St Mildred, Preston next Wingham, Kent - Window - geograph

Saint Mildrith, also Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred, ( ang, Mildþrȳð) (born c. 660, died after 732), was a 7th and 8th-century

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- ...

abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, Kent. She was declared a saint after her death, and later her remains were moved to Canterbury.

Life and family

Mildrith was the daughter of King Merewalh of Magonsaete, an area similar to the present day Herefordshire, a sub-kingdom of Mercia. Her mother was Domne Eafe (also sometimes named as Saint Eormenburga),St. Augustine's Abbey, ''The Book of Saints'', A&C Black, Ltd., London, 1921
/ref> herself a great-granddaughter of Æthelberht of Kent, and as such appearing in the so-called Kentish Royal Legend. Her sisters Milburga of Much Wenlock and

Mildgyth Saint Mildgyth (or Mildgytha) ( ang, Mildgȳð) (died 676) was the youngest daughter of Merewalh, king of Mercia and Saint Eormenburh. She was the youngest sister of Saint Mildburh of Wenlock and Saint Mildrith. The three sisters have been li ...

were also considered saints, and Mildrith, along with her extended family, features in the Kentish Royal Legend, also known as the "Mildrith Legend". In the 11th century,

Goscelin Goscelin of Saint-Bertin (or Goscelin of Canterbury, born c. 1040, died in or after 1106) was a Benedictine hagiographical writer. He was a Fleming or Brabantian by birth and became a monk of St Bertin's at Saint-Omer before travelling to Englan ...

wrote a

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

of Mildrith, the ''Vita Mildrethae''.Rollason (1982) p. 16 Another work, the ''Nova Legenda Anglie'' of 1516, gives an extensive account of her life. Mildrith's maternal family had close ties to the Merovingian rulers of Gaul, and Mildrith is said to have been educated at the prestigious Merovingian royal

abbey of Chelles Chelles Abbey (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame-des-Chelles) was a Frankish monastery founded around 657/660 during the early medieval period. It was intended initially as a monastery for women; then its reputation for great learning grew, and with the a ...

. She entered the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet, which her mother had established, and became abbess there by 694. A number of dedications to Mildrith exist in the

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

, including at Millam, thereby suggesting that ties to Gaul were maintained. Mildrith died at Minster-in-Thanet some time after 732 and was buried there in the Abbey Church of St Mary.

Relic remains

Mildrith's successor as Abbess, Eadburg (also styled Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet, a correspondent of

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 ...

), built a new Abbey church, also at Minster in Thanet, dedicated to saints Peter and Paul, and translated Mildrith's remains there not later than 748. The shrine within the Abbey became a popular place of local pilgrimage, with Mildrith becoming a much-loved local patron saint. The last Abbess of Minster in Thanet was Leofruna, who was captured by Danes in 1011. The abbey was abandoned and the church downgraded to a parish church. Mildrith's remains, despite fierce local opposition, were

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

St Augustine's Abbey St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent ...

, Canterbury in 1030, an event commemorated on 18 May. St. Mildred's church, within the town walls at Canterbury, dates back to this time. Some of her relics were given, in the 11th century, to a church at

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

, Netherlands. In 1881 the feast day of St. Mildred was officially reinstated by Pope Leo XIII.Minster Abbey Chronological Table
Benedictine Nuns of Minster Abbey. Accessed 11 October 2014 In 1882, following a refounding of a Benedictine monastery at Minster in Thanet, the nuns petitioned the Archbishop of Utrecht, who granted their return to Thanet. In 1937 Minster Abbey was bought by nuns of the Benedictine order, and in 1953 a relic of St. Mildred was brought there.

Family tree

The family tree of this part of the royal family of Kent in the 7th century is derived from the later Old English and Latin accounts. Eadbold became king in 616 A.D, succeeded by Eorcantberht in 640 A.D. (possibly co-ruling with his brother Eormenred, Mildrith's grandfather). Ecgberht came to the throne in 664 and died in 673 A.D.Family tree is from Rollason, 1982, p.45

References

Literature

* Brooks, Beda: The world of Saint Mildred, c. 660–730. A study of an Anglo-Saxon nun in the golden age of the English Church, Bath 1996, . * Rollason, David W.: The Mildrith legend. A study in early Medieval hagiography in England. Leicester 1982, .

Sources

* Love, R. C., "Mildrith, St" in

Michael Lapidge Michael Lapidge, FBA (born 8 February 1942) is a scholar in the field of Medieval Latin literature, particularly that composed in Anglo-Saxon England during the period 600–1100 AD; he is an emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a Fellow of ...

et al., ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England.'' Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. * Rollason, D. W., ''The Mildrith Legend: a study in early medieval hagiography in England'' (series "Studies in the Early History of Britain", Leicester University Press) 1982. (This includes the full Latin text of the 13th century Bodley 285 Text and the ''Vita Mildrethae'' of Goscelin of Canterbury.)
Introduction and primary texts of three Anglo-Saxon ''Lives of St Mildreth'', dated between 725 and 974
in Old English: Þá hálgan (aka The Kentish Royal Legend); Caligula 'Life of St Mildrith' (with translation); The Lambeth Palace text of Þá hálgan.
O.S.B., "Saint Mildred and her Kinsfolk"
''Virgin Saints of the Benedictine Order'', Catholic Truth Society, London, 1903
''Nova Legenda Anglie''
(first published in 1516. This ed. 1901.) The entry for De Sancta Mildreda is in Vol. II p. 193–197

External links

* {{Authority control Mercian saints Kentish saints Anglo-Saxon royalty Anglo-Saxon abbesses 7th-century births 8th-century deaths 8th-century Christian saints People from Minster-in-Thanet Female saints of medieval England 7th-century English nuns 8th-century English nuns House of Icel Medieval English saints English Roman Catholic saints English Roman Catholics History of Catholicism in England