- Eof
:"For the
computing term, seeend-of-file ."Eof (also Eoves) was a swineherd who claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary at Evesham inEngland , about 701. [CathEncy|id=05648a|title=Evesham Abbey] Eof related this vision toEgwin ,Bishop of Worcester , who founded the greatEvesham Abbey on the site of the apparation. "Evesham" means Eof's ham (homestead).Some people think Eof may have been a shepherd. The standard "Lives" [Butler’s "Lives of the Saints", vol. IV, p.643] , and "Saint Egwin and his Abbey of Evesham" ["Saint Egwin and his Abbey of Evesham", by the Benedictines of Stanbrook, p.14] say Eof was a swineherd. The confusion may come from a letter, apparently written by Ecgwin, which says "...primum cuidam pastori gregum..." , and the Acta Sanctorum (Lives of the Saints) which states something similar: "...pastores gregum..." The Latin means either a shepherd or a herdsman.
William Dugdale in "Monasticon Anglicanum" says "Eoves, a herdsman of the bishop...". George May, the most eminent of Evesham historians, gives both herdsman and swineherd. [Descriptive History of Evesham, p22]The story that Eof was a swineherd goes back at least to
William of Malmesbury , writing in the twelfth century, while the obverse of the conventual seal of Evesham Abbey clearly shows stylised pigs rather than sheep. [George May, "Descriptive History of Evesham", p.87.] ["The Book of Evesham", p.24] The monks of the Abbey clearly thought Eof kept pigs.The legend of Eof's vision has been commemorated by a bronze statue sited in the town centre paid for by public subscription and created by the British born sculptor John McKenna. The statue was unveiled in a public ceremony that took place on Sunday 15 June 2008.
Eof vs. Eoves
The question of whether the swineherd was named Eof or Eoves is a long-standing question still argued about today. Writing in 1920 however , the historian O.G. Knapp argued that "It is impossible that Eoves should have been the Swineherd’s name for several reasons." ['Evesham and Eof', by O.G. Knapp, part III, in Old Days in and around Evesham (edited by E.A.B. Barnard), no.13 (Evesham Journal April 3, 1920)]
References
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