by Lady Felicia of the TrueLayne
Eggburt is an imaginary character that never did exist and the story bears that out from the very first sentence:
According to the story, blessed Eggburt was born in the year 502 AD in Hennford, England. Which is patently impossible. The village and castle at Hennford did not exist in 502. Eggburt was created because of shire events of long ago and as seasoning to further our SCA play. He was created without knowing that there was a real Saint Egbert! I know this because I wrote the fictional story in the Leaflette, the shire of MyrtleHolt's newsletter almost twenty years ago.
The rest of the mythical story is that the Danes went a Viking, came ashore and sacked Hennford, martyring Eggburt in the process. He was flogged to death while defending the fowler's yard. The flail was a chicken wielded by a huge violent Norseman.
Eggburt was known to say while eating a well roasted chicken, "If thy right wing offend thee, then cut it off." and he was fond of explaining the Holy Trinity by use of a hen's egg.
The fictional Eggburt did not have a set feast day, but his first real procession was at the Rogue River Rooster Crow. (I lead the procession. We were doing a demo complete with heavy armor tourney and fencing/tavern style at the Crow and this was just for fun, heck!) We laid a wreath of sweet pea flowers at the rooster statue's feet in his honor and dedicated the tournament to him. In a small speech laden with much tongue-in-cheek I asked Eggburt to keep the pox away!
The winter previous to this festival the shire accidentally had an all chicken feast and a bad bout of chicken pox had laid Hemedal's household low, even striking Hemedal (now Baron Hemedal- then shire Constable). One of our ladies had also changed her name from de Pollet to D.Falcon the same spring. Seeing how superstitious and often hyper religious people of the Middle Ages actually were, Eggburt seemed like a super fun idea, after all it wasn't. like he was real or anything! Other feasts and events entitled Eggburt's have been held in the fall and late summer. I moved away... and discovered to my astonishment that there is a real Saint Egbert!
He started out as a monk from Northumbria. He was born in c. 639 of noble parents. He studied in Ireland the location cited by Bede was "Rathmalaigi", also called Mallifont. This is located in what it now County Louth. His self-imposed penance was to live in He was a conscientious faster and his greatest desire was to convert the still pagan German tribes. Alas he did not accomplish this himself but instead sent several others who later were martyred and made saints. (St. Willibrand, St. Wigbert, etc.) It is believed that by then Egbert was a bishop.
Afterward Egbert was sent to St. Columbo's monasteries to get them to follow the Roman Catholic Calendar especially about Easter. Egbert, who was very patient and obedient, humble and sweet, departed to Iona in 716. He so impressed the "erring" monks of Iona that in 720 they celebrated Easter upon the approved day, that year on April the 24th. That very day after saying the Mass Egbert passed away, he was 90 years old. April the 24th is his feast day
