Eof

For other uses, see EOF (disambiguation).

Eof (also Eoves) was a swineherd who claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary at Evesham in England, about 701.^[1] Eof related this vision to Egwin, Bishop of Worcester, who founded the great Evesham Abbey on the site of the apparition. Evesham means Eof's ham (homestead).

Legend

The standard Lives,^[2] and Saint Egwin and his Abbey of Evesham ^[3] say Eof was a swineherd. A letter, apparently written by Ecgwin, says "... primum cuidam pastori gregum ...", and the Acta Sanctorum (Lives of the Saints) states something similar: " ...pastores gregum ..." The Latin means either a shepherd or a herdsman. William Dugdale in Monasticon Anglicanum says "Eoves, a herdsman of the bishop ...". George May, the most eminent of Evesham historians, gives both herdsman and swineherd.^[4]

The story that Eof was a swineherd goes back at least to William of Malmesbury, writing in the twelfth century. The obverse of the conventual seal of Evesham Abbey clearly shows stylised pigs rather than sheep;^[5][6] 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.^[7]

Eof vs. Eoves

The question of whether the swineherd was named Eof or Eoves is a long-standing question. Writing in 1920, the historian O.G. Knapp argued that the real name of the Swineherd was not Eoves, Eofes, or even Eofa, but Eof.^[8]