All Topics  
Edburga of Winchester

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Edburga of Winchester
 
 
  Topics Edburga of Winchester Topic Home

Saint Eadburh or Edburga (died June 15, 960
960

Events...
) was the daughter of King Edward the Elder of England and his third wife, Edgiva of Kent
Edgiva of Kent

Edgiva of Kent, or also Eadgifu was the third wife of Edward the Elder, List of British monarchs of England. Edgiva was the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent....
. There is little contemporary information for her life, but in a Winchester charter
Anglo-Saxon Charters

Anglo-Saxon Charters are documents from the History of Anglo-Saxon England in Great Britain which typically make a grant of Real Estate or record a privilege....
 dated 939, she appears as the beneficiary of land in Hampshire granted by her brother King Athelstan.

She was a nun at, and possibly abbess of, the Nunnaminster in Winchester where she was buried.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Edburga of Winchester'
Start a new discussion about 'Edburga of Winchester'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Saint Eadburh or Edburga (died June 15, 960
960

Events...
) was the daughter of King Edward the Elder of England and his third wife, Edgiva of Kent
Edgiva of Kent

Edgiva of Kent, or also Eadgifu was the third wife of Edward the Elder, List of British monarchs of England. Edgiva was the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent....
. There is little contemporary information for her life, but in a Winchester charter
Anglo-Saxon Charters

Anglo-Saxon Charters are documents from the History of Anglo-Saxon England in Great Britain which typically make a grant of Real Estate or record a privilege....
 dated 939, she appears as the beneficiary of land in Hampshire granted by her brother King Athelstan.

She was a nun at, and possibly abbess of, the Nunnaminster in Winchester where she was buried. Following her canonisation in 972, some of her remains were translated to Pershore Abbey
Pershore Abbey

Pershore Abbey, at Pershore in Worcestershire, was an Anglo-Saxon abbey and is now an Church of England parish church....
 in Worcestershire
Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a county located in the West Midlands of central England. From 1974 to 1998 it was administered as part of Hereford and Worcester....
, which is dedicated to her. Her feast is celebrated June 15.

In the twelfth century, a Latin Life
Hagiography

Hagiography is the study of saints. A hagiography, from Greek ' and ' , refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically the biography of ecclesiastical and secular leaders....
 was written for her by Osbert de Clare, who became prior of Westminster in 1136 (and who also wrote a Life of King Edward the Confessor). Her cult continued to flourish to judge by the Lives written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Sources

  • Osbert de Clare, Vita Edburgae, MS. Laud Misc. 114, f. 85–120 (Bodleian, Oxford), ed. S.J. Ridyard, The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England. A Study of West Saxon and East Anglian Cults. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought 4. Cambridge, 2008. 253 ff (Appendix).
  • Anonymous, De vita sanctae Edburgae virginis, preserved in the early fourteenth-century MS Lansdowne 436, f. 41v-43v (British Library
    British Library

    The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
    , London), ed. Laurel Braswell, "Saint Edburga" (see below). 329-33.
  • Lectiones in Breviary of Hyde Abbey
    Hyde Abbey

    Hyde Abbey was a Benedictine monastery just outside the walls of Winchester, Hampshire, dissolved and demolished in 1538.At the time Alfred the Great refounded the royal city of Winchester about 880 AD, the Saxon cathedral and the royal palace stood at the heart of the city....
     (late 13th century), Rawlinson liturg. E I and Gough liturg. 8 (Bodleian, Oxford)
  • Middle English
    Middle English

    Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William...
     Life (late 13th century), Egerton 1993, f. 160-1 (BL
    British Library

    The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
    , London); Eng. Poet. A I f. 32-32v and Bodley 779, f. 282-293v (Bodleian
    Bodleian Library

    The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest library in Europe, and in England is second in size only to the British Library....
    , Oxford), ed. Laurel Braswell, "Saint Edburga" (see below). 329-33.


Further reading

Ridyard, S.J. The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England. A Study of West Saxon and East Anglian Cults. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought 4. Cambridge, 2008. Braswell, Laurel. "Saint Edburga of Winchester. A study of her cult, A.D. 950-1500, with an edition of the fourteenth-century Middle English and Latin lives." Mediaeval Studies 33 (1971): 292-333.