Richeldis de Faverches, also known as Recholdis or Rychold, was a devout English Christian

noblewoman A noblewoman is a female member of the nobility. Noblewomen form a disparate group, which has evolved over time. Ennoblement of women has traditionally been a rare occurrence; the majority of noblewomen were linked to the nobility by either their ...

and widow, traditionally recognised as the Lady of the Manor of Little Walsingham and credited with establishing the original shrine of

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus, venerated by Catholics and high-church Anglicans. According to tradition, the title is linked to a Marian vision experienced in 1061 by Lady Richeldis de Faverches, an Angl ...

. According to the 15th-century text ''The Foundation of the Chapel of Walsingham'' (commonly known as the ''Pynson Ballad''), she experienced a Marian vision in 1061, in which the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

vouchsafed to her a view of the Holy House in

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

and commissioned her to construct a counterpart in Walsingham, dedicated to the sacred mystery of the

Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...

. This vision, recorded in the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

published by

Richard Pynson Richard Pynson (c. 1449 – c. 1529) was one of the first printers of English books. Born in Normandy, he moved to London, where he became one of the leading printers of the generation following William Caxton. His books were printed to a high s ...

around 1485, is considered one of the earliest documented Marian visions in England.

Traditional account

According to tradition preserved in the

, Richeldis experienced a series of three visions in which the Virgin Mary appeared to her."A Brief History", The Roman Catholic Shrine of Our Lady, Walsingham, England
/ref> In these visions, Richeldis was shown the house of the

and was commissioned to build a replica in Walsingham as a place of pilgrimage where people could honour the Virgin Mary. According to tradition, Mary is said to have promised, 'Whoever seeks my help there will not go away empty-handed,' in connection with the shrine at Walsingham."A Brief History of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham", Archdiocese of Southwark
/ref> According to the same tradition, the construction initially faced difficulties. One night, Richeldis heard singing and stepped into her garden, where she discovered that the little house had been miraculously completed about from the original site. As she looked on, she saw what she believed to be angels departing from the newly finished building.
/ref> The original Holy House was a simple wooden structure, measuring approximately 24 ft. by 13 ft., with four small turrets and a central tower. To protect it from the elements, the structure was later encased in stone. Based on an analysis of historical documents, historian J.C. Dickinson (1959) suggests that the foundation of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham occurred between 1130 and 1153, aligning with the establishment of Walsingham Priory.Dickinson, J.D., ''The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham'', 1956, Walsingham Anglican Archives
/ref> According to Dickinson's research, the noblewoman Lady Richeldis de Faverches, traditionally credited with founding the shrine, died in 1145, leaving her estate to her son, Lord Geoffrey de Faverches. Before departing to join the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crus ...

, Lord Geoffrey entrusted the Holy House and its grounds to his chaplain, Edwy, with the intention of establishing a religious order to care for the chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham. During the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, travel to holy sites abroad became increasingly difficult. As a result, Walsingham emerged as a major pilgrimage destination, recognized alongside

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

. Devotees flocked to the shrine, believing it to be a faithful replica of the Holy House of Nazareth, traditionally built with divine intervention."History of Walsingham", Walsingham Village, Norfolk, England
/ref> The historian

Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser (née Bateman, born 12 June 1941) is an English historian. She is an expert on the history of medieval England, in particular the role of women. Career Leyser is an Emeritus Fellow at St Peter's College, Oxford, and a Fello ...

also disputes the traditionally accepted date of 1061, asserting that Richeldis flourished around 1130. Furthermore, she notes that the family does not appear in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, which was compiled in 1086 and records landowners and holdings at that time. Since the book serves as a comprehensive survey of land ownership following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, the absence of the family suggests that they did not hold land in the area during that period.

References

External links

*{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212141853/http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/5th-june-1987/7/walsingham-in-a-marian-year , date=12 December 2013 , title=Cooper, Kristina. "Walsingham in a Marian Year", ''Catholic Herald'', 5 June 1987
Gapen, George Ben. "Our Lady of Walsingham: an Orthodox Introduction", 2002
"(dead link as of 15 January 2021)" English Roman Catholics Medieval English nobility Marian visionaries Anglican Mariology Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England History of Catholicism in the United Kingdom History of the Church of England People from Walsingham