Saint Eormenhild (or ''Ermenilda'', ''Ermenildis'', ''Ermengild'', all meaning "battle-great", from eormen- "great", hild- "battle") (d. about 700/703) is a 7th-century
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
saint venerated in the
Eastern Orthodox and
Roman Catholic 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, and eventually became abbess of Minster-in-Sheppey and Ely Ely or ELY may refer to:
Places Ireland
* Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely
* Ely Place, Dublin, a street
United Kingdom
* Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England
** Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formal ...
consecutively.
There are almost no contemporary records for her life. When discussing Wulfhere, Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
mentions neither she 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 rec ...
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
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
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 (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 Patron Saints IndexErmenilda at Catholic OnlineSaint ERMENILDASaint of the Day, February 13
at ''SaintPatrickDC.org''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ermenilda of Ely
Year of birth unknown
700s deaths
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