MS 944 is a bound volume now in the British Library, the full scanned images of which are at British Library Online. It begins with a history of Hyde Abbey, Winchester, written in 1771, followed by a wide collection of much older original source documents. A selection of medieval drawings, is followed by a Liber vitae, written in 1031 consisting of lists of names of brethren and benefactors of the New Minster, also at Winchester, and substantially annotated. Other historiographical texts follow, including the will of King Ælfred. The two documents being considered here, originally composed entirely separately, were then written into the same Old English manuscript, under a combined heading of 'On the Resting-Places of the Saints'. However, it is the second document ('Secgan') which provided the list of saints. The first, ('Þá hálgan') includes mention of many saints, particularly those relating to Kent, but written as part of a narrative of the Kentish Royal Legend.

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