Introduction

This work represents the first ever study of St John of Beverley, bishop of Hexham from 687 to 706, and then bishop of York from 706 until his retirement some years before he died on 7 May 721. John was a senior figure in the northern Church and after his death his cult was rapidly established. The great economic wealth of Beverley in the Middle Ages largely resulted from its position as a major ecclesiastical centre focused around John's relics. The cult evolved from being primarily local to one of national, and even international, importance, and John's shrine attracted pilgrims from all over England, Ireland and Scotland, as well as becoming a major destination for European penitential pilgrims. The cult was also firmly established in Brittany by the tenth century, especially in the town of Saint-Jean-Brévelay, which is named after him, and where a number of bones are preserved that are claimed to be some of his relics.