Wigstan also known as Saint Wystan, was the son of Wigmund of Mercia

Wigmund of Mercia

Wigmund may have briefly reigned in Mercia in about 840, in succession to his father, Wiglaf of Mercia. He may, on the other hand, have predeceased his father and never been anything more than a co-ruler with him. He was himself the father of Wigstan of Mercia....

 and Ælfflæd, daughter of King Ceolwulf I of Mercia

Ceolwulf I of Mercia

Ceolwulf I was King of Mercia and Kent, from 821 to 823. He was the brother of Cœnwulf, his predecessor, and was deposed by Beornwulf.-External links:* http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+186...

.

Wigstan may have been sub-king, or ealdorman

Ealdorman

An ealdorman is the term used for a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire or group of shires from about the ninth century to the time of King Cnut...

, of the Hwicce

Hwicce

The Hwicce were one of the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–80, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum...

, and may have ruled Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

 briefly in 840, before resigning the throne. Wigstan was killed by his successor, Beorhtwulf

Beorhtwulf of Mercia

Beorhtwulf was King of the Mercians from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected to Beornwulf, who ruled Mercia in the 820s...

, who is said to have been his godfather. The cause of the dispute was Beorhtwulf's plan to marry his son Beorhtfrith to Wigstan's widowed mother. Wigstan objected to the marriage, and Beorhtwulf's response was to have him killed at a meeting. The site of his martyrdom has been variously claimed to be Wistanstow

Wistanstow

Wistanstow is a village and parish in Shropshire, England.- Location :Wistanstow is located about 8km south of Church Stretton and 14km north of Ludlow. It is about 2½ km north of Craven Arms. It is just off the main Shrewsbury-Hereford road, the A49...

 (Shropshire), Wistow

Wistow, Leicestershire

Wistow is a hamlet and deserted medieval village in the English county of Leicestershire located to the south of the city of Leicester.The Elizabethan Hall and the 13th century parish church dedicated to Saint Wigstan remain. The name derives from Wistan's Stowe...

 (Leics) or Wistow

Wistow, Cambridgeshire

' – in Huntingdonshire , England – is a village near Warboys south of Ramsey.-External links:*...

 (Cambs).

Wigstan's remains were reburied at Repton

Repton

Repton is a village and civil parish on the edge of the River Trent floodplain in South Derbyshire, about north of Swadlincote. Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouring Staffordshire and about northeast of Burton upon Trent.-History:...

 in 849, where his grandfather King Wiglaf

Wiglaf of Mercia

Wiglaf was King of Mercia from 827 to 829 and again from 830 until his death. His ancestry is uncertain: the 820s were a period of dynastic conflict within Mercia and the genealogy of several of the kings of this time is unknown...

 was also buried, and a cult developed soon after. Repton became a centre of pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

 as a result. In the reign of Cnut the Great, his relics were translated to Evesham

Evesham

Evesham is a market town and a civil parish in the Local Authority District of Wychavon in the county of Worcestershire, England with a population of 22,000. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon...

.

Of later kings of Mercia, Ceolwulf II

Ceolwulf II of Mercia

Ceolwulf II was the last king of the Mercians. He succeeded Burgred of Mercia who was deposed in 874.-Dynastic background:...

 is thought to be related to Wigstan, although the precise relationship is not known.

A Vita Sancti Wistani was written by Dominic of Evesham

Dominic of Evesham

Dominic was a medieval prior of Evesham Abbey in England and writer of histories.Little is known of his life. He was probably a native Englishman, and was probably born sometime before 1077, and was probably raised around the abbey. He may have entered Evesham before 1077, but certainly by 1104, he...

, a medieval prior of 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...

 around 1130. The name was used occasionally in the Middle Ages and again more recently, e.g. for Wystan Hugh Auden

W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...

.

Sources

• Walker, Ian, Mercia and the Making of England.
• Yorke, Barbara
  Barbara Yorke
  Barbara Yorke is a historian of Anglo-Saxon England.She studied history and archaeology at Exeter University, where she completed both her undergraduate degree and her Ph.D. She is currently Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Winchester, and is a Fellow of the Royal...
  
  , Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby, 1990. ISBN 1-85264-027-8
• Zaluckij, Sarah, Mercia: the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Central England. Logaston: Logaston Press, 2001. ISBN 1-873827-62-8