Jim--
Sorry to get in on this so late. I don't think this is a real
saint. The Bower is the tip-off. I suggested in my book that this is a
summer lord of some kind and that the bower refers to the structure that
summer lords and ladies used to hold their court. He's a faux saint.
There's a wonderful recent book by my colleague Jacques Merceron about
French faux saints. Don't have the title at hand, but it can be easily
accessed through his name (title begins, I think, Dictionnaire). The
French seem cleverer at this sort of drollerie than the English as best I
can tell.
Larry
On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, James Stokes wrote:
> Is anyone on the list able to shed light on the name Holy John of Bower,
> which appears in the records of Grimsby, Lincolnshire? Is it likely to
> refer to John the Baptist, or is there another saint of that particular
> name who has eluded my best efforts to identify him?
> Many, many thanks for any light cast into this resistant little
> darkness.
> Jim Stokes
>
