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Æthelthryth
Sign in to saveÆthelthryth (or Æðelþryð or Æþelðryþe; 4 March 63623 June 679) was an East Anglian princess, a Fenland and Northumbrian queen and Abbess of Ely. She is an Anglo-Saxon saint, and is also known as Etheldreda or Audrey, especially in religious contexts. She was a daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia, and her siblings were Wendreda and Seaxburh of Ely, both of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded abbeys. Æthelthryth was "in turns, princess, wife, queen, nun and abbess, enjoying every possible position of power a woman could claim in early Anglo-Saxon England".
Person
- Born
- 0636-01-01
- Died
- 0679-00-00
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Saint.honorific_prefix
- Saint
- Saint.name
- Æthelthryth
- Saint.birth_date
- 4 March 636
- Saint.feast_day
- 23 June (Catholic),17 October (Anglican)
- Saint.venerated_in
- Eastern Orthodox Church, True Orthodox ChurchCatholic ChurchAnglican Communion
- Saint.image
- St-aethelthryth.jpg
- Saint.caption
- Saint Æthelthrythfrom Benedictional of St Æthelwold, 10 C British Library
- Saint.birth_place
- Exning, Suffolk
- Saint.death_place
- Ely, Cambridgeshire
- Saint.titles
- Virgin, Abbess of Ely
- Saint.attributes
- Abbess holding a model of Ely Cathedral
- Saint.patronage
- Throat complaints
Key dates
- Born
- 1 January 636
- Died
- 679
via Wikidata · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- Kingdom of Northumbria
- Place of birth
- Exning
- Place of death
- Ely
- Spouse
- Ecgfrith of Northumbria
- Father
- Anna of East Anglia
- Sibling
- Sæthryth
- Occupation
- patron of the arts
- Position held
- abbess
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Hagiography
- Life
- Death, burial, and miracle
- Legacy
- Festival
- Namesake Churches
- Language
- Visual art and fiction
- See also
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Æthelthryth (or Æðelþryð or Æþelðryþe; 4 March 63623 June 679) was an East Anglian princess, a Fenland and Northumbrian queen and Abbess of Ely. She is an Anglo-Saxon saint, and is also known as Etheldreda or Audrey, especially in religious contexts. She was a daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia, and her siblings were Wendreda and Seaxburh of Ely, both of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded abbeys. Æthelthryth was "in turns, princess, wife, queen, nun and abbess, enjoying every possible position of power a woman could claim in early Anglo-Saxon England".
== Hagiography == There are a number of accounts of Æthelthryth's life in Latin, Old English, Old French, and Middle English. According to Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, "more medieval vernacular lives [about Æthelthryth] were composed in England than any other native female saint". Æthelthryth appears in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Ælfric's Lives of Saints, Goscelin of Saint-Bertin's Lives of Female Saints, the Liber Eliensis, Marie de France's La vie seinte Audree, the South English Legendary, and a Middle English life in BL Cotton Faustina B.iii, among others.