ABSTRACT
In the generation after the Norman Conquest the Anglo-Saxon saints and their relics were on trial. The problem was to decide which saints of the Anglo-Saxon period should have their feasts observed. Claims to sanctity rested on tradition and there were many saints with merely local reputations whose legends rested on dubious evidence. Lanfranc questioned their right to liturgical commemoration. His dilemma is well illustrated by two stories. Apparently at his instigation the Norman abbot at Evesham, Walter (1077-1104), submitted the abbey's relics to the test of fire: only those which were not consumed by the flames were to be regarded as genuine.1
