Æthelthryth in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England
Æthelthryth in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England
King Egfrid of Northumbria married Æthelthryth, the daughter of Anna, ruler of the East Angles, in A.D. 660. Previously, Æthelthryth was married to Tonberch, a prominent vassal of the Mercian king, until his death in 655. Both men begrudgingly accepted her sincere vow of perpetual virginity, a pledge she made prior to her first wedding. According to Bishop Wilfrid: “she preserved the glory of perfect virginity”[1] throughout her marriage. Egfrid even struggled to recruit Wilfrid’s cooperation in a fruitless attempt to persuade his wife to fulfill her marital obligations. The king eventually granted her repeated requests to serve Christ in a convent; consequently, she entered the monastery located in Coludi, modern Coldingham, Berwickshire. Within twelve months, she was appointed Abbess of a new monastery on the Isle of Ely.
According to Bede’s account, Æthelthryth lived a simple, spiritual life while abbess. For instance, she preferred to wear wool rather than comfortable linen and seldom partook in hot baths. Bede especially noted that “except when grievous sickness prevented her, from the time of matins till day-break, she continued in the church at prayer.”[2] This pious routine continued, according to Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, until Æthelthryth “was taken to the Lord, in the midst of her flock, seven years after she had been made abbess; and as she had ordered, was buried among them in a wooden coffin in her turn, according to the order in which she had passed away.” Sexburg, the widow of Earconbert, king of Kent, and Æthelthryth’s sister, succeeded as abbess.
Sixteen years into her sovereignty, Sexburg decided to exhume her sister’s remains and translate them into the church proper. The queen, therefore, directed several monks to search for and retrieve a suitable coffin. A sarcophagus, of white marble and probable Roman origin, was discovered near modern Cambridge, in a deserted city called Crantacaestir (Grantchester). “Perceiving, therefore, that the Lord had prospered their journey, they returned thanks to Him and carried it to the monastery.”[3] Upon removal from her gravesite, the assembled dignitaries discovered that Æthelthryth’s corpse was perfectly preserved without any indication of corruption.
According to Bede: “For the divine miracle whereby her flesh, being buried, could not suffer corruption, is a taken that she had not been defiled by man.”[4] Her physician, Cynifrid, a witness to her death and disinterment, recounted the suffering she endured from a large tumor situated underneath her jaw. He cut into the cancerous growth “to let out the noxious matter” inside and, miraculously, upon viewing her exhumed remains, discovered “the incision which I had made was healed up; so that in marvelous wise, instead of the open gaping wound with which she had been buried, there then appeared only the slightest trace of a scar.”[5] Æthelthryth believed the tumor resulted from her youthful habit of wearing necklaces of gold and pearl; hence, “the fiery heat of a tumor rising on my neck.”[6] Her body was washed, fitted with appropriate garments, and placed into her sarcophagus for reinternment.
The remnants of her original coffin and linen clothes were apparently retained as cherished relics capable of miraculous healing. Touching her clothes reportedly expelled devils from possessed bodies. Touching her coffin, combined with prayer, cured blindness. Even the dimensions of her sarcophagus were considered a miracle as Æthelthryth’s body fit perfectly inside.[7] Ely continued as a pilgrimage site until the Reformation, especially for those afflicted with blindness. Unfortunately, in the year 1539, the monastery closed and Æthelthryth’s shrine was later destroyed; nonetheless, annual celebrations are held in Ely Cathedral on her feast days, June 23rd, and October 17threspectively. Carved scenes depicting her life, most dating to the 14th century, are viewable throughout the cathedral, especially in the Octagon. The presumed location of her shrine is marked with a modern ledger stone that reads: “Here Stood the Shrine of Etheldreda Saint and Queen Who Founded This House AD 673.[8]
[1] Venerable Bede, “How Queen Æthelthryth always Preserved Her Virginity, and Her Body Suffered no Corruption in the Grave,” in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England: A Revised Translation with Introduction, Life, and Notes, ed. A.M. Sellar (London: George Bell and Sons, 1907), 313
[2]Bede, “How Queen Æthelthryth...,” 314.
[3] Ibid., 315.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., 316.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid., 317.
[8] “Etheldreda (Æthelthryth, Ediltrudis, Audrey) (d.679), queen, foundress and abbess of Ely,” Ely Cathedral, accessed April 22, 2022, https://www.elycathedral.org/about/history-heritage/st-etheldreda.
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