Saint Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet (also known as Eadburh and Bugga) was a

princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

of Wessex, and abbess of

Minster-in-Thanet Minster, also known as Minster-in-Thanet, is a village and civil parish in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is the site of Minster in Thanet Priory. The village is west of Ramsgate (which is the post town) and to the north east of Ca ...

. She is regarded as a saint.

Life

Edburga was the only daughter of King Centwine and Queen Engyth of

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

. According to

Stephen of Ripon Stephen of Ripon was the author of the eighth-century Hagiography, hagiographic text ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' ("Life of Wilfrid, Saint Wilfrid"). Other names once traditionally attributed to him are Eddius Stephanus or Æddi Stephanus, but these ...

, Engyth was a sister of Queen Iurminburh, second wife of King

Ecgfrith of Northumbria Ecgfrith (; ; 64520 May 685) was the King of Northumbria from 670 until his death on 20 May 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Nechtansmere agai ...

. Centwine was not a Christian, but towards the end of his reign, converted and became a monk. Edburga was a friend and student of Saint Mildrith, abbess of Minster-in-Thanet."Edburga (Eadburh, Bugga) of Minster", ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' (5 rev) (David Farmer, ed.) OUP, 2011
She was reputed to be zealous in the pursuit of knowledge. In 716, Edburga became a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

at the abbey. She corresponded with

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

and Lullus. Between 718 and 720 her mother wrote to Boniface and soon after, in 720, Edburga herself wrote to him, sending him fifty shillings and an altar cloth. In 716, Boniface addresses to her a letter containing the famous ''

Vision of the Monk of Wenlock Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church in ...

''. She succeeded Mildrith as the abbess around 733, and presided over about seventy nuns. During her time as an abbess she was able to secure royal charters for the abbey,Dunbar, Alice. ''A Dictionary of Saintly Women'', 1904
/ref> as well as having a new church (Ss. Peter and Paul) built there, to provide a shrine for the relics of St Mildrith.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Edburga Of Minster-In-Thanet 751 deaths Benedictine abbesses Year of birth missing 8th-century deaths West Saxon saints Kentish saints Anglo-Saxon abbesses 8th-century Christian saints 8th-century English nuns 8th-century Christian nuns Christian female saints of the Middle Ages People from Minster-in-Thanet Daughters of kings