Everything about Thelthryth totally explained
Æthelthryth, or
Æðelþryð, (c.
636-
23 June 679) is the proper name for the popular
Anglo-Saxon saint almost universally known as
Etheldreda or by the pet form of
Audrey (or variations). She was an East Anglian princess, a Fenland queen and
Abbess of Ely in the
English county of
Cambridgeshire.
Æthelthryth was probably born at
Exning, near
Newmarket in
Suffolk. She was one of four daughters of
King Anna of East Anglia (kd.
654), all of whom eventually retired from the world and founded abbeys.
Æthelthryth made an early first marriage (c.
652) to Tondberct, chief of the South
Gyrvians, or "fenmen" (
gyr, Old English "fen") (d. 655). However, she managed to persuade her husband to respect a vow of perpetual virginity she'd made before her marriage. Upon his death in
655, Æthelthryth retired to the
Isle of Ely, given to her as her "morning gift" by Tondberct.
Æthelthryth subsequently remarried in
660, this time to
Ecgfrith, King of
Northumbria again for political reasons. Shortly after Ecgfrith's accession to the throne
[670AD], Æthelthryth became a nun. This step possibly led to Ecgfrith's long quarrel with
Wilfrid archbishop of
York. One account holds that while Ecgfrith initially agreed that Æthelthryth should continue to remain a virgin, in about
672 he wished to consummate their marriage and even attempted to bribe Wilfrid to use his influence on the queen to convince her. This tactic failing, the king tried to take his queen from the cloister by force. Æthelthryth fled to Ely with two faithful nuns and managed to evade capture thanks, in part, to the miraculous rising of the tide. Ecfrith later married a second wife,
Eormenburg, and expelled Wilfrid from his kingdom in
678.
According to the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Æthelthryth founded the monastery at
Ely in
673; the monastery was later destroyed in the Danish invasion of
870.
Bede tells how after her death, Æthelthryth's bones were disinterred by her sister and successor,
Abbess Seaxburh of Ely, and buried in a white, marble coffin from Cambridge.
Æthelthryth's sister, niece, and great-niece, all royal princesses and two of them widowed queens (of Kent and Mercia), followed her as abbesses of Ely.
In
Ely Place,
Holborn,
London, there's a
church dedicated to St. Etheldreda. It was originally part of the palace of the
Bishops of Ely. After the
English Reformation, the palace was used by the Spanish Ambassadors, enabling Roman Catholic worship to continue in the church.
Tawdry
The common version of Æthelthryth's name was St. Awdrey, which is the origin of the word
tawdry. Her admirers bought modestly concealing lace goods at an annual fair held in her name in Ely. Fashion being what it is, as years passed, this lacework came to be seen as old-fashioned or cheap and poor quality goods. This was particularly so in the
17th century when some
Puritans in eastern England looked down on any form of lacy dressiness.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Thelthryth'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://__thelthryth.totallyexplained.com">Æthelthryth Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
