Cuthburh

Saint Cuthburh or Cuthburg, Cuthburga (Old English: Cūþburh; died 31 August 725) was the first Abbess of Wimborne Minster.[1][2][3] She was the sister of Ine, King of Wessex and was married to the Northumbrian king Aldfrith.

Saint

Cuthburh
Abbess, Queen
Died31 August 725
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Anglican Communion Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast31 August
Cuthburh
Her Abbey, now Wimborne Minster
Queen consort of Northumbria
Abbess of Wimborne Minster
Died31 August 725
SpouseAldfrith of Northumbria
IssueOsred I of Northumbria
HouseHouse of Wessex (by birth)
FatherCenred of Wessex
ReligionChristianity

Life

Cuthburh was the daughter of Cenred of Wessex. In addition to her brother Ine, she also had a brother Ingild, who was an ancestor of Alfred the Great, and a sister Cwenburh. Her marriage to Aldfrith allied him with Ine, one of the most powerful kings in Anglo-Saxon England. Cuthburh was Aldfrith's only known wife. Aldfrith had at least two sons, Osred and Offa, it is believed Cuthburh was the mother of Osred, Offa it is not certain.[4] It is also believed they were the parents of a daughter Osana, who would later be known as Saint Osana.[5][6]

According to a report by Florence of Worcester, written long afterwards, at some time before Aldfrith's death in 705 he and Cuthburh "renounced connubial intercourse for the love of God". Following this, Cuthburh entered Abbess Hildelith's nunnery at Barking Abbey.[7] Cuthburh is traditionally associated with the "Cuthburh" mentioned in the dedication of Aldhelm's treatise De virginitate.[8] It is thought that she was in some way related to Aldhelm.[7] After Aldfrith's death, around 705, Cuthburh and Cwenburh established a double-monastery in her brother's kingdom of Wessex, at Wimborne, Dorset.[7]

She is described as austere, and she communicated with prelates through a little hatch in the nunnery at Wimborne. Among Saint Boniface's surviving letters is an anonymous account of a vision of Abbess Cuthburh in Hell.[9]

Cuthburh died on 31 August 725 at Wimborne and is said to be buried under the wall of the chancel. [10]

In 1558, Wimborne Minster being in need of repair, the guardians of the church wrote Thomas Cromwell for permission to melt down the silver reliquary containing Cuthburh's head. As a few years later, the tower collapsed, it is surmised that the reliquary was confiscated to the King's use. It is not mentioned what then happened to her head.[11]

The feast day associated with her is 31 August.[7]

See also

References
  1. "St. Cuthburga - Saints & Angels".
  2. "EBK: St. Cuthburga, Abbess of Wimborne".
  3. "Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain".
  4. Kirby, D. P. The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman, 1991. ISBN 0-04-445691-3, p. 145.
  5. "EBK: St. Cuthburga, Abbess of Wimborne".
  6. "Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain".
  7. Mayo, 1860
  8. Dockray-Miller, Mary. Motherhood and Mothering in Anglo-Saxon England, Springer, 2000, ISBN 9780312299637, p. 29
  9. Bonifacius, Ephraim Emerton, and Austin P. Evans. The Letters of Saint Boniface. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. P. 190.
  10. "EBK: St. Cuthburga, Abbess of Wimborne".
  11. "Wimborne Minster", The Saturday Review, October 1, 1881, p. 415, John W. Parker and Son

Sources
  • Farmer, D. H. (1987). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, p. 96. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Lapidge, Michael, "Cuthburg", in M. Lapidge et al., The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999)
  • Mayo, C.H. (1860). History of Wimborne Minster: The Collegiate Church of Saint Cuthberga and King's Free Chapel at Wimborne, (pp. 4–6). London: Bell and Daldy. archive.org
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