Edith the Fair: Visionary of Walsingham/ Bill Flint

B. W. Flint's Edith the Fair: Visionary of Walsingham is the first attempt to establish the historical identity of the Walsingham visionary, 'Rychold', since 1951. The founding date of the Marian shrine of Walsingham, which is the national shrine of England, has long been disputed by historians- despite the fact that it was one of the most widely frequented shrines of medieval Europe, known and visited by leading scholars such as Erasmus. While the histories of other Marian visionaries are treated with great interest, surprisingly little attempt has been made to understand the message of Walsingham and the story of the woman to whom it was entrusted. Through rigorous re-examination of the primary sources, most notably the Norfolk Rolls and the Pynson Ballad, B. W. Flint ascertains the founding date of the shrine and identifies the name of 'Rychold', Lady of the Manor, through a close examination of the Domesday Book. His exhaustive analysis of the iconography of Our Lady of Walsingham and historical research into the figure of 'Rychold', identified as 'Edith the Fair', reveals why her identity as Walsingham visionary has been confined to obscurity for so long. Flint's insights lead to a fresh examination of the message of Our Lady of Walsingham, which has lasting implications for the understanding of Anglo-Saxon Christianity and the English Catholic Church.