Eadwold of Cerne (c. 835 AD – 29 Augustc. 900), also known asEadwold of East Anglia, was a 9th-centuryhermit,East Anglianprince andpatron saint ofCerne,Dorset, who lived as ahermit on a hill about fourmiles from Cerne. Hisfeast day is 29 August.

Eadwold was bornc. 835 AD, the son ofÆthelweard of East Anglia^[1] and reputed brother ofEdmund, king of East Anglia. He left hishomeland possibly due to aViking Invasion, to live as ahermit on a hill about fourmiles fromCerne, Dorset.William of Malmesbury said he lived onbread andwater,^[2] and worked many miracles.^[3] He is known from the writing ofWilliam of Malmesbury and theHagiographies of St Eadwold of Cerne, byGoscelin ofSaint-Bertin^[4] and also theSecgan.

Eadwold died on 29 Augustc. 900, at Cerne and is said to have been buried in his cell, and was later moved to a nearbymonastery, dedicated toSt Peter. Hisveneration is credited with makingCerne Abbey the third richest inEngland during the 11th century.^[4]

A 2024 study proposed that theCerne Abbas Giant was createdc. 900 CE, depictingHercules, as a muster station forWest Saxon armies to gather but that by the 11th-century, the figure was being reinterpreted as portraying Eadwold, by the monks at the Abbey.^[5] Archaeologist Martin Papworth says the image, likely originally clothed, was probably of Eadwold pointing the way to Cerne Abbey.^[6]

• Eadwald 39 atProsopography of Anglo-Saxon England

• 9th-century Christian monks
• 9th-century Christian saints
• 9th-century English people
• East Anglian saints
• English Christian monks
• English hermits
• Medieval English saints

• Use dmy dates from April 2022