Eadwold of Cerne (c. 835 AD – 29 August c. 900), also known as Eadwold of East Anglia, was a 9th-century hermit, East Anglian prince and patron saint of Cerne, Dorset, who lived as a hermit on a hill about four miles from Cerne. His feast day is 29 August.
Eadwold was born c. 835 AD, the son of Æthelweard of East Anglia[1] and reputed brother of Edmund, king of East Anglia. He left his homeland possibly due to a Viking Invasion, to live as a hermit on a hill about four miles from Cerne, Dorset. William of Malmesbury said he lived on bread and water,[2] and worked many miracles.[3] He is known from the writing of William of Malmesbury and the Hagiographies of St Eadwold of Cerne, by Goscelin of Saint-Bertin[4] and also the Secgan.
Eadwold died on 29 August c. 900, at Cerne and is said to have been buried in his cell, and was later moved to a nearby monastery, dedicated to St Peter. His veneration is credited with making Cerne Abbey the third richest in England during the 11th century.[4]
A 2024 study proposed that the Cerne Abbas Giant was created c. 900 CE, depicting Hercules, as a muster station for West Saxon armies to gather but that by the 11th-century, the figure was being reinterpreted as portraying Eadwold, by the monks at the Abbey.[5] Archaeologist Martin Papworth says the image, likely originally clothed, was probably of Eadwold pointing the way to Cerne Abbey.[6]