John of Malmesbury

John of Malmesbury, also called John the Sage (eighth and ninth centuries), is a legendary saint, a supposed monk buried at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, where he was held to be a holy martyr and venerated. It is not known for certain who the person buried in the venerated tomb was.

At the abbey of Malmesbury, to the left of the high altar, there was a tomb that had enjoyed some veneration since the tenth century. The epitaph mentioned a person called John who had suffered martyrdom. In time, with the memory of the person originally buried lost, the tomb was known as that of John the Wise, held to be a saint and martyr. William of Malmesbury relates that around 870 the philosopher John Scotus Eriugena, a fugitive, went at the urging of King Alfred the Great to live at the abbey of Malmesbury. Years later he was killed by his pupils and buried in the church of Saint Lawrence, from which he was moved to the abbey church because miracles were told, and William identifies the venerated John with the philosopher. This attribution is, however, very unlikely, and the supposed killing of John by his pupils is false, copying the acts of the martyrdom of Saint Cassian of Imola, who died in that way.

More likely is a tradition that said he was John the Old Saxon, an abbot who suffered an attempted assassination at Athelney and fled from it. He might have been buried at Malmesbury, where he was identified with John the Wise. In the eleventh century some sources say that his remains lay with those of the abbots Maeldub and Aldhelm of Malmesbury. The destruction of part of the abbey in the sixteenth century prevents checking the story. His cult also disappeared then.