Hie English St
Preserved but no longer current.
Sebastian. St. Edmund, the martyr-king of East Anglia (855-70) has been so called. He gave himself up to the Danes m the hope of saving his people, but they scourged him, bound him to a tree, shot arrows at him, and finally cut off his head, which, legend relates, was guarded by a wolf till it was duly interred. The monastery and cathedral of St. Edmundsbury (Bury St. Edmunids) were erected on the place of his burial.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Hie English St” mean?
Sebastian. St. Edmund, the martyr-king of East Anglia (855-70) has been so called. He gave himself up to the Danes m the hope of saving his people, but they scourged him, bound him to a tree, shot arrows at him, and finally cut off his head, which, legend relates, was guarded by a wolf till it was duly interred. The monastery and cathedral of St. Edmundsbury (Bury St. Edmunids) were erected on the place of his burial.
Is “Hie English St” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.