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{{short description|East Anglian princess, queen, and abbess (c. 636–679)}}
{{Redirect|Etheldreda|other people|Etheldreda (given name)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
|name=Æthelthryth
|birth_date=4 March 636
|death_date={{death date|df=yes|679|6|23}}
|feast_day=23 June ([[Catholic]]), 17 October ([[Anglican]])
|venerated_in=[[Eastern Orthodox Church]],
[[True Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Catholic Church]]<br>[[Anglican Communion]]
|image=St-aethelthryth.jpg 
|caption=Saint Æthelthryth<br><small>from [[Benedictional of St Æthelwold]], 10 C [[British Library]]</small>
|birth_place=[[Exning]], Suffolk
|death_place=[[Ely, Cambridgeshire|Ely]], Cambridgeshire
|titles=[[Virgin (title)|Virgin]], Abbess of Ely
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=[[Abbess]] holding a model of Ely Cathedral
|patronage=Throat complaints
|major_shrine=[[St Etheldreda's Church, London|St Etheldreda's Church]], Ely Place, [[Holborn]], London; Originally [[Ely Cathedral]] (now destroyed)
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
|prayer=
|prayer_attrib=
}}

'''Æthelthryth''' (or '''Æðelþryð''' or '''Æþelðryþe'''; 4 March 636{{snd}}23 June 679) was an [[Kingdom of the East Angles|East Anglian]] princess, a [[The Fens|Fenland]] and [[Kingdom of Northumbria|Northumbria]]n queen and [[Abbot of Ely|Abbess of Ely]]. She is an [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] saint, and is also known as '''Etheldreda''' or '''Audrey''', especially in religious contexts. She was a daughter of [[Anna of East Anglia|Anna]], King of [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]], and her siblings were [[Wendreda]] and [[Seaxburh of Ely]], both of whom eventually retired from secular life and founded [[abbey]]s. Æthelthryth was "in turns, princess, wife, queen, nun and abbess, enjoying every possible position of power a woman could claim in early Anglo-Saxon England".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Karkov |first=Catherine |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv136bvsn |title=The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300-1300 |date=2002 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1-84615-058-6 |editor-last=Carver |editor-first=Martin |pages=397–412 |chapter=The Body of St Æthelthryth: Desire, Conversion and Reform in Anglo-Saxon England |doi=10.2307/j.ctv136bvsn.29 |jstor=j.ctv136bvsn }}</ref>

== Hagiography ==
There are a number of accounts of Æthelthryth's life in [[Latin]], [[Old English]], [[Old French]], and [[Middle English]]. According to Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, "more medieval vernacular lives [about Æthelthryth] were composed in England than any other native female saint".<ref>Wogan-Browne, "Rerouting the Dower" p. 28.</ref> Æthelthryth appears in [[Bede]]'s ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'', [[Ælfric of Eynsham|Ælfric]]'s ''Lives of Saints'', [[Goscelin|Goscelin of Saint-Bertin]]'s ''Lives of Female Saints'', the ''[[Liber Eliensis]]'', [[Marie de France]]'s ''La vie seinte Audree'', the ''[[South English Legendary]]'', and a [[Middle English]] life in BL Cotton Faustina B.iii, among others. 

== Life ==
The earliest account for Æthelthryth's life comes in Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Book iv.19, in which Bede calls her 'the virgin mother of many virgins'.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beda |title=The ecclesiastical history of the English people, The Greater Chronicle, Bede's letter to Egbert |last2=McClure |first2=Judith |last3=Collins |first3=Roger |last4=McClure |first4=Judith |last5=Beda |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-953723-5 |edition=Reissued |series=Oxford world's classics |location=Oxford}}</ref> Æthelthryth was probably born in [[Exning]], near [[Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket]] in Suffolk. She was one of the four saintly daughters of [[Anna of East Anglia]],<ref name=":0" /> including [[Wendreda]] and [[Seaxburh of Ely]], all of whom retired from secular life and founded [[abbey]]s.

Æthelthryth made an early first marriage in around 652 to Tondberct, chief or prince of the [[Gyrwas|South Gyrwe]]. Throughout the marriage, she maintained her vow of perpetual virginity that she had made.<ref name=":0" /> Upon Tondberct's death in 655, she retired to the [[Isle of Ely]], which she had received from Tondberct as a [[dower|morning gift]].<ref name=Macpherson>{{cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=St. Etheldreda |last=Macpherson |first=Ewan|volume=5}}</ref>

Æthelthryth was remarried for political reasons in 660, this time to [[Ecgfrith of Northumbria]], who was fourteen or fifteen at the time. Shortly after his accession to the throne in 670, Æthelthryth wished to become a nun. This step contributed to Ecgfrith's quarrel with [[Wilfrid]], bishop of [[York]], who was Æthelthryth's spiritual counsellor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hollis |first=Stephanie |title=Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church |publisher=Boydell |year=1992 |pages=70}}</ref> 

One account{{Which|date=October 2025}} relates that while Ecgfrith initially agreed Æthelthryth could remain a virgin, about 672 he appealed to Wilfrid for the enforcement of his marital rights. The bishop succeeded at first in persuading the king to consent that Æthelthryth should live for some time in peace as a sister of the Coldingham nunnery, founded by his aunt, [[Æbbe of Coldingham]].<ref name="Macpherson" /> Eventually, in light of the danger of being forcibly carried off by the king, Æthelthryth fled back to the [[Isle of Ely]] with two nuns as companions.<ref name="Macpherson" /> They evaded capture, thanks in part to the rising of the [[tide]].

Another version of the legend related that Æthelthryth halted on the journey at 'Stow' and sheltered under a miraculously growing [[Fraxinus|ash tree]] which sprung from her staff planted in the ground. Stow came to be known as 'St Etheldred's Stow', when a church was built to commemorate this event (although 'Stow' may actually refers to [[Stow Fair, Lincolnshire|another fair]],<ref>{{PastScape|mname=St Æthelreda's nunnery|mnumber=348635|accessdate=18 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=David Roffe's web page about St Æthelreda|url=http://www.roffe.co.uk/alftham.htm|accessdate=18 August 2009}}</ref> near [[Threekingham]]).<ref>[[Stow Minster]] contains a stained glass window that portrays the legend.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stowminster.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=8|title=Stow Minster: History|publisher=Stow Minster|accessdate=27 November 2010|location=Stow-in-Lindsey, Lincs., UK|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617185515/http://www.stowminster.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=8|archivedate=17 June 2010}}</ref>

Ecgfrith later married Eormenburg and expelled Wilfrid from his kingdom in 678.

According to the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', Æthelthryth founded [[Ely Abbey]], a [[double monastery]] at [[Ely, Cambridgeshire|Ely]] in 673, which was later destroyed in the [[Viking|Danish]] invasion of 870.

== Death, burial, and miracle ==
[[File:The kingdom of East Anglia (Early Saxon period).svg|thumb|The [[Kingdom of East Anglia]] (early Anglo-Saxon period)]]

According to [[Bede]], Æthelthryth died of a neck tumour, which she interpreted as sent by God in his goodness to relieve her of guilt for her vanity in having worn heavy necklaces in her youth.<ref>Farmer, ''Dictionary of Saints'', p. 152; Ridyard, ''Royal Saints'', p. 88; Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', pp. 204-205 (IV.19)</ref>

Bede states that after her death, her bones were disinterred by her sister and successor, [[Seaxburh of Ely|Seaxburh]] and that her [[Incorruptibility|uncorrupted]] body was later buried in a white, marble [[coffin]].

In 695, Seaxburh translated the remains of her sister Æthelthryth, who had been dead for sixteen years,<ref>Ridyard, ''Royal Saints'', p. 53.</ref> from a common grave to the new church at Ely. The ''[[Liber Eliensis]]'' describes these events in detail.<ref>Fairweather, ''Liber Eliensis'', pp. 56–61.</ref> When her grave was opened, Æthelthryth's body was discovered to be uncorrupted and her coffin and clothes proved to possess miraculous powers. A [[sarcophagus]] made of white marble was taken from the Roman ruins at [[Grantchester]], which was found to be the right fit for Æthelthryth. Seaxburh supervised the preparation of her sister's body, which was washed and wrapped in new robes before being reburied.<ref>Ridyard, ''The Royal Saints'', p. 179.</ref> She oversaw the translation of her sister's remains without the supervision of her bishop, using her knowledge of procedures gained from her family's links with the [[Faremoutiers Abbey]] as a basis for the ceremony.<ref>Yorke, '' Nunneries'', p. 50.</ref>

After Seaxburh, Æthelthryth's niece and her great-niece, both of whom were royal princesses, succeeded her as abbess of Ely.

==Legacy==
[[File:Saint Ethelreda's Statue, Ely Cathedral.jpg|thumb|right|Saint Etheldreda's statue in [[Ely Cathedral]]]]

=== Festival ===
Æthelthryth, as Etheldreda, is [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|remembered]] in the [[Church of England]] with a [[Lesser Festival (Anglicanism)|Lesser Festival]] on 17 October according to [[Book of Common Prayer]] tradition,<ref>{B.C.P. 1662 Kalendar}</ref> and alternatively 23 June in the [[Common Worship]] calendar of Saints.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=27 March 2021|website=The Church of England|language=en}}</ref>

=== Namesake Churches ===
[[St Etheldreda's Church, London|St Etheldreda's Church]] in [[Ely Place]] in [[Holborn]] is dedicated to the saint. It was originally part of the London palace of the [[bishops of Ely]]. After the [[English Reformation]], part was briefly used by a Spanish ambassador for [[Roman Catholic]] worship. The chapel was purchased by the Catholic Church in 1874 and is one of the oldest churches in England to be in current use by the Catholic Church.

[[St Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield]] is 13th century and was originally Anglo-Saxon. It was named for St Etheldreda because it was adjacent to a palace of the Bishops of Ely who held her as their patron saint.

[[St Etheldreda's Church, Ely|St Etheldreda's]] is a Roman Catholic parish church in Ely, Cambridgeshire. It is part of the Diocese of East Anglia within the Province of Westminster. The church contains the shrine and relics of Æthelthryth, including her hand.

[[File:S95EtheldredaShrineEly.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Site of shrine in [[Ely Cathedral]]]]

St Etheldreda's Church in [[White Notley]], Essex, is a Church of England parish church, of Anglo-Saxon construction, built on the site of a Roman temple, with a large quantity of Roman brick in its fabric. The church has a small Mediaeval English stained-glass window, depicting St Etheldreda, which is set in a stone frame made from a very early Insular Christian Roman Chi Rho grave marker.

The church of St Etheldreda [[Histon]], perhaps a shrine on the pilgrimage route to Ely, was demolished in 1599 and the material used in part to build Madingley Hall; that church is commemorated in a stained glass window.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.histonandimpingtonvillagesociety.com/histon-st-etheldreda|title= St Etheldreda|website= Histon and Impington Village Society|date= 27 May 2020|accessdate= 11 March 2025}}</ref>

=== Language ===
The common version of Æthelthryth's name was St Audrey, which is the origin of the word ''[[Wikt:tawdry|tawdry]]'', which derived from the fact that her admirers bought modestly concealing [[lace]] goods at an annual [[fair]] held in her name in Ely. By the 17th century, this lacework had become seen as old-fashioned, [[vanity|vain]], or cheap and of poor quality, at a time when the [[Puritan]]s of eastern England disdained [[Ornament (art)|ornamental]] dress.<ref name="waite">{{cite book|title=Portrait of the Quantocks|last=Waite|first=Vincent|year=1964|publisher=Robert Hale|location=London|isbn=0-7091-1158-4}}</ref>

=== Visual art and fiction ===
Artists and writers have created work in response to Æthelthryth's story, including:

* Robert Pygot (1455), Panel Painting ''Painting of the Life of St. Ethelreda, "''one of only two surviving pictorial cycles of St Etheldreda's legend".
* [[Moyra Caldecott]], Etheldreda (2005), a fictional account of Æthelthryth's life.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Saints|Biography|Christianity|England}}
* [[List of Anglo-Saxon saints]]
* [[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/June 23|Saint Æthelthryth, patron saint archive]]
* [[Wuffingas]]
* The hymn "Aethelthryth" by the Venerable [[Bede]]<ref>Bede notes in the ''Ecclesiastical History'', IV, 20 ([[s:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 4#20|Wikisource version]]) that he wrote this hymn several/many years earlier.</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Bede |editor1-first=Judith|editor1-last=McClure|editor2-first=Roger|editor2-last=Collins |title=The Ecclesiastical History of the English People |publisher=Oxford University Press |location =Oxford, UK |year=1994|isbn=978-0-19-953723-5}}
* Blanton, Virginia (2007) ''Signs of Devotion: the cult of St Aethelthryth in medieval England, 695–1615''. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press {{ISBN|0-271-02984-6}}
** {{cite web|url=http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip075/2006037231.html|title=Table of contents for ''Signs of Devotion''|publisher=Library of Congress|accessdate=27 November 2010}}
* Dockray-Miller, B. (2009) ''Saints Edith and Æthelthryth: Princesses, Miracle Workers, and their Late Medieval Audience; the Wilton Chronicle and the Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth'', Turnhout: Brepols Publishers {{ISBN|978-2-503-52836-6}}
*{{cite book|editor-last=Fairweather|editor-first=Janet|translator-first=Janet| translator-last=Fairweather |title=Liber Eliensis: A History of the Isle of Ely from the Seventh Century to the Twelfth |publisher=The Boydell Press |location =Woodbridge, UK |year=2005|isbn=978-1-84383-015-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Farmer |first=David |authorlink= |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher= Oxford University Press|location =Oxford, UK|edition=5th revised |year=2011|isbn=978-0-19-959660-7}}
* Maccarron, Máirín, "The Adornment of Virgins: Æthelthryth and Her Necklaces," in Elizabeth Mullins and Diarmuid Scully (eds), ''Listen, O Isles, unto me: Studies in Medieval Word and Image in honour of Jennifer O’Reilly'' (Cork, 2011), 142–155.
* Major, Tristan, "Saint Etheldreda in the ''South English Legendary''," ''Anglia'' 128.1 (2010), 83–101.
* McCash, June Hall & Judith Clark Barban, ed. and trans. (2006) ''The Life of Saint Audrey''; a text by [[Marie de France]]. Jefferson, NC: McFarland {{ISBN|0-7864-2653-5}}
*{{cite book|last=Ridyard |first=Susan |authorlink= |title=The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location =Cambridge, UK |year=1988|isbn=978-0-521-30772-7}}
* Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn, "Rerouting the Dower: The Anglo-Norman Life of St. Audrey by Marie (of Chatteris?)", in ''Power of the Weak: Studies on Medieval Women'', ed. Jennifer Carpenter and Sally-Beth Maclean (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1995), 27–56.

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|first=Susan|last=Rosser|title=Æthelthryth: a Conventional Saint?|journal=Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester|volume=79|number=3|date=Autumn 1997|pages=15–24|doi=10.7227/BJRL.79.3.4}}
* {{cite book|chapter = [[s:Ælfric's Lives of Saints/Of Saint Æðeldryða|Of Saint Æðeldryða]]|title = Ælfric's Lives of Saints|year = 1881| publisher = London, Pub. for the Early English text society, by N. Trübner & co.|author=[[Ælfric of Eynsham]]}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Æthelthryth of East Anglia, Queen of Northumbria|Æthelthryth}}
* {{PASE|7748|Æthelthryth 2}}
* [[Richard John King]], 1862. ''Handbook of the Cathedrals of England'' (Oxford) ([https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/England/_Topics/churches/_Texts/KINCAT*/Ely/2.html  On-line text])
* {{cite encyclopedia |first=Alan|last = Thacker| publisher = Oxford University Press | encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | title=Æthelthryth [St Æthelthryth, Etheldreda, Audrey] (d. 679) | date=8 October 2009 | url =https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8906 |doi=  10.1093/ref:odnb/8906 | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 | url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}

{{Anglo-Saxon saints|Anglo-Saxon England|state=collapsed}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelthryth}}
[[Category:630s births]]
[[Category:679 deaths]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon nuns]]
[[Category:Abbesses of Ely]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon royal consorts]]
[[Category:East Anglian saints]]
[[Category:East Anglian princesses]]
[[Category:Ely, Cambridgeshire]]
[[Category:Burials at Ely Cathedral]]
[[Category:7th-century English nuns]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian nuns]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Incorrupt saints]]
[[Category:Founders of Christian monasteries]]
[[Category:Female saints of medieval England]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]

[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]