Frithuswith, commonly Frideswide (c. 65019 October 727; ang, Friðuswīþ), was an English princess and

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...

. She is credited as the foundress of a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

later incorporated into

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

. She was the daughter of a sub-king of a

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 ...

named

Dida of Eynsham Dida of Eynsham (also called Didan or Didanius) was a 7th-century sub-king of the Mercian territory around Oxford, near the Chilterns. Little is known of his life, although he is mentioned briefly in the various Anglo-Saxon chronicles, and he h ...

whose lands occupied western

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

and the upper reaches of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

Life

The earliest narrative of the saint's life is the ''Life of Saint Frideswide'' ( la, Vita sancte Frideswide) preserved in a manuscript from the early twelfth century, copied in the hand of

John of Worcester John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is usually held to be the author of the ''Chronicon ex chronicis''. ''Chronicon ex chronicis'' The ''Chronicon ex chronicis'' is a world wi ...

. A longer adaptation of this work is attributed to

Robert of Cricklade Robert of Cricklade (–1174×79) was a medieval English writer and prior of St Frideswide's Priory in Oxford. He was a native of Cricklade and taught before becoming a cleric. He wrote several theological works as well as a lost biography of T ...

, head of the

Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford St Frideswide's Priory was established as a priory of Augustinian canons regular, in 1122. The priory was established by Gwymund, chaplain to Henry I of England. Among its most illustrious priors were the writers Robert of Cricklade and Phi ...

. The story recounts that Frideswide was born to King Didan and his wife Safrida. She founds a monastery with her father's assistance while still young. Her parents die soon after. Algar, king of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

( Æthelbald of Mercia) seeks to marry her in spite of her vow of

celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, th ...

. When she refuses him, Algar attempts to abduct her, and Frideswide flees into the wilderness. On fleeing, she finds a ship sent by God which takes her to

Bampton, Oxfordshire Bampton, also called Bampton-in-the-Bush, is a settlement and civil parish in the Thames Valley about southwest of Witney in Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Weald. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,564. B ...

. Algar searches for her in Oxford, but the people refuse to tell him where she is, and he is struck blind. Frideswide later seeks greater solitude and migrates to

Binsey, Oxfordshire Binsey is a village by the River Thames about northwest of the centre of Oxford. It is the opposite side of the river from Port Meadow and about southwest of the ruins of Godstow Abbey. History Binsey's most noted feature is the parish chur ...

. To avoid having to fetch water from the distant

, she prays to God and a well springs up. The well water has healing properties and many people come to seek it out. A nineteenth-century reconstruction of this well can be found at the Church of Saint Margaret in Binsey. She later returns to Oxford and remains abbess until her death. Two

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 Englis ...

adaptations of the Life of Frideswide are included in the ''

South English legendaries 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 ...

''. These include several minor variants on the narrative.

The priory

St Frideswide's Priory, a medieval Augustinian house (some of the buildings of which were incorporated into

following the dissolution of the monasteries) is claimed to be the site of her abbey and

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s. From early times the abbey appears to have been an important landowner in the area; however, it was destroyed in 1002 during the events of the St. Brice's Day massacre. A shrine was kept at the abbey in Frithuswith's honour; later a monastery was built there for Augustinian canons. In 1180, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

Richard of Dover Richard (died 1184) was a medieval Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Canterbury. Employed by Thomas Becket immediately before Becket's death, Richard arranged for Becket to be buried in Canterbury Cathedral and eventually succeeded Becket at Ca ...

translated Frithuswith's remains to a new shrine in the monastery church, an event that was attended by King

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin kin ...

. The later history of the monastery was chequered, but it remained sufficiently prominent that

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...

visited the shrine during her final pregnancy. The priory seal, designed in the late 1180s, depicts Frideswide with a

lily ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...

and a set of wax tablets.

Henry Chichele Henry Chichele ( , also Checheley; – 12 April 1443) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1414–1443) and founded All Souls College, Oxford. Early life Chichele was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364; Chicheley told Pope Eug ...

, the archbishop of Canterbury, officially declared Frideswide the patron saint of Oxford and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1440. Her

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 do ...

is 19 October, the traditional day of her death; the date of her translation is commemorated on 12 February; and the invention (discovery) of her relics on 15 May. The shrine was repeatedly vandalized during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and beyond. In 1546 the monastery church became (and still remains) the cathedral church for the

diocese of Oxford The Diocese of Oxford is a Church of England diocese that forms part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Oxford (currently Steven Croft), and the bishop's seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. It contain ...

. Her shrine was reinstated by Queen Mary in 1558, but was later desecrated by James Calfhill, a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

canon of the church, who was intent on suppressing her cult. As a result, Frithuswith's remains were mixed with those of Catherine Dammartin, wife of

Peter Martyr Vermigli Peter Martyr Vermigli (8 September 149912 November 1562) was an Italian-born Reformed theologian. His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and his decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced many other Italians to convert a ...

, and they remain so to this day.

In modern tradition

Frideswide remains the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Oxford and its university, and there is a revived tradition of pilgrimages to Christ Church. In later art, she is depicted holding the pastoral staff of an

with a fountain springing up near her and an ox at her feet. She appears in medieval stained glass, and in Pre-Raphaelite stained glass by

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, in the chapel where her shrine is also located.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 650 births 727 deaths Anglo-Saxon royalty West Saxon saints People from Oxford Christianity in Oxford Burials at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Anglo-Saxon abbesses 8th-century Christian saints Christian female saints of the Middle Ages Female saints of medieval England 7th-century English women 8th-century English women 7th-century English people 8th-century English people Oxfordshire folklore English Roman Catholic saints English Roman Catholics History of Catholicism in England

Life

The priory

In modern tradition

See also

References

External links