Indract of Glastonbury
In the High Middle Ages Glastonbury tradition held that he had been an Irish pilgrim — a king's son – on his way back from Rome who was molested and killed by a local thegn after he had stopped off to visit the shrine of St Patrick.This tradition synchronised his life with that of King Ine (688–726), though historian Michael Lapidge has argued that he is most likely to represent a 9th-century abbot of Iona named Indrechtach ua Fínnachta.[2] There is however a strong similarity between the story of the Glastonbury Indract and that of a 9th-century abbot of Iona, Indrechtach ua Fínnachta, whom several contemporary Irish sources report as being "martyred among the English (apud Saxones)" in 854.[10] His story in its earliest form is told in the 12th century Passio sancti Indracti or "Passion of St Indract" (Oxford Bodleian Library MS Digby 112).[12] He and his nine companions had gone to Rome on pilgrimage and on their return journey they decided to visit Glastonbury and the shrine of St Patrick there, staying for a night at a place called Huish Episcopi (Hywisc).[19] The martyrdom takes place at Shapwick (Schapwik), not Huish Episcopi (Hywisc), and he follows William of Malmesbury in giving the number of companions as seven.[23] As an indication of the local nature of his cult, his name occurs in only one English calendar of saints, a 15th-century manuscript probably written at Glastonbury (Up Holland College, MS 98).