Herman the Archdeacon (before 1040 – c. 1097) was a member of the household of Herfast, Bishop of East Anglia, in the 1070s and 1080s, and then a monk of Bury St Edmunds Abbey in Suffolk. He was probably born in Germany. Around 1070 he entered Herfast's household and assisted him in his unsuccessful campaign to move his bishopric to Bury St Edmunds Abbey. He remained with the bishop until the latter's death in 1084 and had moved to the abbey as a monk by 1092. Herman was a colourful character and a theatrical preacher, but he is chiefly known as an able scholar who wrote the Miracles of St Edmund (excerpt shown), a hagiographical account of miracles believed to have been posthumously performed by Edmund, King of East Anglia. Herman's account also covered the history of the eponymous abbey. Two revised versions of his Miracles were later written: a shortened anonymous work which cut out the historical information, and another by Goscelin, which was hostile to Herman. (Full article...)