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Born at Sutton (King's Sutton, Northants); date unknown; feast day at Brackley was August 28 (probably the date of the translation of his relics). Saint Rumwald, whose shrine existed at Buckingham before the Norman Conquest, was said to be the maternal grandson of King Penda of Mercia and the son of a pagan prince of Northumbria. His 11th-century Life relates that, in 650, the 3-day-old prince pronounced the creed aloud immediately after his baptism, preached a sermon on the Holy Trinity and the need for virtuous living, and then died.

The year following his death, his relics were moved by Bishop Widerin (who had baptized him) to Brackley in Northamptonshire. Two years later, his bones were again translated to Buckingham. Rumwald was honoured with a cultus, chiefly in Northantshire and Buckingham. He was also revered at monasteries in Mercia, Wessex, and Sweden; however, his name is omitted from monastic calendars after 1100. Churches were dedicated to his memory in Kent, Essex, Northantshire, Lincolnshire, Dorset, and North Yorkshire (where there is also a Romaldkirk). The well of Saint Rumwald survives at Alstrop, Northantshire (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).

In art he is shown in the midst of this miraculous act (Roeder). A statue of Rumwald at Boxley in Kent was destroyed during the Reformation. He is invoked by the fishermen of Folkestone as their patron (Farmer).


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