Bettelin was an Anglo-Saxon hermit of the early eighth century, remembered chiefly as a disciple of Saint Guthlac of Crowland in the fenland of Mercia. The principal early witness to his life is Felix's Latin Life of Saint Guthlac, which records him among the saint's close companions. His name appears in the sources under many spellings, including Beccel, Beccelin, Bertelin, Berthelm, Bertram, and Bethelm.
According to the accounts, Bettelin came to Guthlac's island hermitage and remained there as his attendant and disciple. He was present at Guthlac's death in 714 and assisted in the burial alongside the saint's sister Pega. After Guthlac's repose, Bettelin and the other disciples are said to have continued the eremitic life at Crowland under Kenulph, the first abbot of the monastery established there.
Contributions & Legacy
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Discipleship under Guthlac
Felix's Life describes Bettelin's long service to Guthlac, traditionally numbered at fifteen years. The most often-repeated episode recounts a period of spiritual struggle early in his discipleship, in which he was beset by murderous thoughts against his master while attending to him; the tradition holds that the temptation was overcome through Guthlac's prayer and counsel. The same sources relate that Bettelin witnessed visions of light at the time of Guthlac's death.
Relics & Shrines
Tradition holds that some of Bettelin's relics were carried to Stafford before the Danish raids of the ninth century that destroyed Crowland Abbey, and he came to be venerated as a patron of Stafford, where his relics were kept with reverence. A separate hermit, Bettelin of Stafford, with whom this Bettelin is frequently confused, is associated with the same locality; medieval hagiography, notably the fifteenth-century compilation of John Capgrave, blended the two figures, and Butler's Lives observes that the legends preserved in that compilation carry no authority.
Traditional Accounts
Later and unreliable legends, distinguished by the early sources from the historical record, include a tale of a tragic love involving a princess and an account of his defending against invaders with angelic aid before returning to his hermitage to die. These belong to the conflated Stafford tradition rather than to the early witness of Felix.
His companions & kin
Hermit of Crowland whose disciple and attendant Bettelin was.
Guthlac of Crowland
Sources: Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome
