Saint Eormenhild (or ''Ermenilda'', ''Ermenildis'', ''Ermengild'', all meaning "battle-great", from eormen- "great", hild- "battle") (died about 700/703) is a 7th-century

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

saint venerated in the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

churches.

Life

She features in the genealogies of various 11th- and 12th-century versions of the Kentish Royal Legend. These describe her as the daughter of King Eorcenberht of Kent and St Seaxburh of Ely, and wife to Wulfhere of Mercia,Casanova, Gertrude. "St. Werburgh." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 4 Dec. 2013
/ref> with whom she had a daughter, St Wærburh, and a son, Coenred. Eormenhild became a nun after her husband died in 675. In due course, she became abbess of Minster-in-Sheppey, which her mother had founded. Later, she became abbess of Ely. There are almost no contemporary records for her life. When discussing Wulfhere, Bede mentions neither her nor her daughter Wærburh. However, her name is mentioned as an abbess in a (copy of a)

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

of King Wihtred of Kent, dated 699, along with three other abbesses present at the occasion when the charter was issued: "Irminburga, Aeaba et Nerienda".Sawyer no. 20
/ref> Her feast day is 13 February.

References

Primary sources

*Charter of King Wihtred
Sawyer no. 20 (AD 699)
*The '' Kentish Royal Legend'', also known as ''Þá hálgan'' (Cambridge, CCC, MS 201,), ed. Felix Liebermann, ''Die Heiligen Englands''. Hanover, 1889. 1–10. Editio
transcribed by
Alaric Hall. *''Kentish Royal Legend'' / ''Þá hálgan'' (London, Lambeth Palace 427, f. 211)
transcribed by Alaric Hall
*Anonymous Old English ''Life'' of St.

Mildrith Saint Mildrith, also Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred, () (born c. 660, died after 732), was a 7th- and 8th-century Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, Kent. She was declared a saint after her death, and, in 1030, ...

(Caligula), ed. and tr. Oswald Cockayne, ''Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England'', vol. 3. London, 1866. 422-9 (Caligula), 428-32 (MS Lambeth Palace)
Caligula text partially transcribed by Alaric Hall
and Cockayne's volume available as PDF from Google Books. * Goscelin, ''Vita Deo delectae virginis Mildrethae'', 11th century. Published in Latin, in Rollason, D, (1982) ''The Mildrith Legend'', Leicester University Press. *Charter of King Cnut
Sawyer no. 958
(AD 1022), possibly a forgery. * Goscelin, ''Lectiones in natale S. Eormenhilde'', ed. and tr. Rosalind C. Love, ''Goscelin of Saint-Bertin. The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely''. OMT. Oxford, 2004. 11 ff. *''Liber Eliensis'', ed. E.O. Blake, ''Liber Eliensis''. Camden Society 3.92. London, 1962; tr. J. Fairweather. ''Liber Eliensis. A History of the Isle of Ely from the Seventh Century to the Twelfth.'' Woodbridge, 2005.

External links

* *
Ermenilda at Catholic Online
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ermenilda of Ely 7th-century births Year of birth unknown 700s deaths Year of death uncertain 7th-century Christian saints 7th-century English people Abbesses of Ely Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Kentish saints 7th-century English women House of Kent Female saints of medieval England People from Minster, Swale