Saint Cuthburh or Cuthburg, Cuthburga ( ang, Cūþburh; died 31 August 725) was the first Abbess of

Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poole ...

. She was the sister of

Ine INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional Elec ...

, King of

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

and was married to the

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 king

Aldfrith Aldfrith (Early Modern Irish: ''Flann Fína mac Ossu''; Latin: ''Aldfrid'', ''Aldfridus''; died 14 December 704 or 705) was king of Northumbria from 685 until his death. He is described by early writers such as Bede, Alcuin and Stephen of Ripon ...

Life

Cuthburh was the daughter of

Cenred of Wessex Cenred of Wessex was a member of the House of Wessex and a member of the direct male line from Cynric to Egbert. It is possible that Cenred ruled alongside his son Ine for a period. There is weak evidence for joint kingships, and stronger evidence ...

. In addition to her brother Ine, she also had a brother Ingild, who was an ancestor of

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

, and a sister

Cwenburh Cwenburh of Wimborne was an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon saint,David Hugh Farmer (2011), '' The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', 5th Edition (revised), p373 as Quenburga a sister of King Ine of Wessex and of Saint Cuthburh. Her sister Cuthburh was mar ...

. Her marriage to Aldfrith allied him with Ine, one of the most powerful kings in

Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...

. Cuthburh was Aldfrith's only known wife. Aldfrith had at least two sons, Osred and Offa, it is believed Cuthburh was the mother of Osred, Offa it is not certain. It is also believed they were the parents of a daughter

Osana Osana was a Northumbrian princess, whose local following as a saint developed informally after her death, though she was never officially canonised. Centuries after her death, she was described by the Norman-Welsh chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis (di ...

, who would later be known as Saint Osana. According to a report by

Florence of Worcester Florence of Worcester (died 1118), known in Latin as Florentius, was a monk of Worcester, who played some part in the production of the '' Chronicon ex chronicis'', a Latin world chronicle which begins with the creation and ends in 1140.Keynes, "Flo ...

, written long afterwards, at some time before Aldfrith's death in 705 he and Cuthburh "renounced connubial intercourse for the love of God". Following this, Cuthburh entered Abbess

Hildelith Hildelith of Barking, also known as Hildilid or Hildelitha, was an 8th-century Christian saint, from Anglo-Saxon England but of foreign origin. Very little is known of her life; however, she is known to history mainly through the hagiography of ...

's nunnery at

Barking Abbey Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country". Originally established in the 7th century, fr ...

. Cuthburh is traditionally associated with the "Cuthburh" mentioned in the dedication of

Aldhelm Aldhelm ( ang, Ealdhelm, la, Aldhelmus Malmesberiensis) (c. 63925 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the so ...

's treatise ''De virginitate''. It is thought that she was in some way related to Aldhelm. After Aldfrith's death, around 705, Cuthburh and

established a double-monastery in her brother's kingdom of

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

, at

Wimborne, Dorset Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour and the River All ...

. She is described as austere, and she communicated with prelates through a little hatch in the

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

at Wimborne. Among

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

's surviving letters is an anonymous account of a vision of Abbess Cuthburh in Hell. Cuthburh died on 31 August 725 at Wimborne and is said to be buried under the wall of the chancel. In 1558, Wimborne Minster being in need of repair, the guardians of the church wrote

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...

for permission to melt down the silver reliquary containing Cuthburh's head. As a few years later, the tower collapsed, it is surmised that the reliquary was confiscated to the King's use. It is not mentioned what then happened to her head."Wimborne Minster", ''The Saturday Review'', October 1, 1881, p. 415, John W. Parker and Son
/ref> The

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

associated with her is 31 August.Mayo, 1860

References

Sources

* Farmer, D. H. (1987). The

Oxford Dictionary of Saints The ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' by David Hugh Farmer is a concise reference compilation of information on more than 1300 saints and contains over 1700 entries. It is published by Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is ...

, p. 96. Oxford:

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. * Lapidge, Michael, "Cuthburg", in M. Lapidge et al., ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of

.'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999) * Mayo, C.H. (1860). History of Wimborne Minster: The Collegiate Church of Saint Cuthberga and King's Free Chapel at Wimborne, (pp. 4–6). London: Bell and Daldy
archive.org

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuthburh Year of birth unknown 725 deaths 7th-century English people 8th-century English nuns 7th-century Christian saints West Saxon saints Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Burials at Wimborne Minster (church) House of Wessex English princesses Date of death unknown Place of birth unknown Female saints of medieval England 7th-century English nuns 8th-century Christian saints Medieval English saints

Life

See also

References

Sources

External links