father, and having resolved to consecrate herself to God, she took the veil in the Monastery of Dormund caistor, over which her sister, the foundress, presided as first Abbess. Her elder sister, Quendrida, assumed the religious habit with her. These two young votaries are described by historians, as being "eminent for holiness." 991 As for their royal protectress and sister, Quenburga, she was "a mirror of sanctity, so that many virgins of all ranks and degrees resorted to her monastery, to be instructed in the rules and exercises of a religious life; and while the daughters of princes reverenced her as a mistress, the poor were admitted to regard her as a companion, and both the one and the other honoured her as a parent."

1 Palgrave.

HERESWYTHA, SEXBURGA, ETHELDREDA, ERMENBURGE, AND ERMENILDA.

CONTENTS.

Religious enthusiasm—Church building-Queen Hereswytha," the Mother of many Saints"-Her husband, King Anna-Etheldreda and Thonbert-She retires to a monastery-Her second marriage to Egfrid-Their establishment-Egfrid's remonstrance-Etheldreda goes to a convent, accompanied by Bishop Wilfred-Architecture and Church Music patronised by Wilfred-Anger of Egfrid ―Their separation : he re-marries-Ermenburge persecutes Wilfred-Anglo-Saxon carriage-Wilfred's trials-Sexburga's piety -Her daughter-The Abbess Hildelitha-The Convent of Minstre-Ermenilda's, and her young daughter Werburga's, piety -Murder of the young princes, Wulfade and Rufin-Werburga's profession-The Abbess Etheldreda's edifying death-St. Audrey's lace, and St. Etheldred's chain-Ely Monastery-Sexburga's happy death-The butterfly shadow—Miracles-St. Werburga, the Patroness of Chester-Ely Cathedral-Antiquities—The stone cross of Etheldreda.

THE distinguishing feature of the seventh century was religious enthusiasm. It was a period when selfnegation was looked upon as the prime virtue, and females in high positions thought it incumbent upon

them to devote their lives to self-sacrifices, of a nature which, in these days, do not carry with them the eminent character of virtue which they were then thought to bestow.

Monkish writers naturally enlarge on the holiness and purity of a life of celibacy, and infinite credit has been given to many persons in those remote ages, whose acts, considered by them worthy, were calculated to cause unhappiness and discontent to others. Of this kind was the conduct of several of the consorts of the Saxon monarchs, who, consenting to become wives, did not comprehend the duties of the state into which they had entered, and adopted the habits of recluses in the midst of a court; disappointing the hopes of the country, which looked to them to become the mothers of princes who should perpetuate the line of succession, and whose example of attachment and tenderness to the husbands they had accepted should afford an example to their female subjects.

Mistaken piety led many royal wives into a perfectly opposite course to what is an evident duty, and much inconvenience, as well as vexation, ensued in the State in consequence. But whatever are our present notions, the ascetic behaviour adopted at this early period of history was looked upon as a proof of every Christian virtue, and was probably a natural reaction from the licentiousness of Paganism.

Unbounded praise is bestowed by most Roman Catholic writers on those Queens who converted their palaces into nunneries, and looked upon their husbands as merely brethren of a community, whose earthly love it was their duty to repudiate, and with whom it was praiseworthy to live on terms of the strictest severity.

Occasionally the partners of these holy and religious ladies shared their enthusiasm, and devoted themselves to the same life; but in some cases it was different, and the whole country was thrown into a ferment in consequence of the domestic troubles ensuing.

To have erected and endowed a church or a monastery is always spoken of by early historians as the most praiseworthy of acts, and almost countless are the edifices raised in the seventh century to prove the zeal of the new converts to the true faith. The Queens of Ercombert, Egfrid, and Wulphere were not the least amongst those pious personages, who strove to gain the approbation of man and the favour of Heaven by expending enormous sums on religious buildings.

Not one of the princes of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy was more eminent for piety than Anna, King of East Anglia, who had sheltered Cenwalch from the indignant wrath of his fierce brother-in-law Penda, King of Mercia; nor was there a more excellent and amiable princess than Hereswytha, his consort, who for her own piety and the holiness of her offspring, has been entitled the "mother of many saints." Of her first husband, to whom she bore a son and a daughter,1 no account is accurately given: three sons and three daughters were the offspring of her union with King Anna. The sons of Hereswytha were Jurminus, Adul

1 St. Sethrid, Hereswytha's daughter by the first husband, was honoured by the early English as a saint, though her name is not contained in any calendar. She succeeded St. Fara, abbess and foundress of Faremoutiers, in France, in her high office, and was honoured, on the 6th or 7th of May, as St. Sethrid, or Sessetrudis.Butler's Lives, Jan, 10 and Dec. 7.

phus, and Erkenwald; her daughters were Ethelburga, Sexburga, Etheldreda, Oslave, and Withburga.

Sexburga, whose education had been carefully attended to (for women at this time were highly instructed), became the wife of Ercombert, King of Kent, who was remarkable both for his zeal in religion and his patriotism. He was first to establish the fast of Lent in his division of the Heptarchy, where he razed the temples of heathenism, and extirpated the idolatrous worship so long prevailing. Queen Sexburga encouraged her husband in all his religious undertakings, sharing in his exertions, and confirming his resolution by her counsel and example. "Thus," says the Chronicle, "while her virtue, humility, and devotion excited the admiration and reverence of the people, her goodness and unbounded charity gained for her more especially the love of the poor. Although she had married in obedience to the will of her parents, she would have preferred the cloister to a palace, a church to matriand the service of Christ to worldly empire." mony, Etheldreda2 was the destined wife of Thonbert, an Englishman of noble birth. From her infancy she had been distinguished by her humility and devotion, which

1 Bromton.

991

2 The uncertainty of orthography in former times is well exemplified in the name of Etheldreda. Its abbreviation is Eldrude, a compound of Saxon and British, from "Ell," the reduplicative pronoun, and "drud," "illustrious " or "well-beloved."-Butler.

This word, however, is written indifferently—which is sufficiently confusing-Etheldrida, Etheldrith, Adelfrida, Adelthrid, Ediltrudis, or Audrey. The name of Etheldreda signifies "noble advice.”* Hereswytha is indifferently written with a d or th-the sound being the same.

* Camden.