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Kentish Royal Legend
The Kentish Royal Legend is a diverse group of Medieval texts which describe a wide circle of members of the royal family of Kent from the 7th to 8th centuries AD. Key elements include the descendants of Æthelberht of Kent over the next four generations; the establishment of various monasteries, most notably Minster-in-Thanet; and the lives of a number of Anglo-Saxon saints and the subsequent travels of their relics. Although it is described as a legend, and contains a number of implausible episodes, it is placed in a well attested historical context. The legend Æthelberht and his descendants Almost all the accounts begin by describing how Æthelberht of Kent was baptised by Augustine. The fullest accounts (such as Bodley 285, see below) then provide a substantial genealogy, involving not only his direct descendants but also the families some of the daughters marry into, the kings of Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia. The family tree below is David Rollason's summary of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cotton Caligula
This is an incomplete list of some of the manuscripts from the Cotton library that today form the Cotton collection of the British Library. Some manuscripts were destroyed or damaged in a fire at Ashburnham House in 1731, and a few are kept in other libraries and collections. Robert Bruce Cotton organized his library in a room long by six feet wide filled with bookpresses, each with the bust of a figure from classical antiquity on top. Counterclockwise, these were Julius Caesar, Augustus, Cleopatra, Faustina, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. (Domitian had only one shelf, perhaps because it was over the door). In each press, each shelf was assigned a letter; manuscripts were identified by the bust over the press, the shelf letter, and the position of the manuscript (in Roman numerals) counting from the left side of the shelf. Thus, the Lindisfarne Gospels, Nero B.iv, was the fourth manuscript from the left on the second ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eanswith
Saint Eanswith ( ang, Ēanswīþ; born c. 630, Kent, England. Died c. 650, Folkestone, England), also spelled Eanswythe or Eanswide, was an Anglo-Saxon princess, who is said to have founded Folkestone Priory, one of the first Christian monastic communities for women in Britain. Her possible remains were the subject of research, published in 2020. Life Eanswith was a princess of the Kingdom of Kent. Her father was Eadbald, who ruled as king of Kent from 616 to 640 CE. Her mother, Eadbald's second wife, was Emma, who may have been a Frankish princess; she also bore him two sons, Eormenred and Eorcenberht. Eanswith's grandfather, Æthelberht of Kent had been the first king of Anglo-Saxon England to accept Christian baptism. Tradition has it that Eanswith founded the Benedictine Folkestone Priory, the first nunnery in England. She was supported in this by her father, Eadbald. While the monastery was under construction, a pagan prince came to Kent seeking to marry Eanswith. King ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mildgyth
Saint Mildgyth (or Mildgytha) ( ang, Mildgȳð) (died 676) was the youngest daughter of Merewalh, king of Mercia and Saint Eormenburh. She was the youngest sister of Saint Mildburh of Wenlock and Saint Mildrith. The three sisters have been likened to the three theological virtues: Mildburh to faith, Mildgyth to hope, and Mildrith to charity. She was a Benedictine nun and later abbess of a Northumbrian convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic .... All that is known of St Mildgytha was that she was a nun and that “miraculous powers were often exhibited” at her tomb in Northumbria. She seems to have died long before her sisters, while still quite young, which may account for so little mention of her. Her feast day is 17 January. References External links * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mildburh
Saint Mildburh (alternatively Milburga or Milburgh) (died 23 February 727) was the Benedictine abbess of Wenlock Priory. Her feast day is 23 February. Life Mildburh was a daughter of Merewalh, King of the Mercian sub-kingdom of Magonsaete, and Domne Eafe. She was the older sister of Saint Mildrith and Saint Mildgytha. The three sisters have been likened to the three theological virtues: Milburh to faith, Mildgytha to hope, and Mildrith to charity. Mildburh was sought in marriage by a neighboring prince, who resolved to have her for his wife, even at the cost of violence. Mildburh's escape took her across a river. The prince, in hot pursuit, was forced to desist when the river miraculously became so swollen that he was unable to ford. Mildburh entered the Benedictine monastery of Wenlock, Shropshire (now known as Much Wenlock). The nunnery was founded with endowments by her father and her uncle, Wulfhere of Mercia, under the direction of a French Abbess, Liobinde of Chelles. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mildthryth
Saint Mildrith, also Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred, ( ang, Mildþrȳð) (born c. 660, died after 732), was a 7th and 8th-century Anglo-Saxon abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, Kent. She was declared a saint after her death, and later her remains were moved to Canterbury. Life and family Mildrith was the daughter of King Merewalh of Magonsaete, an area similar to the present day Herefordshire, a sub-kingdom of Mercia. Her mother was Domne Eafe (also sometimes named as Saint Eormenburga), herself a great-granddaughter of Æthelberht of Kent, and as such appearing in the so-called Kentish Royal Legend. Her sisters Milburga of Much Wenlock and Mildgyth were also considered saints, and Mildrith, along with her extended family, features in the Kentish Royal Legend, also known as the "Mildrith Legend". In the 11th century, Goscelin wrote a hagiography of Mildrith, the ''Vita Mildrethae''.Rollason (1982) p. 16 Another work, the ''Nova Legenda Anglie'' of 1516, gives an ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanbury, Staffordshire
Hanbury is a rural village and civil parish west-north-west of Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is bounded to the north by the River Dove. History St Werburgh's Church Hanbury's Church of St Werburgh (Church of England) is Grade II* listed.Church of St Werburgh Two Anglo-Saxon crosses are built into the west wall adjacent to the south door. Most of the church is 13th-century work on a 12th-century core with some 15th-century stone facings. Rebuilt north and south aisle extensions date from 1824 and 1869 and the chancel from 1862 is by Hine and Evans of Nottingham. Materials consist of coursed and finely dressed sandstone blocks; lead roofs to the nave and aisles, hidden behind parapets; and Welsh slate roofs to the chancel with verge parapets. Five 14th-century levels form the tower: the top stage was entirely rebuilt to the incumbent's own design in 1883. Strings engraved in stone mark off the two upper stages, and diagonal buttresses are fixed to three stag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Werburgh
Werburgh (also ''Wærburh'', ''Werburh'', ''Werburga'', meaning "true city"; ; c. AD 650 – 3 February 699/700) was an Anglo-Saxon princess who became the patron saint of the city of Chester in Cheshire. Her feast day is 3 February. Life Werburgh was born at Stone (now in Staffordshire), and was the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia (himself the Christian son of the pagan King Penda of Mercia) and his wife St Ermenilda, herself daughter of the King of Kent. She obtained her father's consent to enter the Abbey of Ely, which had been founded by her great-aunt Etheldreda (or Audrey), the first Abbess of Ely and former queen of Northumbria, whose fame was widespread. Werburgh was trained at home by St Chad (afterwards Bishop of Lichfield), and by her mother; and in the cloister by her aunt and grandmother. Werburgh was a nun for most of her life. During some of her life she was resident in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire. Werburgh was instrumental in convent reform across Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Æthelred And Æthelberht
Saints Æthelred and Æthelberht (also ''Ethelred'', ''Ethelbert'') according to the Kentish royal legend (attested in the 11th century) were princes of the Kingdom of Kent who were murdered in around AD 669, and later commemorated as saints and martyrs. Their story forms an important element in the legend of Saint Mildrith, because the monastery of Minster in Thanet is said to have been founded in atonement for the crime. Historical context King Eorcenberht of Kent seized the rule of Kent in 640 in precedence to his elder brother Eormenred. Both were sons of Eadbald of Kent (r. c. 616–640). The legend, contained in a Latin ''Passio'', tells that Eormenred and his wife Oslafa had several children including the two sons Aethelred and Aethelberht, and a daughter Eormenbeorg, also known as Domne Eafe. Eafe married Merewalh, ruler of the Maegonsaetan, a people situated in the west Midlands in the Shropshire area. King Eorcenberht married Seaxburh, daughter of King Anna of Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magonsæte
Magonsæte was a minor sub- kingdom of the greater Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, thought to be coterminous with the Diocese of Hereford. The British territory of Pengwern was conquered by Oswiu of Northumbria in 656, while he was overlord of the Mercians. Western Pengwern was then occupied by Anglian groups. One group based itself at the old Roman town of Magnae or (Old Welsh) Cair Magon, modern Kenchester near Hereford. The sub-kingdom of the Western Hecani existed in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, of which three rulers are known: Merewalh, Mildfrith, and Merchelm. By the later 8th century, the region would seem to have been reincorporated into Mercia, perhaps as Westerna, becoming known as the Magonsæte by the 9th century. Smaller sub-tribes of the Magonsæte included the Temersæte near Hereford and the Hahlsæte near Ludlow. See also * Westerne *Archenfield Archenfield ( Old English: ''Ircingafeld'') is the historic English name for an area of southern and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merewalh
Merewalh (sometimes given as Merwal or Merewald was a sub-king of the Magonsæte, a western cadet kingdom of Mercia thought to have been located in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Merewalh is thought to have lived in the mid to late 7th century, having acceded the throne during the time of Penda of Mercia, who, the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' implies, was his father. Though Merewalh's name implies that may have been a Briton. It is possible that Merewalh was a British leader, rewarded by Penda for his aid in war, perhaps at the Battle of Maserfelth. We know nothing of the origins of his first wife, who could have been a relative of Penda. A British origin might explain his control of lands around Leominster, where no evidence of early settlement by pagan Anglo-Saxons is to be found. :A.D. 656. This year was Peada slain; and Wulfhere, son of Penda, succeeded to the kingdom of the Mercians. In his time waxed the abbey of Medhamsted very rich, which his brother had begun. The king loved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domne Eafe
Domne Eafe (; floruit late 7th century), also ''Domneva'', ''Domne Éue'', ''Æbbe'', ''Ebba'', was, according to the Kentish royal legend, a granddaughter of King Eadbald of Kent and the foundress of the double monastery of Minster in Thanet Priory at Minster-in-Thanet during the reign of her cousin King Ecgberht of Kent. A 1000-year-old confusion with her sister Eormenburg means she is often now known by that name. Married to Merewalh of Mercia, she had at least four children. When her two brothers, Æthelred and Æthelberht, were murdered (and subsequently venerated as saintly martyrs) she obtained the land in Thanet to build an abbey, from a repentant King Ecgberht. Her three daughters all went on to become abbesses and saints, the most famous of which, Mildrith, ended up with a shrine in St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. Origins According to the Kentish royal legend, Domne Eafe's father was Eormenred, son of King Eadbald of Kent and Emma of Austrasia, and grandson of Æthel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecgberht Of Kent
Ecgberht I (also spelled Egbert) (died 4 July 673) was a King of Kent (664-673), succeeding his father Eorcenberht. He may have still been a child when he became king following his father's death on 14 July 664, because his mother Seaxburh was recorded as having been regent. Ecgberht's court seems to have had many diplomatic and ecclesiastic contacts. He hosted Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop, and provided escorts to Archbishop Theodore and Abbot Adrian of Canterbury for their travels in Gaul. The various versions of the Kentish Royal Legend state that, spurred on by his adviser Thunor, he had his cousins Æthelred and Æthelberht (sons of his uncle Eormenred) killed, and so had to pay Weregild to their sister Domne Eafe, enabling her to build a Monastery at Thanet; this may reflect a dynastic struggle that ended in the success of Eorcenberht's line. The two murdered princes were later venerated as saints at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire. A charter records Ecgberht's patron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
