Abbot Beocca, Priestmonk Eðor and the Ninety Holy Monastic Martyrs of Chertsey

The ruins of Chertsey Abbey

In the year 870, the Great Heathen Here which had landed in York was marching southward, plundering, pillaging and killing their way toward Wessex. Five months prior, they had martyred Éadmund of East Anglia by tying him to a tree and shooting him full of arrows. And they had already laid waste to Peterborough and destroyed the monastery there, as well as the abbey at Bardney in Lindsey.

The Danes wound their way into Surrey, where they came across the Abbey of Saint Peter at Chertsey which had been founded by Saint Eorcenwald in the year 666, and the companion Abbey of Saint Mary at Barking built for Saint Æþelburg. Houses of worship and monasteries were singled out by these sons of Ragnarr Lóðbrók, both because of their ornamentation and because the raiders bore a fanatical hatred of the Christian faith. The ravages of this Danish army could not be countered by any conventional force; they would only be stopped by the asymmetrical guerrilla warfare of Saint Ælfrǽd and the prayers for deliverance of Saint Neot.

The venerable and worthy successor to Saint Eorcenwald at Chertsey was a humble and meek abbot named Beocca; he was assisted in his labours by the priestmonk Eðor [also called Edor or Hethor]. When the Danes arrived in Surrey and lay waste to the town on the tenth of April, they barged into the monastery and cut down the non-resisting monks, including these two. They then plundered and burnt the Abbey of Saint Peter, killing ninety monks. They also plundered and burnt the Abbey of Saint Mary at Barking, killing all of the nuns inside, ‘whose names, not known on earth, are recorded in the Book of Life’. The date of this tragœdy is not known either.

Holy martyrs for the faith at Chertsey and Barking, including the righteous Beocca and the faithful Eðor, pray unto Christ our God for the salvation of us sinners!

O venerable martyrs of the Lord, mindful of the Sacred Scriptures,
Ye did not resist the rage of the heathen, but gave place unto their wrath;
And blessing those who cursed you,
Ye bowed your necks beneath their swords,
Surrendering your souls into the hands of your Lord,
Who alone is good and loveth mankind.