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In most art of the Romanesque period saints were represented either in static arrangements around Christ or the Virgin Mary or in narrative illustrations of their lives. A good example of the latter is the illustrated life of St Edmund, made at the abbey of Bury St Edmunds in East Anglia. St Edmund, the King of East Anglia, was murdered by the Danes in 869 and within forty years of his death had came to be venerated as the subject of local cult. In 1020 the abbey of St Edmunds was founded in his honour, and by the early twelfth century it had become one of the wealthiest landowners in England.
The text of the life of St Edmund is preceded by a set of thirty-two illustrations designed, if not painted, by the Alexis Master of the St Albans Psalter. They are without captions, and provide a visual narrative, not only of events in the saint's life, culminating in his martyrdom, but also of miracles that took place after his death and with which he was credited. In the illustration shown in the picture, St Edmund is being led to his death. He is crowned, and wears a garment made of Byzantine silk.
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