Æthelthryth
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Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth (or Æðelþryð or Æþelðryþe; 23 June 679 AD) was an East Anglian princess, a Fenland and Northumbrian queen and Abbess of Ely. She is an Anglo-Saxon saint, and is also known as Etheldreda or Audrey, especially in religious contexts. Her father was King Anna of East Anglia, and her siblings were Wendreda and Seaxburh of Ely, both of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded abbeys. Life Æthelthryth was probably born in Exning, near Newmarket in Suffolk. She was one of the four saintly daughters of Anna of East Anglia, including Wendreda and Seaxburh of Ely, all of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded abbeys. Æthelthryth made an early first marriage in around 652 to Tondberct, chief or prince of the South Gyrwe. She managed to persuade her husband to respect her vow of perpetual virginity that she had made prior to their marriage. Upon his death in 655, she retired to the Isle of Ely, which she had received from Tondberct ...
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Seaxburh Of Ely
Seaxburh, also Saint Sexburga of Ely (died about 699) was a Queen as well as an abbess, and is a saint of the Christian Church. She was married to King Eorcenberht of Kent. After her husband's death in 664, Seaxburh remained in Kent to bring up her children. She acted as regent until her young son Ecgberht came of age. Seaxburh founded the abbeys at Milton Regis and Minster-in-Sheppey where her daughter Ermenilda was also a nun. She moved to the double monastery at Ely where her sister Æthelthryth was abbess and succeeded her when Æthelthryth died in 679. According to Bede, in 695, Seaxburh organised the movement (or translation) of Æthelthryth's remains to a marble sarcophagus, after they had lain for sixteen years in a common grave. On opening the grave, it was discovered that her body was miraculously preserved. The legend is described in Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', which celebrates the saintly virtues of Æthelthryth, but speaks less high ...
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Anna Of East Anglia
Anna (or Onna; killed 653 or 654) was king of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. He was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles, and one of the three sons of Eni who ruled the kingdom of East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia. Anna was praised by Bede for his devotion to Christianity and was renowned for the saintliness of his family: his son Jurmin and all his daughters â€“ Seaxburh, Æthelthryth, Æthelburh and possibly a fourth, Wihtburh â€“ were canonised. Little is known of Anna's life or his reign, as few records have survived from this period. In 631 he may have been at Exning, close to the Devil's Dyke. In 645 Cenwalh of Wessex was driven from his kingdom by Penda and, due to Anna's influence, he was converted to Christianity while living as an exile at the East Anglian court. Upon his return from exile, Cenwalh re-established Christianity in his own kingdom and ...
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Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The present building dates back to 1083, and it was granted cathedral status in 1109. Until the Reformation it was the Church of St Etheldreda and St Peter, at which point it was refounded as the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, continuing as the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire. It is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. Architecturally, it is outstanding both for its scale and stylistic details. Having been built in a monumental Romanesque style, the galilee porch, lady chapel and choir were rebuilt in an exuberant Decorated Gothic. Its most notable feature is the central octagonal tower, with lantern above, which provides a unique internal space and, ...
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Wilfrid
Wilfrid ( â€“ 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon. In 664 Wilfrid acted as spokesman for the Roman position at the Synod of Whitby, and became famous for his speech advocating that the Roman method for calculating the date of Easter should be adopted. His success prompted the king's son, Alhfrith, to appoint him Bishop of Northumbria. Wilfrid chose to be consecrated in Gaul because of the lack of what he considered to be validly consecrated bishops in England at that time. During Wilfrid's absence Alhfrith seems to have led an unsuccessful revolt against his father, Oswiu of Northumbria, Oswiu, leaving a question mark over Wilfrid's appointment as bishop. Before Wilfrid's return Oswiu had appointed Saint Chad, Ceadda in his place, res ...
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St Etheldreda's Church
St Etheldreda's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Ely Place, off Charterhouse Street in Holborn, London. The building is one of only two surviving in London from the reign of Edward I, and dates from between 1250 and 1290. It is dedicated to Æthelthryth, or Etheldreda, the Anglo-Saxon saint who founded the monastery at Ely in 673. It was the chapel of the London residence of the Bishops of Ely. In the early 17th century it served briefly as an embassy chapel for the Spanish Ambassador, and a haven for English Catholics. The chapel was purchased by the Catholic Church in 1874 and opened in 1878 and is one of the oldest churches in England to be in current use by the Catholic Church. Description St Etheldreda's consists of a chapel, or upper church, and a crypt or undercroft and is active and used for Masses, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Because Etheldreda was often invoked for help with infections of the throat, the Blessing of the Throats is held annually at t ...
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Abbot Of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its episcopal see in the Ely, Cambridgeshire, City of Ely, Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the Ely Cathedral, Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. The current bishop is Stephen Conway, who signs ''+Stephen Elien:'' (abbreviation of the Latin adjective ''Eliensis'', meaning "of Ely"). The diocesan bishops resided at the Old Palace, Ely, Bishop's Palace, Ely until 1941; they now reside in Bishop's House, the former cathedral deanery. Conway became Bishop of Ely in 2010, translated from the Diocese of Salisbury where he was Bishop of Ramsbury, Bishop suffragan of Ramsbury. The roots of the Diocese of Ely are ancient and the area of Ely was part of the patrimony of Æthelthry ...
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Ecgfrith Of Northumbria
Ecgfrith (; ang, Ecgfrið ; 64520 May 685) was the King of Deira from 664 until 670, and then King of Northumbria from 670 until his death in 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Nechtansmere against the Picts of Fortriu in which he lost his life. Early life Ecgfrith was born in 645 to king Oswiu and Eanflæd his queen. At about the age of 10 Ecgfrith was held as a hostage at the court of Queen Cynewise after her husband king Penda of Mercia invaded Northumbria in 655. Penda was eventually defeated and killed in the Battle of the Winwaed by Oswiu, a victory which greatly enhanced Northumbrian power. To secure his hegemony over other English kingdoms Oswiu arranged a marriage between Ecgfrith and Æthelthryth, a daughter of Anna of East Anglia. Ecgfrith was then made king of Deira in 664 after his half-brother Alhfrith had rebelled against Oswiu earlier that year. King of Northumbria ...
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Æbbe Of Coldingham
Æbbe, also called Tabbs, (c. 615 – 683) was an Anglian abbess and noblewoman. She was the daughter of Æthelfrith, king of Bernicia from c. 593 to 616. She founded monasteries at Ebchester and St Abb's Head near Coldingham in Scotland. Life Early life Æbbe was the daughter of King Æthelfrith of Bernicia and Acha of Deira. Her brothers were Oswald of Northumbria and Oswiu. Æthelfrith invaded the neighbouring kingdom of Deira in 604, and deposed the heir, Acha's brother Edwin, who fled into exile. Æthelfrith was the first Bernician king to also rule Deira, giving him an important place in the history of the later Kingdom of Northumbria. Edwin took refuge in the court of King Rædwald of East Anglia, and with his support in 616, raised an army against Æthelfrith. Edwin's forces defeated and killed Æthelfrith, and Edwin gained the throne of Bernicia and Deira. The kingdom was no longer safe for Æthelfrith's children, as they presented potential rival claims to Edwin ...
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Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely ( ) is a cathedral city in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about north-northeast of Cambridge and from London. Ely is built on a Kimmeridge Clay island which, at , is the highest land in the Fens. It was due to this topography that Ely was not waterlogged like the surrounding Fenland, and was an island separated from the mainland. Major rivers including the River Witham, Witham, River Welland, Welland, River Nene, Nene and River Great Ouse, Great Ouse feed into the Fens and, until draining commenced in the eighteenth century, formed freshwater marshes and Mere (lake), meres within which peat was laid down. Once the Fens were drained, this peat created a rich and fertile soil ideal for farming. The River Great Ouse was a significant means of transport until the Fens were drained and Ely ceased to be an island in the seventeenth century. The river is now a popular boating spot, and has a large marina. Although now surrounded by land, the city ...
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Isle Of Ely
The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures that were often caught in the local rivers for food. This etymology was first recorded by the Venerable Bede. History Until the 17th century, the area was an island surrounded by a large area of fenland, a type of swamp. It was coveted as an area easy to defend, and was controlled in the very early medieval period by the Gyrwas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe. Upon their marriage in 652, Tondbert, a prince of the Gyrwas, presented Æthelthryth (who became St. Æthelthryth), the daughter of King Anna of the East Angles, with the Isle of Ely. She afterwards founded a monastery at Ely, which was destroyed by Viking raiders in 870, but was rebuilt and became a famous Abbey and Shrine. The Fens were drained beginning in 1626 using a network of canals desig ...
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Gyrwas
Gyrwas was the name of an Anglo-Saxon population of the Fens, divided into northern and southern groups and recorded in the Tribal Hidage; related to the name of Jarrow. Hugh Candidus, a twelfth-century chronicler of Peterborough Abbey, describes its foundation in the territory of the Gyrwas, under the name of Medeshamstede. Medeshamstede was clearly in the territory of the North Gyrwas. Hugh Candidus explains ''Gyrwas'', which he uses in the present tense, as meaning people "who dwell in the fen, or hard by the fen, since a deep bog is called in the Saxon tongue ''Gyr''". The territory of the South Gyrwas included Ely. Æthelthryth founded Ely monastery after the death of her husband Tondberht, who is described in Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' as a "prince of the South Gyrwas". Bede also described Thomas, Bishop of Dunwich, in East Anglia, as having been "from the province of the Gyrwas", and deacon to his predecessor, Felix of Burgundy Felix of Bur ...
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Stow Fair, Lincolnshire
Stow Fair was an English medieval fair inaugurated in 1233 and held at Stow Green Hill in Lincolnshire. The Prior of Sempringham was granted permission in 1268 to hold this annual fair, from 23 to 25 June, confirming an earlier charter. The fair continued until living memory, being run as a horse fair until 1954. It seems likely that earlier fairs were held on the same days, one of which is the feast day of St Ætheldreda, long associated with the site. Historian Graham Platts' view is that there should be scepticism over a belief that the fair developed from earlier summer solstice rites. The North Kesteven Council has erected an information board at the site, with historical text and a photograph of the horse fair in 1908. Location Stow Fair was held at the now Stow Green Hill, next to Mareham Lane between Sleaford and Rippingale via Threekingham. This, is thought to be the route of a Roman Road aligned with King Street. The location is on the edge of the Limestone h ...
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