Ivo of Ramsey
Cornish bishop and saint

Saint Ivo (also known as Ives) was a Cornish bishop and hermit, and became the eponymous saint of St Ives, Huntingdonshire.
History
The discovery of Bishop Ivo's remains in 1001 was first mentioned briefly in John of Worcester's Chronicon ex chronicis.
He appears in the historical sources in 1001/2 when a peasant allegedly found his coffin while ploughing at Slepe (later renamed St Ives). The body appeared to be invested with the insignia of a bishop. According to an account by Goscelin of St Bertin, St Ivo appeared to the ploughman in several visions, which obliged him to communicate the discovery to the abbot's reeve. The latter did not take this seriously at first, whereupon the saint also appeared to him in visions. When the monastic community learned of this, they rejoiced greatly at the discovery.
The Abbot of Ramsey, Eadnoth the Younger, built a church in Ivo's honor near the site. The neighbouring village with market rights was renamed St Ives. On 24 April 1002 Abbot Eadnoth translated Ivo's body, along with two of his companions, to the mother house at Ramsey.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ivo of Ramsey” is cornish bishop and saint. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ramsey, Cornish and bishop, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “cornish bishop and saint” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q437609. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1001 and 1002.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ivo of Ramsey”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ivo of Ramsey primary sources, Ivo of Ramsey archive and Ramsey research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ivo of Ramsey”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ivo of Ramsey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.