For the computing

Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

 term, see end-of-file

End-of-file

In computing, end of file is a condition in a computer operating system where no more data can be read from a data source...

.

Eof (also Eoves) was a swineherd who claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary at Evesham in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, about 701. Eof related this vision to Egwin

Egwin

Egcwine was the third Bishop of Worcester in England.-Life:He was the founder of the Evesham Abbey. His biographers say that king, clergy, and commonalty all united in demanding his elevation as bishop; but the popularity which led him to the episcopal office dissipated in response to his...

, Bishop of Worcester

Bishop of Worcester

The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. He is the head of the Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury...

, who founded the great Evesham Abbey

Evesham Abbey

Evesham Abbey was founded by Saint Egwin at Evesham in England between 700 and 710 A.D. following a vision of the Virgin Mary by Eof.According to the monastic history, Evesham came through the Norman Conquest unusually well, because of a quick approach by Abbot Æthelwig to William the Conqueror...

 on the site of the apparation. Evesham means Eof's ham (homestead).

Some people think Eof may have been a shepherd. The standard Lives, and Saint Egwin and his Abbey of Evesham 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

William Dugdale

Sir William Dugdale was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject.-Life:...

 in Monasticon Anglicanum says "Eoves, a herdsman of the bishop...". George May, the most eminent of Evesham historians, gives both herdsman and swineherd.

The story that Eof was a swineherd goes back at least to William of Malmesbury

William of Malmesbury

William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...

, writing in the twelfth century, while the obverse of the conventual seal of Evesham Abbey clearly shows stylised pigs rather than sheep. 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. In the first place the letter ‘V’ is not found in the Saxon alphabet , having been brought to this country by the Normans; so that Eofeshamme, given in one of the charters, indicates the older and better form of the name... But even if Eofes is older and more accurate than Eoves it cannot be the original form of the name. A moment’s reflection will show that if Evesham means the meadow of some person, the name of that person must be in what Grammarians call the Genitive (or Possessive) Case, Singular. This in modern English is nearly always denoted by ’s placed at the end of the word; the apostrophe showing that a vowel has dropped out of the termination. Anglo-Saxon had a larger selection of endings for the Genitive Case, but the one in –es (the original form of our modern ’s) belonged to what are called ‘strong’ Masculine nouns, which usually ended in a consonant. Eofes, therefore, would be the natural Genitive of a man’s proper name, Eof. Ferguson suggests that the original form of the name might have been Eofa, but such a name would correspond to the ‘weak’ nouns which made their Genitive by adding not –es but –an; in which case the name of the town would have been Eofanham, as is shown in the case of Offenham, the Ham of Offa or Uffa. We may therefore take it as certain that the real name of the Swineherd was not Eoves, Eofes, or even Eofa, but Eof."