Æthelthryth (or Æðelþryð or Æþelðryþe; 23 June 679 AD) was an

East Anglian East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

princess, a Fenland and

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

n queen and Abbess of Ely. She is an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

saint, and is also known as Etheldreda or Audrey, especially in religious contexts. Her father was King

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 Angli ...

, and her siblings were

Wendreda Wendreda, also known as Wendreth, was an Anglo-Saxon nun, healer, and saint, perhaps of the 7th century. She was uncertainly reported as a daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, a Christian king, which would make her a sister of Etheldreda, ab ...

and

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 ...

, both of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

Life

Æthelthryth was probably born in

Exning Exning is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It lies just off the A14 trunk road, roughly east-northeast of Cambridge, and south-southeast of Ely. The nearest large town is Newmarket. T ...

, near Newmarket in Suffolk. She was one of the four saintly daughters of

, including

and

, all of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded

s. 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 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 ...

, which she had received from Tondberct as a

morning gift Dower is a provision accorded traditionally by a husband or his family, to a wife for her support should she become widowed. It was settled on the bride (being gifted into trust) by agreement at the time of the wedding, or as provided by law. ...

. Æthelthryth was subsequently remarried for political reasons in 660, this time to

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 dis ...

, who was fourteen or fifteen at the time. Shortly after his accession to the throne in 670, Æthelthryth wished to become a nun. This step possibly led to Ecgfrith's long quarrel with

Wilfrid Wilfrid ( – 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 ...

, bishop of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, who was her spiritual counsellor. One account relates that while Ecgfrith initially agreed Æthelthryth should continue to remain a virgin, about 672 he appealed to Wilfrid for the enforcement of his marital rights as against Etheldreda's religious vocation. The bishop succeeded at first in persuading the king to consent that Etheldreda should live for some time in peace as a sister of the Coldingham nunnery, founded by his aunt,

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. Li ...

. Eventually, in light of the danger of being forcibly carried off by the king, Æthelthryth then fled back to the

with two nuns as companions. They managed to evade capture, thanks in part to the rising of the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

. Another version of the legend related that she halted on the journey at 'Stow' and sheltered under a miraculously growing

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergree ...

which came from her staff planted in the ground. Stow came to be known as 'St Etheldred's Stow', when a church was built to commemorate this event. It is more likely that this 'Stow' actually refers to another fair, near Threekingham. Ecgfrith later married Eormenburg and expelled Wilfrid from his kingdom in 678. According to the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'', Æthelthryth founded a

double monastery A double monastery (also dual monastery or double house) is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East a ...

at Ely in 673, which was later destroyed in the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

invasion of 870.

Legacy

The kingdom of East Anglia (Early Saxon period)

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

told how after her death, Æthelthryth's bones were disinterred by her sister and successor, Seaxburh and that her uncorrupted body was later buried in a white, marble

coffin A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewel ...

. In 695, Seaxburh translated the remains of her sister Æthelthryth, who had been dead for sixteen years, from a common grave to the new church at Ely. The ''

Liber Eliensis The ''Liber Eliensis'' is a 12th-century English chronicle and history, written in Latin. Composed in three books, it was written at Ely Abbey on the island of Ely in the fenlands of eastern Cambridgeshire. Ely Abbey became the cathedral of a ...

'' describes these events in detail. When her grave was opened, Æthelthryth's body was discovered to be uncorrupted and her coffin and clothes proved to possess miraculous powers. A

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

made of white marble was taken from the Roman ruins at

Grantchester Grantchester is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Grantesete'' and ''Grauntset ...

, which was found to be the right fit for Æthelthryth. Seaxburh supervised the preparation of her sister's body, which was washed and wrapped in new robes before being reburied. She apparently oversaw the translation of her sister's remains without the supervision of her bishop, using her knowledge of procedures gained from her family's links with the

Faremoutiers Abbey Faremoutiers Abbey (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Faremoutiers) was an important Merovingian Benedictine nunnery (re-established in the 20th century) in the present Seine-et-Marne department of France. It formed an important link between the Merovin ...

as a basis for the ceremony. After Seaxburh, Æthelthryth's niece and her great-niece, both of whom were royal princesses, succeeded her as abbess of Ely. The church of St Etheldreda

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...

was demolished, it is commemorated in a stained glass window. St Etheldreda's Church in

Ely Place Ely Place is a gated road of multi-storey terraces at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. It hosts a 1773-rebuilt public house, Ye Olde Mitre, of Tudor origin and is adjacent to Hatton Garden. It is privatel ...

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

is dedicated to the saint. It was originally part of the palace of the

bishops of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the 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 ...

. After the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

, the palace was used by the Spanish ambassadors, enabling

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

worship to continue in the church. St Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield is 13th century and was originally Saxon. It was named for Saint Etheldreda because it was adjacent to the Palace of the Bishops of Ely who held her as their patron saint. St Etheldreda's is a Roman Catholic parish church in Ely, Cambridgeshire. It is part of the Diocese of East Anglia within the Province of Westminster. The church contains the shrine and relics of Æthelthryth, including her hand. S95EtheldredaShrineEly

St. Etheldreda's Church in

White Notley White Notley is a parish in Essex, England. The settlement (which includes the outlying hamlet of The Green) lies equidistant between the towns of Witham and Braintree amongst arable farmland, in each direction. White Notley is a quintessentia ...

, Essex, is a Church of England parish church, of Saxon construction, built on the site of a Roman temple, with a large quantity of Roman brick in its fabric. The church has a small Mediaeval English stained glass window, depicting St. Etheldreda, which is set in a stone frame made from a very early Insular Christian Roman Chi Rho grave marker. The common version of Æthelthryth's name was St. Audrey, which is the origin of the word '' tawdry'', which derived from the fact that her admirers bought modestly concealing

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

goods at an annual

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

held in her name in Ely. By the 17th century, this lacework had become seen as old-fashioned,

vain Vain may refer to: * Vain (horse) (1966–1991), a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse * Vain Stakes, an Australian Thoroughbred horse race * Vain (band), a glam metal band formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986 * Vaginal intraepithe ...

, or cheap and of poor quality, at a time when the

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

s of eastern England disdained ornamental dress. Etheldreda is remembered in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

with a

Lesser Festival Lesser Festivals are a type of observance in the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast, Principal Holy Day, or Festival, but more significant than a Commemoration. Whereas Princ ...

on 23 June.

Hagiography

There are a number of accounts of Æthelthryth's life in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

, and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

. According to Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, "more medieval vernacular lives bout Æthelthrythwere composed in England than any other native female saint". Æthelthryth appears in

's ''

Ecclesiastical History of the English People The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...

'',

Ælfric Ælfric (Old English ', Middle English ''Elfric'') is an Anglo-Saxon given name. Churchmen *Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955–c. 1010), late 10th century Anglo-Saxon abbot and writer *Ælfric of Abingdon (died 1005), late 10th century Anglo-Saxon Archbi ...

's ''Lives of Saints'', Goscelin of Saint-Bertin's ''Lives of Female Saints'', the ''

'',

Marie de France Marie de France ( fl. 1160 to 1215) was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court ...

's ''La vie seinte Audree'', the ''

South English Legendary South English legendaries are compilations of versified saints' lives written in southern dialects of Middle English from the late 13th to 15th centuries. At least fifty of these manuscripts survive, preserving nearly three hundred hagiographic wor ...

'', and a

life in BL Cotton Faustina B.iii, among others. A modern fictional account has been written by

Moyra Caldecott Moyra Caldecott (1 June 1927 – 23 May 2015)Kevan Manwaring"Moyra Caldecott obituary" ''The Guardian'', 8 June 2005. was a British author of historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction and non-fiction. Her works include ''Guardians of the Tall ...

References

Sources

* Blanton, Virginia (2007) ''Signs of Devotion: the cult of St Aethelthryth in medieval England, 695–1615''. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press ** * Dockray-Miller, B. (2009) ''Saints Edith and Æthelthryth: Princesses, Miracle Workers, and their Late Medieval Audience; the Wilton Chronicle and the Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth'', Turnhout: Brepols Publishers . * Maccarron, Máirín, "The Adornment of Virgins: Æthelthryth and Her Necklaces," in Elizabeth Mullins and Diarmuid Scully (eds), ''Listen, O Isles, unto me: Studies in Medieval Word and Image in honour of Jennifer O’Reilly'' (Cork, 2011), 142–155. * Major, Tristan, "Saint Etheldreda in the ''South English Legendary''," ''Anglia'' 128.1 (2010), 83–101. * McCash, June Hall & Judith Clark Barban, ed. and trans. (2006) ''The Life of Saint Audrey''; a text by

. Jefferson, NC: McFarland * Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn, "Rerouting the Dower: The Anglo-Norman Life of St. Audrey by Marie (of Chatteris?)", in ''Power of the Weak: Studies on Medieval Women'', ed. Jennifer Carpenter and Sally-Beth Maclean (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1995), 27–56.

External links

* *

Richard John King Richard John King (18 January, 1818–10 February, 1879) was an English antiquarian and scholar of medieval poetry. He is best known as a writer of handbooks. Life He was the eldest son of Richard King and his wife Mary Grace Windeatt, and was bor ...

, 1862. ''Handbook of the Cathedrals of England'' (Oxford)
On-line text
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelthryth 636 births 679 deaths Anglo-Saxon nuns Abbesses of Ely Anglo-Saxon royal consorts East Anglian saints East Anglian princesses Ely, Cambridgeshire Burials at Ely Cathedral 7th-century English nuns 7th-century Christian saints Incorrupt saints Founders of Christian monasteries Female saints of medieval England Anglican saints