Ælfthryth, also known as Alfreda, Alfritha, Aelfnryth, or Etheldritha, is a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

, and

recluse A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society. The word is from the Latin ''recludere'', which means "shut up" or "sequester". Historically, the word referred to a Christian hermit's total isolation from th ...

, venerated in both the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Antiochian Orthodox Church The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch ( el, Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East ( ar ...

. She was a daughter of King

Offa Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æth ...

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , y ...

and his consort,

Cynethryth Cynethryth (''Cyneðryð''; died after AD 798) was a Queen of Mercia, wife of King Offa of Mercia and mother of King Ecgfrith of Mercia. Cynethryth is the only Anglo-Saxon queen consort in whose name coinage was definitely issued. Biography Ori ...

. Ælfthryth was "either betrothed to or loved by" St. Ethelbert, the king of the East Angles. In 793, after visiting Ælfthyth, he was taken captive and murdered by her mother so that Cynethryth's brother could ascend to the throne instead; Ælfthryth's was horrified by the murder, so she departed the court and retired to the

Crowland Abbey Crowland Abbey (also spelled Croyland Abbey, Latin: ''Croilandia'') is a Church of England parish church, formerly part of a Benedictine abbey church, in Crowland in the English county of Lincolnshire. It is a Grade I listed building. History A ...

in the marshes of

Crowland Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. la, Croilandia) is a town in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...

, where she lived as a recluse for 40 years, until her death of natural causes in 835. Ælfthryth's sister Aelfreda also lost a husband due to their parents' political intrigue. According to the ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', Ælfthryth was "famous for her prophecies". Her tomb was arranged around St. Guthlac's. A Crowland tradition states that Ælfthryth's relics were destroyed in 870 when Danes destroyed the abbey, but there is little evidence for it. Her feast day is 2 August.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfthryth 8th-century births 795 deaths Anglo-Saxon royalty Mercian saints People from Crowland 8th-century Christian saints 8th-century English women House of Icel 8th-century English people Female saints of medieval England