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‪The cult of St Kenelm emerged in the end of the 970s in England. The study of the networks promoting this cult seems to indicate a common political goal: celebrating a martyr murdered on the orders of his sister is a way to challenge the legitimacy of Edith, daughter of King Edgar (959-975) and sister of King Edward the Martyr (975-978). The men who developed the cult of St Kenelm, Germanus of Winchcombe and Oswald of York, were close to the royal power and opposed to the Mercian ealdorman Ælfhere and, through him, to Edith. The study of the composition and circulation of the first manuscripts mentioning Kenelm corroborates this hypothesis. However, by the 980s/990s, the cult of Kenelm lose its political relevance and new cults, including that of Edith herself, were being used by a faltering royal power.‪