Eva fitz Harding ( – 12 March, c. 1173) was an English monastic patron who, it was claimed, founded a nunnery in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. For hundreds of years, daily prayers were said for her, and every 12 March the abbey would feed fifty poor men. She and her husband were founders of

St Augustine's Abbey St Augustine's Abbey (founded as the Monastery of Ss Peter and Paul and changed after its founder St Augustine of Canterbury's death) was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a mon ...

Life

Its not known where or when she was born although it was claimed later that she was related to Norman Royalty but this may have just been embellishments to the family history. In 1140 it is believed that she was married to

Robert Fitzharding Robert Fitzharding (c. 1095–1170) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman from Bristol who was granted the feudal barony of Berkeley in Gloucestershire. He rebuilt Berkeley Castle, and founded the Berkeley family which still occupies it today. He was a ...

who unusually was an

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 ...

nobleman in

Norman Britain Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

. We do know that in the fifteenth century both Eva and her husband were being creditted as joint founders of the abbey of St Augustine. We also know the day of her death as every 12 March there was a meal organised for fifty poor men to commemorate her death. On every other day of the year the Abbey arranged for prayers to be said for the two of them. In 1153–54, her husband Robert Fitzharding received a royal

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 ...

from King Henry II giving him permission to rebuild

Berkeley Castle Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, being designated by English ...

. In 1150 and 1170 her husband would prepare charters and she would serve as a witness recorded as "Domina Eva". In 1162 one of her five sons, Henry, became the Archdeacon of Exeter. She also had three daughters. Her husband retired as a canon in the abbey and died there in 1171. His heir was their son Maurice. It has been claimed that Eva founded a nunnery in Bristol and became its abbess. However evidence says that this facility has not initially a nunnery but a hospital caring for men and women. However the original gathering of women may have been to deliver alms. One source says that they were both buried in the abbey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Eva fitz 1173 deaths 12th-century Christian abbesses People from Bristol