In my travels around the country it seems difficult to escape from Æthelthryth and the people she knew. So who was Æthelthryth? In answer to this question I have set out below some of my discoveries which I hope will be of interest.
Æthelthryth, sometimes “Etheldreda”, now Audrey, was one of the daughters of Anna, King of East Anglia who reigned around 635 to 654. Anna had four daughters who became venerated as saints, Æthelthryth, Seaxburh (Seaxburga), Æthelburh (Ethelburga) and Wihtburh (Withburga). Æthelthryth married Tondberht, ealdorman of the South Gyrwas – a buffer zone on the western edge of the Fens in East Anglia. When he died she married Ecgfrith who was to become King of Northumbria. Encouraged by Bishop Wilfrid Æthelthryth entered the Northumbrian monastery at Coldingham. She eventually returned to her native East Anglia to found an abbey at Ely in Cambridgeshire. Her story is told in Bede’s “The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation”, Book IV, Chapters XIX and XX, in the “Liber Eliensis” an account of the history of the Isle of Ely compiled by a monk of Ely in the late twelfth century, and in a number of other chronicles.
Æthelthryth was born in 630 in Exning in Suffolk at her father’s “palace” where she spent much of her early life. This palace formed part of a military base some two miles behind one of the four great defensive works built in the locality and today known as “Devils Dyke”.
East Anglia was constantly being threatened by King Penda of Mercia (632-655) and his activities had a direct bearing on the course of Æthelthryth’s life. It was the death of the East Anglian kings in battles against Penda that led to the succession of Anna and his own death in battle against Penda in 654 at Bulcamp near Blythburgh in Suffolk.
Æthelthryth’s mother, whose name is not known, already had a daughter Sethryd by her first husband before she married Anna. This Sethryd became a nun and ended as the abbess at the double monastery at Faremoutiers-en-Brie in northern France which was often used as a “finishing-school” for daughters of the aristocracy in Europe. Æthelthryth’s sister Ethelburga similarly went to Faremoutiers and eventually became the Abbess. Both these daughters became saints and were revered in France. The chapel near Faremoutiers is dedicated to Ethelburga who is known as “Saint Aubierge” in France.
Æthelthryth’s sister Seaxburga married King Eorcenberhrt (Erconbert) of Kent and founded a monastery at Sheppey. She became abbess at Ely after Æthelthryth’s death. Her sister Withburga founded a nunnery at Dereham in Norfolk and became venerated as a saint. Withburga’s body was interred at Dereham until it was removed by Ely monks in 974. Today there is a “Withburga’s well” in the churchyard at Dereham with an accompanying notice about her. A brother Iurminus was killed in battle at Bulcamp alongside their father in 654 and both were initially buried in Anna’s church at Blythburgh in Suffolk. Apparently there was once a shrine behind the high altar at Bury St Edmunds Abbey to St Jurmin, who it was assumed was Iurminus.
In 647, on her way to the monastery at Chelles, near Paris, Hild of Northumbria who was to become abbess of the double monastery at Strenæshalc (Whitby), came to Rendlesham in Norfolk to the court of King Anna. She stayed some time and during this time Æthelthryth would have had the opportunity to meet her. Whilst staying at Rendlesham Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne sent a message to Anna asking him to dissuade Hild from going to Chelles and to encourage her to return to Northumbria.
Æthelthryth was married to ealdorman Tondberht to cement links with the frontier island of Ely in Cambridgeshire and its related territories. Ely was in the territory of the South Gyrwas a vassal state whose ealdorman were appointed by the East Anglian kings. Tondberht died in 655. Æthelthryth, now age twenty-five appointed “Ovin”, the head of her household as her steward. She then retired to Cratendune, a mile south of modern Ely where she had founded a church. However, Æthelthryth led an active life involving herself in the community and there is no concrete evidence to show that at that time she was contemplating entering a convent.
In 654 King Æthelhere of East Anglia, was killed fighting for Penda of Mercia at the Battle of Winwaed in Northumbria. Æthelthryth’s uncle, Æthelwald succeeded to the throne. To secure the new alliance between East Anglia and Northumbria, and to counter-balance any aspirations of a resurgent Mercia, King Oswy of Northumbria proposed that Æthelthryth, newly widowed, and aged 29, should marry his son Ecgfrith, a boy no older than fourteen or fifteen whom she had never met.
Æthelthryth journeyed north with Ovin and some chosen companions including Sewara and Swenna, both from Cratendune near Ely. Æthelthryth’s marriage ceremony at York in 660 was performed by Bishop Finan of Lindisfarne. As a wedding gift she received land around the town of Hexham and it was this land she later gave Wilfrid so that he could build a monastery. This munificence was a later source of friction between Ecgfrith and Wilfrid.
Renewed contact with Hild now at Whitby may have encouraged Æthelthryth in her thoughts on possibly entering a convent. This seems to have been the point at which her drive towards the monastic life became dominant. Was it born of a devout urge to serve Christ, or did the world of an aristocratic nunnery offer an acceptable means of escape from an unwelcome marriage? Certainly she pursued this new path with vigour and determination.
In 670 when Oswy died Ecgfrith became ruler of the whole of Northumbria and for reasons of propriety Æthelthryth agreed to her husband’s request to take a more visible role in secular affairs. She now saw her husband more frequently and used the opportunity to plead her case that she be released from her marriage so she could enter a convent. After several months Ecgfrith agreed to her request. We can surmise that this change of heart was influenced by the machinations of Eormenburga who was to become Ecgfrith’s new queen. Her marriage to Ecgfrith was dissolved before the end of 672.
At Coldingham in northern Northumbria (a double monastery) Æthelthryth offered herself and her followers as novices to the Abbess, Ebba (King Oswy’s sister and aunt to Ecgfrith). Æthelthryth was consecrated as a nun by Wilfrid, now Bishop of York. In encouraging Æthelthryth to leave Ecgfrith and enter a convent Wilfrid lost his main benefactor and supporter. From a political viewpoint Wilfrid’s interests would be better served if Æthelthryth had remained at the centre of the royal court.
When Æthelthryth left for Coldingham her faithful servant Ovin went to the monastery at Lastingham in Yorkshire and asked to be taken on as a labourer and novice. At Lastingham Ovin became a trusted companion of Bishop Chad accompanying him on a mission to the Mercian monastery at Lichfield. (There is a “St Ovin’s Well” in Lastingham as well as items of Anglo-Saxon interest in the church.) Ovin eventually returned to his home village of Haddenham in Cambridgeshire. Ovin died around 675 and on the site of the first church at Haddenham a tall cross was raised to his memory probably paid for by Æthelthryth. The cross has never been found but the base was brought to Ely Cathedral in the nineteenth century.
After about a year in Coldingham, Æthelthryth was forewarned by Abbess Ebba that Ecgfrith was planning to fetch her back. Ebba advised Æthelthryth to escape. Without the cooperation of Ebba Æthelthryth would have had to stay and accept her fate. Æthelthryth escaped with her two female companions, Sewara and Swenna.
What happened next is taken up by chroniclers keen to emphasise Æthelthryth’s saintliness as proven by the two miracles attributed as she journeyed south. Ecgfrith and his party caught up with Æthelthryth after she had left Coldingham. Æthelthryth and her party took refuge on a spur of rock linked only to the mainland by a narrow neck of sand. The rock became sea-covered at high tide. Why they took such action when they would probably have frozen in the night is unclear. While Ecgfrith’s party waited for the tide to recede the sea became tempestuous and instead of retreating rose even higher. Thinking this was the work of God they saw this as a sign, a “miracle”, and so let Æthelthryth make her escape. Having been brought up in the area, Ecgfrith would have been familiar with the way unexpected storms occurred and then died away, so perhaps he was half hearted in his attempt and was looking for an excuse to call the enterprise off?
Æthelthryth continued on her journey and, south of the Humber, at “Alftham”, now West Halton near Winteringham in Lincolnshire, she took refuge in the hall of an un-named chieftain whom she had met previously when she had travelled north. In gratitude she “built” a church, but this may mean she marked out the place of worship and promised to finance the church leaving construction to take place after she had left. It was here that the second of Æthelthryth’s miracles occurred. One night before sleeping Æthelthryth struck a staff in the ground, supposedly made out of ash but more likely made out of willow given the ensuing events. The following morning the staff had produced buds and new leaves. It is likely that Æthelthryth rested or sheltered from the weather for three or four weeks on her journey once she and her companions were in safe territory south of the Humber. It was during the totality of this period rather than “overnight” that the staff began to bud. This miracle took place at either Stow-in-Lindsey, north-west of Lincoln, where St Mary’s Church used to be called St Ethelreda’s, or Stow near Threekingham, north-east of Sleaford. The latter is now preferred on the basis that it is on the site of a crossroads unlike the alternative which is off a secondary Roman road.
Æthelthryth eventually reached the Cambridgeshire Fens and during a visit by Bishop Wilfrid she discussed with him her proposal to build a new monastery on her island of Ely. It was Æthelthryth who insisted the monastery be built at Ely on a deserted hill a mile to the north of Cratendune on land now occupied by buildings on the southern part of the cathedral complex close to some springs feeding a nearby stream. Given the similarity between the sites, was her sisters Seaburga’s foundation at Minster on Sheppey a model for Ely? The Ely monastery was the first double monastery in the south of England after the style of Coldingham and Whitby in Northumbria with nuns being in the majority. Little is recorded about Æthelthryth’s time as abbess although it is recorded that Wilfrid officiated at her installation 672 and that she was abbess for seven years before dying on the twenty-third of June 679. She was buried in accordance with her wishes in the nun’s graveyard in a simple wooden coffin. Bede records that sixteen years after her death the new abbess, her sister Seaxburga decided her bones should be raised, placed in a new coffin, and transferred to the Church. An existing stone coffin, with a close-fitting lid and with a head cavity that fitted precisely the contours of Æthelthryth’s own head was found in the “small deserted city not far away” of Grantchester (Cambridge). On examination Æthelthryth’s body was found to be incorrupt, the surgeon’s wound beneath her jaw with which she had been buried had healed and all the linen cloths in which her body had been wrapped were fresh.
Today in Ely “Saint Etheldreda” is acknowledged as the founder of the monastery. Inside the Cathedral today are a number of items of Anglo-Saxon interest, including some relating to Æthelthryth. In the north aisle is the “Cathedral Banner” depicting St Etheldreda, and there is a statue to “S Etheldreda” near “St Etheldreda Chapel” at the centre of the east end of the Cathedral. In the north choir, under the stone canopy to Bishop Bentham’s tomb, are stone fragments probably from the base of St Æthelthryth’s later medieval shrine. To the west of the High Altar, the original site of the shrine to St Æthelthryth is marked by a large commemorative stone in the floor surrounded by candles in holders. By the Prior’s Door, in the south aisle, is a section from an Anglo-Saxon cross-shaft and cross-shaft base on which is inscribed in Latin “To Ovin give your light O Lord and rest. Amen.” This is “Ovin’s Cross” set up under the direction of Æthelthryth herself.
Finally, in Ely’s Roman Catholic Church Æthelthryth’s left hand is preserved in a reliquary: its provenance is attested but I have not visited this item. It is desiccated and darkened with age the fingers and thumb are curved as if picking up something of great delicacy, the hand is very small, almost childlike.
It is little wonder Æthelthryth’s name crops up across the land from East Anglia to Northumbria. She seems to have left her mark on people and places at significant periods of her life with the advantage of having Bede to embellish her story and set it all down for us to ponder. In a sense, she epitomises the period of shifting fortunes and alliances in which she lived and the emergence of a powerful Church. And what of the real story of the ever-faithful Ovin?
June 21st, 2010
