Saint Guthlac of Crowland

Saint Guthlac of Crowland (Old English: Gūðlāc; Latin: Guthlacus; 674‍–‍714 AD) was a Christian hermit and saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England. Guthlac was the son of Penwalh or Penwald, a noble of the English kingdom of Mercia, and his wife Tette. Guthlac's sister is venerated as St Pega. As a young man, Guthlac fought in the army of King Æthelred of Mercia (r. 675–704). He subsequently became a monk at Repton Abbey in Derbyshire at the age of 24, under the abbess there (Repton being a double monastery). Two years later he sought to live the life of a hermit, and moved out to the island of Croyland, now called Crowland (in present-day Lincolnshire), on St Bartholomew's Day, 699. His early biographer, Felix, writing in the early 8th century, asserts that Guthlac could understand the strimulentes loquelas ('sibilant speech', that is "barbarous language") of Brittonic-speaking demons who haunted him there, only because Guthlac had spent some time in exile among Celtic Britons. Guthlac built a small oratory and cells in the side of a plundered barrow on the island. There he lived until his death on 11 April 714. Felix, writing within living memory of Guthlac, described his hermit's existence: Guthlac's pious and holy ascetic life became the talk of the land, and many people visited the hermit during his life to seek spiritual guidance from him. He gave sanctuary to Æthelbald, future king of Mercia, who was fleeing from his cousin Ceolred (r. 709–716). Guthlac predicted that Æthelbald would become king, and Æthelbald promised to build him an abbey if his prophecy became true. Æthelbald indeed became king (r. 716–757), and even though Guthlac had died two years before, Æthelbald kept his word and started to build Crowland Abbey on St Bartholomew's Day, 716. Guthlac's feast day is celebrated on 11 April.