Event Details
- Location: Peterborough Cathedral
- Address: Minster Precincts, Peterborough, PE1 1XZ
- Start date: 20th May 2021
- End date: 20th May 2021
- Times: 7.30pm Online
- Entry fee: £7 Book online
Hear the story of Saint Oswald’s Right Arm in an online lecture about St Oswald, the seventh-century king of Northumbria, who was a very important figure for the monks of Peterborough Abbey.
Dr Johanna Dale of University College London will explain why he was significant to a community of Fenland monks and will trace the history of the monks’ most prized possession: the king’s right arm, which defied decomposition.
The Abbey acquired this relic in highly dubious circumstances, yet it became a focus for the community and the shrine containing it attracted numerous pilgrims, including kings of England. The arm disappeared during the great upheavals of the Reformation but the chapel of St Oswald remains as one of the highlights of any visitor’s tour of Peterborough Cathedral.