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MEDIAEVISTIK Internationale Zeitschrift für interdisziplinäre Mittelaiterforschung

Herausgegeben von Peter Dinzelbacher

Band 14 • 2001

PGT€R LANG Frankfurt am Main • Berlin • Bern • Bruxelles • New • Oxford • Wien Stadtmauer von Visby

Die aus dem 12. und 13. Jahrhundert stammende Stadtmauer von Visby auf Gotland stellt ein schönes Beispiel für einen noch weitgehend erhalten Bering mit Schalentürmen aus dem hohen Mittelalter dar, hier von Innen gesehen. Die für den Ori­ ginalzustand vorauszusetzenden Holzkonstruktionen wie Lauf­ gang u.a. fehlen, die Zinnen sind ergänzt.

(Bild und Text: Peter Dinzelbacher)

ISSN 2199-806X0934-7453 © Peter Lang GmbH Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main 2003 Alle Rechte Vorbehalten. Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen.

Satz: Unitext, D 60489 Frankfurt am Main

Printed in Germany 12 3 4 6 7 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 1

Inhalt

Aufsätze

A. CLASSEN, Herz und Seele in Hartmanns ,Der Arme Heinrich’. Der mittelalterliche Dichter als Psychologe?______7 D. DUCKWORTH, Heinrich and the Power of Love in Hartmann’s Poem ____ 31 R. W. FISHER, „Dô was doch sin manheit schîn“. How does Hartmann understand Erec’s manliness?______83 J. M. JEEP, The Roles of Women in Old High German Literature______95 W. NIJENHUIS, In a class of their own, anglo-saxon femal saints______125 J. REICHERT, „Slaying the Dragon”. Der letzte Heilversuch an Anfortas im Parzival-Roman Wolframs von Eschenbach______149 A. WELLS, Christliche Apologetik, die mittelhochdeutsche Silvesterlegende, Wolframs von Eschenbach ,Willehalm’ und die Toleranz gegenüber Anders­ gläubigen im Mittelalter______179

Rezensionen

Gesamtes Mittelalter

Encyclopedia of the , ed. A. VAUCHEZ (P. DINZELBACHER) _ 225 G. FEHRING, Die Archäologie des Mittelalters (P. DINZELBACHER)______226 D. ALEXANDER-BIDON/D. LETT, Les Enfants au Moyen Age (P. DINZELBACHER)______227 H. FELD, Frauen des Mittelalters (A. CLASSEN)______228 C. ROUSSEAU, J. ROSENTHAL ed., Women, Marriage, and Family in Medieval Christendom (T. BUCK)______229 Les Pays romands au Moyen Age, p.p. A. PARAVICINI BAGLIANI u.a. (P. DINZELBACHER)______233 E. JENKINS, The Muslim Diaspora (A. CLASSEN)______234 W. BAUM, R. SENONER, Indien und Europa im Mittelalter (A. CLASSEN)_ 236 Medieval Practices of Space, ed. B. HANAWALT, M. KOBIALKA (A. CLASSEN)______237 Text and Territory. Geographical Imagination in the European Middle Ages, Ed. S. TOMASCH, S. GILLES (M. PRZYBILSKI)______239 A. LAMPEN, Fischerei und Fischhandel im Mittelalter (W. VAN NEER)____ 241 2 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

Anger’s Past. The Social Uses of an Emotion in the Middle Ages, ed. B. ROSENWEIN (J. BURKARDT)______242 J. COHEN, Of Giants. Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages (A. CLASSEN)___ 245 M. GREEN, Women’s Healthcare in the Medieval West (A. CLASSEN)_____ 247 M. MATHEUS (Hg.), Pilger und Wallfahrtsstätten in Mittelalter und Neuzeit (B. LANG)______248 B. HAUPT (Hg.) Endzeitvorstellungen (A. CLASSEN)______249 P. ELIGH, Leven in de eindtijd. Ondergangsstemmingen in de Middeleeuwen (S. VANDERPUTTEN)______250 M. KORPIOLA (Hg.), Nordic Perspectives on Medieval Canon Law (W. STEINWARDER)______252 F. EBEL, G. THIELEMANN, Rechtsgeschichte (P. DINZELBACHER)______255 M. SENN, Rechtsgeschichte (A. GERLICH)______257 E. HENNING, Auxilia historica. Beiträge zu den Historischen Hilfswissen­ schaften (K. COLBERG)______258 Arbeiten aus dem Marburger hilfswissenschaftlichen Institut, hg. v. E. EISENLOHR, P. WORM (I. BAUMGÄRNTER)______260 M. ALINEI, Origini delle lingue d’Europa (K. FALLEND)______262 Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature, ed. R. u. L. LAMBDIN (P. DINZELBACHER)______264 Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo. Il Medioevo volgare I (M. DALLAPIAZZA) 265 A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes, ed. W. GERRITSEN, A. van MELLE (G. LANGE)______266 E. JAGER, The Book of the Heart (A. CLASSEN)______267 E. KOOPER (Hg.), The Medieval Chronicle (H. REIMANN)______268 A. CLASSEN ed., Medieval German Voices in the 21st Centruy (S. GROSSE)_ 271 H. KELLER, My Secret is Mine, Studies on Religion and Eros in the German Middle Ages. (A. CLASSEN)______273 G. STECHER, von den wunderleichen prunnen. Wundersame Gewässer in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur des Mittelalters (M. DORNINGER)______275 A. LEGNER, Reliquien in Kunst und Kult (P. DINZELBACHER)______278 C. HECK, L’Échelle céleste dans l’art du Moyen Age (P. DINZELBACHER)_ 279 N. GRAMACCINI, Mirabilia. Das Nachleben antiker Statuen vor der Renaissance (P. DINZELBACHER)______280 Inconologia sacra, ed. H. KELLER, N. STAUBACH (P. DINZELBACHER)___ 281 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 3

Frühmittelalter

O. SEECK, Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Welt (P. DINZELBACHER) 283 R. COLLINS, Early Medieval Europe (A. CLASSEN)______283 F. PRINZ, Von Konstantin zu Karl d. Gr. (T. BEKKER-NIELSEN)______284 R. CASTLEDEN, King Arthur (C. HOUSWITSCHKA)______288 D. MARNER, St. (A. CLASSEN)______291 De Constantino a Carlomagno. Disidentes, heterodoxos, marginados, ed. F. LOMAS, F. DEVÎS (P. DINZELBACHER)______292 S. EPPERLEIN, Leben am Hofe Karls d. Gr. (T. BUCK)______292 La Royauté et les élites dans l’Europe carolingienne, ed. R. LE JAN (J. HOWE) 294 Alcuin of York, ed. L. HOUWEN, A. MACDONALD (G. WENDELBORN)___297 Paulinus Nolanus, Epistulae / Carmina, ed. G. de HARTEL, M. KAMPTNER (P. DINZELBACHER)______299 Iotsald von -Claude, Vita des Abtes Odilo von Cluny, hg. V. J. STAUB (R. VOGELER)______299 Chronique des abbés de Fontenelle, ed. P. PRADIÉ (L. PIERSON)______300 C. FALLUOMINI, Der sog. Codex Carolinus von Wolfenbüttel (M. DALLAPIAZZA)______3 01 J. WILLIAMS ed., Imagining the Early Medieval Bible (H. TORP)______302 D. TORKEWETZ, Das älteste Dokument zur Entstehung der abendländischen Mehrstimmigkeit (V. CORRIGAN)______308

Hochmittelalter

R. I. MOORE, Die erste europäische Revolution (A. CLASSEN)______311 G. DUBY, Frauen im 12. Jahrhundert (D. RUHE)______312 C. NEDERMANN, Worlds of Difference. European Discourses of Toleration c. 1100-c. 1550 (A. CLASSEN)______315 M. GOODICH ed., Other Middle Ages. Witnesses at the Margins of Medieval Society (H. REIMANN)______317 P. DINZELBACHER, Handbuch der Religionsgeschichte im deutschsprachigen Raum II. Hoch- und Spätmittelalter (J. GRABMAYER)______318 Pfaffen und Laien - ein mittelalterlicher Antagonismus? Hg. v. E. LUTZ, E. TREMP (L. BISGAARD)______322 H. COWDREY, Pope Gregory VII / U.-R. BLUMENTHAL, Gregor VII. (P. DINZELBACHER)______323 4 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

B. RIEDER, Deus locum dabit. Studien zur Theologie des Kartäuserpriors Guido I. (P. DINZELBACHER)______324 M. CLANCHY, Abelard. A Medieval Life / Abaelard. Ein mittelalterliches Leben (E. MÉGIER)______326 T. ECK, Die Kreuzfahrerbistümer Beirut und Sidon im 12. und 13. Jh. (I. EBERL)______327 T. HEIKKILÄ, Das Kloster Fulda und der Goslarer Rangstreit (T. HILDEBRAND)______329 XVI Convegno di Ricerche Templari (H. NICHOLSON)______331 Crossing the Bridge. Comparative Essays on Medieval European and Heian Japanese Women Writers, ed. B. STEVENSON, C. HO (A. CLASSEN)______332 Benzo von Alba, Sieben Bücher an Kaiser Heinrich IV., hg. v. H. SEYFFERT (P. DINZELBACHER)______335 Bernhard von Clairvaux, Sämtliche Werke VIII/IX, hg. v. G. WINKLER (P. DINZELBACHER)______335 Jutta & Hildegard. The Biographical Sources, tr. A. SILVAS (P. DINZELBACHER)______336 La letteratura francese medievale, a. c. di M. MANCINI (P. DINZELBACHER) 337 R. DEAN, Anglo-Norman Literature (P. DINZELBACHER)______338 Boudouin de Condé, II Mantello d’Onore, a.c. S. PANUNZIO (M. RUS)______339 B. GEIER, Täuschungshandlungen im Nibelungenlied (S. SATTEL)______340 Die Nibelungenklage, hg. v. J. BUMKE / Diu Klage, hg. v. A. CLASSEN / Die Nibelungenklage, hg. v. E. LIENERT / Die vier Fassungen der Nibelungen­ klage, hg. v. J. BUMKE (S. SCHMIDT)______342 T. BEIN (Hg.), Walter von der Vogel weide, Textkritik und Edition (G. ZIMMERMANN)______346 Die Aktualität der Saga, hg. v. S. T. ANDERSEN (R. NEDOMA)______350 Heidhin minni, hg. v. H. BESSASON, B. HAFSTADH (A. FROTSCHER)___ 352 G. NORD AL, Tools of Literacy. The Role of Skaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture (A. FROTSCHER)______355 K. v. SEE, Europa und der Norden im Mittelalter (S. BAGGE)______357 O. BEIGBEDER, Lexikon der Symbole (P. DINZELBACHER)______359 M. KÖHLER, Die Bau- und Kunstgeschichte des ehem. Zisterzienserklosters Bebenhausen (P. DINZELBACHER)______360 M. BLINDHEIM, Painted Wooden Sculpture in c. 1100- 1250 (W. STEINWARDER)______361 1. MALAXECHEVERRIA, El bestiario esculpido en Navarra (T. VALENTINITSCH)______363 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 5

J. BATE, Lanterns for the Dead (P. DINZELBACHER)______364 The Mark of the Beast, ed. D. HASSIG (K. BӦSE)______364

Spätmittelalter

The New Cambridge Medieval History V-VII (P. DINZELBACHER)______367 D. NICHOLAS, The Transformation of Europa 1300-1600 (A. GERLICH)___ 369 R. VAN UYTVEN, De zinnelijke Middeleeuwen (W. PIJNENBURG)______370 N. WRIGHT, and Peasants. The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside (H. NICHOLSON)______372 K. FIANU, D. GUTH ed., Ecrit et Pouvoir dans les Chancelleries Médiévales (P. SOLON)______373 J.-C. CASSARD, Charles de Blois (K. LICHTBLAU)______375 B. ANDENMATTEN u. a. (Hgg.), Pierre II de Savoie (P. SOLON)______376 S. OZMENT, Die Tochter des Bürgermeisters (P. DINZELBACHER)______378 V. V. FILIP, Einführung in die Heraldik (S. DOMENIG)______379 A. HACK, Das Empfangszeremoniell bei mittelalterlichen Papst-Kaiser-Treffen (G. KIRCHNER)______3 81 P. GYGER, L’épée et la corde. Criminalité et justice à Fribourg (1475 - 1505) (C. VAN RHEE)______384 S. SCHMITT (Hg.), Ländliche Rechtsquellen aus den kurmainzischen Ämtern Olm und Algesheim (P. DINZELBACHER)______387 M. PEREIRA, B. SPAGGIARI, Il Testamentum alchemico attribuito a Raimondo Lullo (M. PILEGGI)______388 Albertus Magnus und der Albertinismus, hg. v. M. HOENEN, A. de LIBERA (W. KNOCH)______390 Quellen zur Geschichte der Kölner Laienbruderschaften im 12. Jh. bis 1562/63, Bd. 4, bearb. K. MILITZER (P. DINZELBACHER)______392 Deutscher Orden 1190 - 1990, hg. v. U. ARNOLD (M. MURRAY)______392 Acri 1291. La fíne della presenza degli ordini militari in Terra Santa (W. BAUM) 393 A. WILTS, Beginen im Bodenseeraum (P. DINZELBACHER)______396 Vox Mystica, Ed. A. BARTLETT, T. BESTUL (M. B0RCH)______397 Entre Dieu et Satan. Les visions d’Ermine de Reims (+1396), ed. C. ARNAUD-GÏLLET (P. DINZELBACHER)______400 L’imaginaire du sabbat, ed. M. OSTORERO u. a. (P. DINZELBACHER)_____ 401 B. KOPICKOVA, A. VIDMANOVA, Listy na Husovu abranu z let 1410-1412 (T. FUDGE)______402 6 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

Master Golyas and Sweden, ed. O. FERM, B. MORRIS (B. PFEIL)______405 S. ANDRIC, The Miracles of St. John Capistran (G. WENDELBORN)______408 O. HOLMES, Assembling the Lyric Self Authorship from Troubadour Song to Italien Poetry Book (A. CLASSEN)______409 Margaret Porette, the Mirror of Simple Souls, transí. E. COLLEDGE u. a. (A. CLASSEN)______411 Olivier de le Marche, Le Chavalier deliberé, ed. & tr. C. CAROLL, L. WILSON (P. DINZELBACHER)______413 H. GOLDBERG, Motif-Index of Medieval Spanish Folk Narratives (P. DINZELBACHER)______415 F. KNAPP, Die Literatur des Spätmittelalters I (P. DINZELBACHER)______416 Die deutsche Predigt im Mittelalter, hg. v. V. MERTENS, H.-J. SCHIEWER (P. DINZELBACHER)______417 E. HUIZINGA, Een nuttelike practjke von cirurgien. Geneeskunde en astrologie in het Middelnederlandse hs. Wenen ÖNB 2818 (W. PIJNENBURG)______419 The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, ed. D. WALLACE (P. DINZELBACHER)______420 Chaste Passions. Medieval English Virgin Legends, ed. K.WINSTEAD (A. CLASSEN)______423 H. ANDRETTA, Chaucer’s Troylus and Criseyde (R. UTZ)______423 A. KRAEMER, Malory’s Grail Seekers and Fifteenth-Centruy English (C. HOUSWITSCHKA)______426 Bild und Abbild vom Menschen im Mittelalter, hg. v. E. VAVRA (K. NIER)__ 428 P. GATHERCOLE, The Depiction of Women in Medieval French Manuscript Illumination (A. CLASSEN)______429 P. GATHERCOLE, Animals in Medieval French Manuscript Illumination (P. DINZELBACHER)______431 Heilig en Profaan. Laatmiddeleeuwse insignes in cultuurhistorisch perspectief Ed. A. KOLDEWEIJ / A. WILLEMSEN (P. DINZELBACHER)______431 10.3726/83994_125

Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 125

Wiesje Nijenhuis

In a Class of their own, Anglo-saxon Female

Never has there been a period in English history during which sainthood flourished to such a degree as in the 7th - 11th centuries. Some 240 Anglo-Saxon men and women were revered as saints. This article will focus on the female Anglo-Saxon saints, who constituted about one third of the total number. The various works of reference1 mention 86 names, the greater part overlapping. The data that point to the existence of a certain saint’s cult are often erratic, as proper canonisation procedures were only introduced in the 12th century.2 In some cases the documentation is rather insubstantial, only one entry in a chronicle or a pre- Reformation breviary.3 There is also the problem of mixed-up identities. The Anglo- Saxon royal families to which most of the female saints belonged had the disconcerting habit to give identical names to many of their offspring. In the seventh century three female saints were called Edburga, and the eighth and tenth centuries also have three ladies of that name. Of course this led to confusion and chronological errors.4 In this article all women saints of Anglo-Saxon birth of whom there is any evidence of a cult, whether in or abroad, have been included in the surveys.5 On 48 female saints we have Anglo-Saxon data.6 The remaining 38 saints owe their

1 For a list of the works of reference consulted see Appendix I. 2 ^ The New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1967), Vol III, pp. 55 - 6. See also P.J. Scarcella, The Role of Local Ordinaries in Saints' Causes in Benedict XIVs De Servorum Dei Beatificatione, A Canonical-Historical Commentary on Episcopal Canonization and Tolerated Cults (, 1993), pp. 76 - 8, R. Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe (London, 1997), p. 10 and Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg, Forgetful of Their Sex, Female Sanctity and Society, ca. 500 - 1100 (Chicago, 1998) - hereafter cited as Schulenburg 2. 3 For example St Everildis. According to F. Arnold-Foster, Studies in Dedications or England's Patron Saints (London, 1899) in 3 vols., Vol. Ill, p. 403, the only source is a pre-Reformation breviary, which contained an office for St 's day. 4 Edburga of Bicester/Aylesbury, Edburga of Lyminge and Edburga of Repton. In the eighth century there were Edburgas of Minster-in-Thanet and of Gloucester, and the tenth century has Edburga of . Arnold-Foster, II, p. 413, thinks that the church of Bicester was actually dedicated to Edburga of Winchester. 5 This method is also used by the editors of the Bibliotheca Sanctorum. In their Introduction (Vol I, p. XX) they state that all those who 'reali o fittizi' had a cult have been included. 6 See Appendices II and III. 126 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

inclusion to post-Conquest sources. Many of these are based, either directly or indirectly, on Anglo-Saxon works,7 but even when such an influence cannot be discerned this need not mean that the cult only started in post-Conquest times. A cult, however feeble, may have existed during the decades following the saint’s death.8

Reception

If we want to ascertain which cults enjoyed the greatest popularity in Anglo-Saxon times service-books are the most important sources. The inclusion of a saint in the calendar, litany, sanctorale or collects indicates that this particular saint was indeed commemorated by those institutions that used the book. Only five fairly complete pre- 1100 mass books survive9, but in addition to this we have 22 complete calendars and two fragments. 10 The earliest, the Calendar o f Willibrord and a Bavarian Fragment date from the 8th century. The former mentions Hild and Edburga of Bicester (?)n and the latter only Etheldreda. The 9th-century ’North country* calendar and three I Oth-century calendars, Dunelmensis, Galba A xviii and Winchcombe, do not list any Anglo-Saxon female saints at all. Two 10th-century calendars, viz. that of the Leofric Missal and that of the ’West Country’, have Etheldreda and Ethelburga of Barking in common. ’West country’ adds Mildred and Sexburga.

7 Although the chronicles of Roger of Wendover, Simeon of Durham and Florence of Worcester are post-1066 they include seventh- and eighth-century material. See N. Brooks, 'The Formation of the Mercian Kingdom' in The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, S. Bassett, ed. (London, 1989). Anglo-Saxon material is also used in the Nova Legenda Anglie, see C. Horstmann, ed., Nova Legenda Anglie (Oxford, 1901), p. xxx. certainly based his vitae on Anglo-Saxon sources. See Thomas J. Hamilton, Goscelin of : A Critical Study of his Life, Works and Accomplishments (unpublished PhD thesis, University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, 1991), especially Chapter IV. On the Anglo-Saxon sources used by the author of the Liber Eliensis see E.O. Blake, ed., Liber Eliensis (London, 1962), Introduction, section II, pp. xxviii ff. 8 Historians do not agree about this matter. P. Corbet, in Les Saints Ottoniens (Sigmaringen, 1986), p. 53 says '...car la résurgance du Xlle siècle serait peu explicable, si une première fama, si faible soit-elle, n'avait existé dans les déciennes suivant la disparition...' But F. Graus, in Volk, Herrscher and Heiliger im Reich der Merowinger (Prague, 1965), pp. 402 ff, thinks that the vitae written centuries after the saint's death were 'fabricated' and not based on any existing cult. 9 Viz. The Leofric Missal, The Winchcombe Sacramentary, The Missal of Robert of Jumièges, The Missal of New Minster Winchester, BM Cotton Vitellius A xviii. See D.H. Turner, ed., The Missal of New Minster Winchester (London, 1960) HBS XCIII. 10 See Appendix II. II A. Wilson, ed., The Calendar of St Willibrord (London, 1918) HBS LV, p. 10, thinks that the date of the MS is ca. 715. This makes Edburga of Bicester the most likely. Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet died in 751, which is probably too late for her to be included. Edburga of Repton is a possibility, but she was much more obscure. Edburga of Bicester also occurs in four other calendars. Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 127

At first sight this deficiency seems surprising as the greater part of the Anglo- Saxon female saints died before 900, but these early calendars show a tendency not to pay too much attention to indigenous saints anyway. A reason for this might be that during the early days of the Anglo-Saxon church most service-books were imported by foreign churchmen.12 The first books produced in Anglo-Saxon England were copies of foreign models.13 Dunelmensis was probably not composed in England at all.14 Leofric A, the oldest part of The Leofric Missal, was written in Lotharingia.15 When Willibrord, Boniface and Alcuin established the in Gaul, Anglo- Saxon England produced service-books for use on the Continent using Roman models.16 The Winchcombe Sacramentary was probably meant for export.17 It is only in the later 10th and in the 11th century when the Anglo-Saxon church started to produce service-books for use in English churches that native saints are systematically included. Table 1 gives an indication of the popularity of Anglo-Saxon female saints on the basis of extant pre-1066 service-books and calendars

Table 1, VV- ' ' . Saint mentioned Saint mentioned Etheldreda 21 Werburga I 4 Ermenhild 16 Cuthburga 2 Sexburga 16 Cyniburg 1 2 Edburga of Winchester 15 Cyneswith 2 Bathild 12 Milburga 2 Mildred 12 Tibba 2 Elgiva 10 Eanswyth 1 Ethelburga of Barking 6 Ethelfleda 1 Wihtburga of Ely 6 Hilda 1 Edburga of Bicester 5 Osyth 1 Edith of Wilton 4 1 Ethelburga of Faremoutier 3

12 See F.E. Warren, ed., The Leofric Missal (Oxford, 1883), Introduction, p. xiv 13 See C.E. Hohler, 'Some Service-Books of the Later Saxon Church', in Tenth-Century Studies, David Parson, ed. (Leicester, 1975), pp. 60 - 83. 14 See Rituaele Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, U. Lindelof and A.H. Thompson, eds. (Durham, 1927), Introduction, pp. xii -xiii. The collects for Cuthbert, the only Anglo-Saxon saint mentioned, were inserted among the supplementary matter, probably at a later date. 15 Warren, The Leofric Missal, Introduction, p. xvi. 16 See Hohler, 'Some Service-Books', pp. 60 — 61. 17 See The Winchcombe Sacramentary, A. Davril O.S.B., ed. (London, 1995), HBS CIX, pp. 2 3 -2 6 . 128 Mediaevistik 14-2001

The greater part of the service-books and calendars are southern, probably because the reformed Benedictine monasteries were concentrated to the south-west of a line from the Severn to the Humber.18 Given the local nature of most of the cults the predominance of saints whose cult centres were located south of the Humber is therefore not surprising. Etheldreda's vita was probably one of the best-known in Anglo-Saxon England as it was included 's Historia Ecclesiastica. In addition Etheldreda, Sexburga and Ermenhild all hailed from Ely, a monastery that had an important place in King Edgar’s and ¿Ethelwold’s policy of monastic reform. The re-foundation and re-endowment of Ely was both instrument and symbol of deliberate expansion of royal power. The promotion of a cult and the of relics was a necessary concomitant of re-foundation and re-construction, as it ensured political and spiritual stability. The cults of Ely were actively sponsored during the 10th and 11th centuries. One of the first things the new abbot Brihtnoth did was to have the bodies of Sexburga and Ermenhild translated. He also obtained the relics of Wihtburga (there are strong indications that he stole them).19. The renown of St Edburga of Winchester may be ascribed to similar factors. At Winchester ¿Ethelwold advanced the cult of St (of whom no one had ever heard before), and Edburga's miracles are described with explicit reference to those of St Swithun. It is probable that her cult may only have started after his.20 The popularity of St Bathild's cult in England was probably the result of the close connections between Chelles, the convent she founded, and Anglo-Saxon royal and noble families. Girls were sent there for their education and some of them also became nuns.21 St Mildred's vita contains a description of events that had a parallel in the 11th century, when the cult of ^was important. It may even have been used as a lever by those who stood to gain from the royal victim's cult, as the circumstances of Edward's death could be linked to those of ¿Ethelberht and ^Ethelred, Mildred's uncles murdered by King Egbert. The munificent wergild that had been paid for ^Ethelberht and iEthelred — the monastery of Minster-in-Thanet — stood in

18 See D.W. Rollason, Saints and Relics in Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 1989), pp. 136 -7. 19 The political angle is discussed in Susan J. Ridyard's The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England: A Study of West Saxon and Anglian Cults (Cambridge, 1988), Cambridge Series in Medieval Life and Thought, Fourth Series, no. 9. See especially pp. 181 - 196. See also J. Burton, Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain 1000 - 1300 (Cambridge, 1994), p. 4, '...the Anglo-Saxon kings... cultivated monasteries to provide a religious and cultural base for their political authority.' 20 Ridyard, pp. 105 ff and p. 114. 'As if the Winchester nuns had racked their memories to find someone worthy enough to compete with St Swithun.'. 21 See HE, III.8 and D.H. Farmer, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford, 1992), s.v. Bathild. 22 Edward was one of the most popular male Anglo-Saxon saints meriting 17 entries in the extant Anglo-Saxon calendars. Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 129 stark contrast to the inadequate wergild paid for Edward. The interested parties thus had every reason to encourage Mildred’s cult, and the translation of her relics to St Augustine’s Canterbury in 1035, ordered by king Cnut, can only have enhanced her popularity.23 This is borne out by the fact that eight of the twelve calendars in which she is mentioned are post-103 5. There are, of course, other documents that provide information about Anglo- Saxon female saints24. Their names occur in martyrologies, vitae, histories, chronicles, lists of resting places etc. These sources, however, are not always clear as to whether there actually was a cult.25 In Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica sixteen names of Anglo-Saxon female saints are mentioned, but only three are linked to a cult, viz. Etheldreda, Ethelburga of Barking and Ethelburga of Faremoutier.26. Had the cults of the remaining thirteen not yet been established or were they unknown to Bede? The former seems most probable in the case of Ebbe, Elfleda and Enfleda. They were Northumbrian saints living (and dying) during Bede's lifetime, and given Bede's Northumbrian bias27 he would certainly have alluded to their cults if he had been cognisant of them, especially as they belonged to the Northumbrian royal family. In the case of Hild, however, it is very likely that a cult already existed when Bede wrote the HE}% She is listed as a saint in The Calendar of St Willibrord which probably antedates the HE?9 It can only be surmised why Bede did not regard her in the same light.30 A rather strict adherence to examples which had an official status, such as the

22. See D.W. Rollason, The Mildrith Legend: A Study in Early Medieval Hagiography in England (Leicester, 1982), pp. 53 ff. There are indications that King Cnut ordered Mildred’s translation. Cnut needed ecclesiastical support, but he was also interested in the translations of Anglo-Saxon saints. 24 See Appendix III. 25 The Liber Vitae Ecclesiae Dunelmensis , J. Stevenson, ed. (London, 1841) is a case in point. Nineteen names that correspond to saints' names occur under the heading nomina reginarum et abbatisarum. Often the same name is mentioned more than once and there are no indications as to origin, family etc. Therefore this source has not been included in the surveys. 26 HE, III.8, IV. 7-10 and IV. 19. 27 See N.J. Highham, An English Empire, Bede and the early Anglo-Saxon kings (Manchester, 1995), pp. 9-18 and Fletcher, pp. 170 ff. 28 Bede may have had a vita of Hild at his disposal when writing the HE. See Christine E. Fell in 'Hild, abbess of Streonaeshalh', Hagiography and Medieval Literature, A Symposium (Odense, 1981), p. 87. 29 See note 11 above. The only other contemporary text mentioning Hild is the Life of Bishop by Eddius Stephanus. In this work she is mentioned twice, once as mater piissima and on another occasion as Hilda religiosae memoriae abbatissa. See B. Colgrave, ed., The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus (Cambridge, 1927), pp. 20 and 116. Religiosae can have the connotation of 'holy', see R. E. Latham, ed., Revised Medieval Word-List from British and Irish Sources, With Supplement (Oxford, 1994), s.v. religio. 30 Christine E. Fell in 'Hild, abbess of Streonaeshalh', suggests that Bede may not have regarded Hild as a saint because she was not a virgin. Fell is of the opinion that there are strong indications that Hild had been married before she decided upon a monastic 130 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

Martyrologium Hieronymianum31 may explain why Bede included only Etheldreda in his Martyrology. Ebbe is not called a saint in Bede's Life o f St Cuthbert, although she had died some forty years before he wrote it.32 Felix's Life o f St Guthlac designates neither Pega nor Edburga of Repton a saint. Pega may still have been alive when Felix wrote the Life?3 Moreover, she died in Rome and it was there that her relics were venerated, so he may have known nothing of a cult. Too little is known about Edburga to tell why Felix did not call her a saint. Ennius' Life o f St Wilfrid says Etheldreda is 'a saintly queen' and tells the story of her incorrupt body, but makes no mention of a cult. Ebbe is 'a very wise and holy woman'34 but one gets the impression that this is more because she supported Wilfrid than for any other reason. Hilda is called 'the holy abbess Hilda'35, but in this case Ennius is quoting from a letter of Pope John, and the sanctae is probably a form of address. In the case of Bathild Ennius almost certainly got the name wrong.36 The Jezebel he describes cannot have been the saint Bathild. The Letters o f St Boniface3, show that the group from which Anglo-Saxon saints came was relatively small. Many of the ladies he corresponded with later became saints. The Martyrology was composed in at the end of ninth century, maybe during King Alfred's lifetime.38 It is difficult to establish to which tradition it belongs. A hundred entries in The Old English Martyrology cannot be found in Anglo-Saxon calendars.39 This may point to a foreign exemplar, and this would explain why only four Anglo-Saxon female saints are mentioned. Aelfric's Lives o f the Saints40 has the vitae of five Anglo-Saxon saints. Only one of them is female, Etheldreda. When compared with the calendars that were in use at Winchester, where Aelfric was trained, certain omissions stand out. Some of the Anglo- Saxon cults excluded, such as those of Edburga and Mildred, may have been too local in

life. Her husband may well have been a non-Christian whom she failed to convert and who was therefore not mentioned by Bede. 31 Wilson, p. xiv. See also G. Kotzor, Das Altenglische Martyrologum (München, 1981), in 2 vols., I, p. 178 and II, pp. 304-11 and Rollason, Saints and Relics, pp. 7 0 -1 . 32 Ebbe died in 683, Bede wrote the prose Life of St Cuthbert ca. 721 (see The Age of Bede, J.F.Webb and D.H.Farmer, eds. (Harmondsworth, 1983), p. 16. 33 B. Colgrave, ed., Felix's Life of St Guthlac (Cambridge, 1956), pp. 15 — 19. Felix dedicated his Life of St Guthlac to king Aelfwald of East Anglia, 713 — 49. Pega died in 719 in Rome. 34 Chapter 39. 35 Chapter 54. 36 See Oxford Dictionary of Saints, s.v. Bathild 37 R. Rau, ed. & transl., Briefe des Bonifatius (Darmstadt, 1968). 38 Kotzor, I, pp. 43 & 243. The decline in the knowledge of Latin may have led to the composition of a martyrology in Anglo-Saxon. 39 Kotzor, I, pp. 205 - 6. 40 W.W. Skeat, ed., ¿Elfric's Lives of the Saints (reprint Oxford, 1966), in 2 vols., EETS OS 76 & 82, 94 & 114. Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 131 nature to command Aelfric's attention. The omission of well-known saints such as Guthlac and is less easily explicable.41 Pa Halgan on Angelcynn or the 'Kentish Royal Legend' consists of a brief account of the first Christian kings of and of their saintly families up to the first half of the eighth century. In addition to this the 'Kentish Royal Legend' has the resting-places of a considerable number of Kentish, Midland and East-Anglian saints inserted into its narrative.42 The document was compiled in the last decade of the 10th century and has a strong southern bias43. The fifteen women saints listed in Pa Halgan all lived south of the Humber. The Secgan is a list of resting-places of Anglo-Saxon saints which was completed in its present form in or shortly after 1031, but parts of it were probably based on older lists.44 The Life of St Mildred consists of three fragments from two eleventh-century manuscripts45. The Life concentrates on St Mildred, but also gives the genealogy and resting-places of other saints connected to the Kentish and East-Anglian royal houses. The pre-1066 entries in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle46 mention the names of fourteen Anglo-Saxon women saints, but only five of them are designated as such, viz. Cyniburg I, Cwenburg, Tibba, Etheldreda and Elgiva. In the case of Elgiva there is no reference to a cult. The entry for 798, which tells the story of Wihtburga of Ely’s body being found incorrupt 55 years after her death, may refer to a translation ceremony.

Reception after 1066

Most of the cults of Anglo-Saxon female saints did not diminish after 1066. A growing interest in saints' cults in Western Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries and a respect for saintliness in the Anglo-Saxon past on the part of the Norman conquerors ensured a continuity of established cults.47 Moreover, it was in the communities' (economic) interest for the established cult to be continued.48 Table 2, compiled on the basis of F.

41 See Michael Lapidge, Aelfric's Sanctorale, in Holy Men and Holy Women: Old English Prose Saints' Lives and Their Contexts, Paul E. Szarmach, ed. (Albany, 1996), pp. 121 - 2. 42 D.W. Rollason, 'Lists of saints' resting-places in Anglo-Saxon England', Anglo-Saxon England, 7 (1978), pp. 73 - 74. Rollason is of the opinion that the author of the 'Kentish Royal Legend' incorporated information on resting-places from older lists. 43 F. Liebermann, ed., Die Heiligen Englands (Hannover, 1889), IV, X and XI. 44 See Rollason, 'Lists of saints' resting-places', p. 68. 45 M.J. Swanton, 'A Fragmentary Life of St. Mildred and Other Kentish Royal Saints', in Archaeologia Cantiana, 1975, pp. 15-27. 46 G.N. Garmonsway, ed. & transl, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (London, 1975). 47 See Rollason, Saints and Relics, Chapter 9. 48 See p. 139 on piety and patronage. 132 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

Wormald's English Benedictine Kalendars after 110(f9 shows that there are remarkably few disparities between the pre- and post-1066 figures as regards the popularity of most saints.

Table 2 Saint mentioned Saint mentioned Etheldreda 18 Hilda 3 Frideswide* 9 Osyth 3 Milburga 7 Wihtburga of Ely 3 Mildred 7 Modwenna* 2 Ebbe I* 5 Arild* 1 Edburga of Winchester 5 Cuthburga 1 Ermenhild 5 Cyneswith 1 Ethelburga of Barking 5 Cyneburg II* 1 Sexburga 5 1 Bathild 4 Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet* 1 Edith of Wilton 4 Erkengota* 1 Werburga I 4 Jutwara* 1

* not listed in Anglo-Saxon calendars

Milburga seems to have been more popular after 1066 and Bathild's popularity was certainly waning. This selection also includes northern calendars, which explains the presence of Ebbe. St Frideswide’s post-Conquest popularity is conspicuous. She is mentioned in just one Anglo-Saxon source (Pa Halgan), but after 1100 her popularity is second only to that of Etheldreda. She is also the only Anglo-Saxon female saint to be included in two manuscripts of the South English Legendary.50ThQ rise of Oxford, of which she became the official in the 15th century,51 probably accounts for this. During the late Middle Ages a number of important legendae were written in England, viz. The South English Legendary, the Sanctilogium Angliae (edited by

49 F. Wormald, ed., English Benedictine Kalendars after 1100, in 2 vols. (London, 1939 - 40). It would be beyond the scope of this article to include all Middle English calendars in the survey. Wormald's selection, being fairly representative geographically and temporally, provides a good indication. 50 In Bodleian MS Ashmole 43 and British Museum MS Cotton Julius D. IX. See The South English Legendary, C. D'Evelyn & A.J. Mill, eds., in 3 vols. (Oxford, 1959) Vol. Ill, EETS OS 244, pp. 33 & 36. Anglo-Saxon male saints are much better represented. 51 See John Blair, 'St Frideswide's Monastery: Problems and Possibilities' in Saint Frideswide's Monastery at Oxford, Archaeological and Architectural Studies, John Blair, ed. (Gloucester, 1990). Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 133

Wykyn de Worde under the title Nova Legenda Angliae), and MS Lansdowne 436.52 In the late 15th century Richard Whytford compiled the Martiloge, a translation of a Latin martyrology with additions.53 As the lists below show there existed a core of some thirty Anglo-Saxon women saints whose popularity spanned at least six centuries. In most cases their reputation had been established in Anglo-Saxon times.

Nova Legenda Angliae Lansdowne 436 Martiloge 14th century/16th century54 14th century late 15th century Cuthburga Cuthburga Arild Cyneswith Ebbe Bathild Cyniburg I Edburga of Winchester Cuthburga Eanswith Ethelburga of Faremoutier Cyneswith Ebbe Etheldreda Cyneburg I Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet Milburga Cyniburg II Edith of Wilton Modwenna Eanswith Elfleda I Osyth Ebbe Erkengota Sexburga Edburga of Winchester Ermenhild Werburga 1 Edith of Wilton Ethelburga of Barking Wihtburga of Ely Elfleda I Etheldreda Elgiva Frideswide Erkengota Hilda Ermenhild Ethelburga of Barking Milburga Ethelburga of Faremoutier Mildred Etheldreda Modwenna Frideswide Osyth Hilda Sexburga Hildelith Walburga Jutwara Werburga 1 Milburga Wihtburga of Ely Mildred Wulfhilda Modwenna Osyth Sexburga Tibba Walburga Werburga 1 Wihtburga of Ely Wulfhilda 24 11 32

52 This MS has not been edited. See Horstmann, Nova Legenda Anglie, Introduction, p. ix, n.2. 53 F. Procter and E.S. Dewick, eds., The Martiloge in Englysshe (London, 1893), Henry Bradshaw Society III, Introduction, p. xxi. 54 See Horstmann, Nova Legenda Anglie, Introduction, p. i. John of Tynemouth's Sanctologium Angliae is of the second quarter of the 14th century. His collection was rearranged in the 15th century. In 1516 Wynkyn de Worde rearranged it again and added 15 new lives. 134 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

As late as the 17th century the memory of the Anglo-Saxon female saints was kept alive, even if their cults were no longer permitted. Ca. 1610 - 1615 an anonymous Roman Catholic theologian wrote The Lives o f Women Saints o f our Contrie o f England, which contains the lives of no fewer than 26 Anglo-Saxon saints.55

Break in continuity

The majority of the Anglo-Saxon female saints, 68%, lived in the 7th and 8th centuries.56

♦ . Table 3 , : century no. % 600 - 700 35 41 700 - 800 22 26 800 - 900 10 12 900 - 1000 9 10 1000- 1066 1 1 Unknown 9 10

The first reason that springs to mind to explain this downward trend is that of Viking activity. Although not all monastic life in England disappeared with the Danish invasions, these did put a stop to or seriously impeded a flourishing monastic life, especially in Yorkshire and East Anglia.57 In the Midlands and Southern England the minsters certainly did not perish for good, but many of them suffered losses and disruption, and often their character changed from monastic to parochial.58 Many of the larger houses fell into secular hands, and the regular life was so minimal that one could hardly call them monasteries any more. Smaller houses often disappeared

55 C. Horstmann, ed., The Lives of Women Saints of Our Contrie of England (London, 1886), Introduction, p. xiii. The saints are: Cuthburga, Cyneswith, Cyniburg I, Eanswith, Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet, Edith of Wilton, Elfleda I, Ermenhild, Ethelburga of Barking, Ethelburga of Ine, Etheldreda, Frideswide, Hilda, Hildelith, Jutwara, Milburga, Mildred, Modwenna, Osyth, Sexburga,Tibba, Walburga, Werburga I, Wihtburga of Ely and Wulfhilda. 56 Of most saints only the year of death is known, and in some cases this is only approximate. In this table the year of death has been taken as an indicator of the century. 57 See John Blair 'Introduction: from Minster to Parish Church', in Minsters and Parish Churches, The Local Church in Transition 950 - 1200, John Blair, ed. Oxford Committee for Archaeology, Monograph No. 17 (Oxford, 1988), p. 2. 58 ibid., p. 3. Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 135

altogether.59 As a consequence the environment in which sainthood had flourished also vanished.60 There may be additional reasons though. By the eighth century the original fervour had cooled and a certain corruption had set in.61 Bede's letter to Archbishop Egbert (734)62 expresses his worry about the state of affairs. Many monasteries are in the hands of married laymen, who founded them to 'more freely devote themselves to lust'; they call themselves abbots, but are 'absolutely without the character and profession' needed for such a post.

Moreover, with like shamelessness they procure for their wives places for constructing monasteries — as they say — and these with equal foolishness, seeing that they are lay» women, allow themselves to be mistresses of the handmaids of Christ. To them fits aptly the popular proverb that wasps can indeed make honeycomb, but they store in it not honey, but poison.63

Boniface's letter to ¿Ethelbald of , written some twelve years later, paints an equally dismal picture. The king and nobles commit adultery with 'holy nuns and virgins consecrated to God', and king and ealdormen offer 'greater violence and oppression to monks and priests, than other Christian kings have done before'.64 Even during the Golden Age of Monasticism things were not always what they should be, as Bede's description of life at Coldingham under St Ebbe (ca. 685) proves

All of them, men and women alike, are either sunk in unprofitable sleep, or else awake only to sin. Even the cells, which were built for prayer and study, are now converted into places

59 See Dom David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England, A History of its Development from the Times of St to the Fourth Lateran Council 940 - 1216 (Cambridge, 1966) pp. 24 - 36, Burton, p. 3, and Fletcher pp. 393 ff. See also H. Pilch and H. Tristram, Altenglische Literatur (Heidelberg 1979), Anglistische Forschungen, Heft 128, pp. 156-7. 60 See Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg, 'Sexism and the celestial gynaecum - from 500 to 1200' Journal of Medieval History, 4 (1978), pp. 122 - 3, who speaks of 'The general inability of women during this era to achieve a 'visibility' which would lead to sanctity...' This inability was not confined to female saints. 62% of all saints from Western Europe between 500 and 1199 are pre-850. 70% of the male Anglo-Saxon saints are pre-800. Schulenburg, attributes the sharp decline in the late ninth and early tenth centuries to the difficult times. D.A. Bullough's, 'The Continental Background of the Reform' in Tenth-Century Studies, pp. 22-3, gives an outline of the difficulties in . Schulenburg's contention that the nuns of the houses destroyed by the Vikings became 'a new generation of martyr saints' (Schulenburg 2, p. 144) is not supported by facts. Of the 10 Anglo-Saxon female martyr-saints only 3 were killed by the Vikings. 61 D. Whitelock, The Beginnings of English Society, (Harmondsworth, 1971), pp. 172 - 3. See also J. Godfrey, The Church in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 1962), p. 296. Monastic life perished '...partly through inner decay and partly through the invasions.'. 62 See English Historical Documents, c. 500 - 1042 (hereafter cited as EHD), D. Whitelock, ed. (London, 1979), pp. 799 - 810. 63 EHD, p. 806. 64 EHD, pp. 816-822. 136 Mediaevistik 14 ■ 2001

for eating, drinking, gossip and other amusements. When they have leisure even the nuns vowed to God abandon the propriety of their calling and spend their time weaving fine clothes, which they employ to the peril of their calling, either to adorn themselves like brides or to attract attention from strange men.65

A third reason for the high proportion of pre-850 saints could be the need for relics for the new minsters, churches and monasteries that came into being during the first stages of the conversion period.66 To be able to venerate their own bishop, abbot/abbess or monk/nun as a special saint was a source of pride to these communities. From the 10th century onwards recourse was taken to acquiring relics of well-known saints, but such a regular trade had not yet been established during the 7th and 8th centuries. In addition new saints were also needed because the faithful were used to the idea that there were people who had special powers during their lifetime. The Church had, nolens volens, to cater for this belief, which was very much alive among the Germanic peoples.67 When had established itself fewer new saints were created, and proportionally more men than women. A probable cause for the latter is the drastically changed role of women by the time the monasteries were restored. During the first conversion period the Church had relied heavily on women to spread the new faith. Women were often the first to embrace Christianity and the Church sought to convert their husbands through them.68 In the tenth century the , often led by an abbess, was a thing of the past. The Anglo- Saxon and Merovingian kings, who had in the seventh and eighth centuries felt obliged to make provisions for widows and unmarried girls belonging to their families and had generously endowed nunneries, now favoured reformed establishments which were predominantly male.69 In the 10th and 11th centuries there were only nine nunneries in England.70 These nunneries played just a small part in the monastic development of this period, as the new conception of monastic duty emphasised the

65 HE, IV.25. 66 See R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Harmondsworth, 1970), pp. 30 - 1 on the extreme importance of relics during the 'primitive age'. Schulenburg 2, p. 66, explains the relatively small number of early medieval Italian saints by the fact that there were enough relics in Italy already. See also Rollason, Saints and Relics, pp. 27 - 8. Most relics of Anglo-Saxon saints were secondary relics, i.e. clothes, objects, as the Church was against subdividing the bodies of the saints. 67 See Graus, p. 106, and Schulenburg 2, pp. 65 ff, who attributes the great number of 'new' saints to the new frontiers of the conversion period, which provided favourable circumstances. 68 See Schulenburg 2, pp. 107 - 118 and Schulenburg pp. 120 - 122. Pope Boniface's letter to Queen Ethelberga (HE, 11.11) is a case in point. 69 See Southern, pp. 309 ff. 70 See Burton, p. 9. Of the nine nunneries five were relatively unimportant, having a yearly value of under £ 100. See also Schulenburg 2, p. 144, at least 41 houses for women (including double monasteries) were destroyed by the Vikings. In 1066 there were only nine houses for women still in existence. Mediaevistik 14 ■ 2001 137 importance of monks.71 This meant that women were denied the Visibility' that was a prerequisite for sainthood.72

Social and religious status

An interaction of ecclesiastical policy and socio-economic conditions produced a church that was very much upper-class. This explains the high social and religious status of the majority of the Anglo-Saxon female saints.73

Table 4 ' social status no. % royal 58 67 noble 11 13 unknown 17 20

Tables5 religious status no. % abbess 47 55 nun 14 16 founder* 6 7 hermit 5 6 martyr** 8 9 other 1 1 unknown 5 6

* these were ladies who only provided land/money for a monastery ** these ladies had no other status. The total number of female is 13

71 See Southern, p. 310, 'the new and more exacting conception of the monastic duty of liturgical specialization and of the intercessory value of monastic masses necessarily emphasized the importance of monks who could more efficiently perform these duties.' 72 See Schulenburg, p. 119, who stresses that '...in order to achieve a 'visibility' which could lead to fame of sanctity, it was necessary for the candidate to have the opportunity which would lend her this prominence'. See also Graus, p. Ill, who says that the absence of a cult-centre explains why so few recluses, even when they were considered 'holy', did not become saints. 73 The data cannot always be trusted. So many saints were of royal/noble descent that this became a top os, and if a late vita is the only source of information the saint need not have been a noblewoman at all. See Pilch and Tristam, p. 57, Régis Boyer, 'The typology of medieval hagiography' in Hagiography and Medieval Literature, A Symposium, p. 32, A. Vauchez, 'Beata Stirps: Sainteté et Lignage en Occident aux XlIIe et XlVe Siècles', in G. Duby and J. Le Goff, eds., Famille et Parente dans L'Occident Médiéval (Rome, 1977), p. 397 and Graus, p. 363, who ascribes this phenomenon to the positive attitude towards the powerful on the part of the Church and to the hagiographers' tendency to single out abbots and abbesses, especially when they were also the monastery's founder. 138 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

Throughout Western Europe the missionaries invariably approached the rulers and the nobility in the first instance.74 They attached themselves to itinerant royal courts and dealt primarily with the upper classes of society.75 As a consequence only these persons received more than the summary instruction in the Christian faith necessary for entering upon monastic life.76 Besides, only royal and noble families could grant the land77 necessary to establish a network of well-endowed communities which would maintain learned monks and nuns, while also providing a base from which to convert the countryside.78 During the early stages of the conversion a great many aristocratic women were patrons or founders of monasteries. A good number of these were founded by widows on their own dower lands.79 Under Germanic law, however, all upon the soil fell under the dominion of the soil’s owner. The founder of a house assumed direct lordship over both the abbot/abbess of his/her house and all its properties, and peopled it with his/her kinsfolk and dependants. Most Anglo-Saxon monasteries were Eigenkldster, and the Anglo-Saxon Church, like its Continental counterparts, was very much an Adelskirche.80 This explains why many abbesses were succeeded by their kinswomen.81 Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the support of kings remained indispensable. When the Anglo-Saxon Church had to be reformed after the Danish invasions it was largely due to King Edgar’s zeal that the monastic revival succeeded. In this period too the control of the Church was in the king's hands82, and it is therefore not surprising that the abbesses of the few nunneries that remained were of royal descent.

74 Godfrey, pp. 75-6. 'In the entire history of the English conversion the missionaries were to follow an invariable policy of making a direct approach to the rulers in the first instance'. On the situation in Western Europe see Martine de Reu, 'De Missionering', in De Heidense Middeleeuwen, Ludo Milis, ed. (Rome, 1991) Belgisch Historisch Instituut, Bibliotheek XXXII, Graus, pp. 151 - 2 and Fletcher, pp. 118 ff 75 Fletcher, p. 455. 76 On the depth of the majority of the people's faith see Southern, p. 29, Graus, p. 159 and Schulenburg 2, p. 179. 77 See Schulenburg, p. 122, many women founded monasteries on their own dowry lands. See also Fletcher, p. 173, 'Founding even a modest monastic house was an expensive business. It is therefore not surprising that all identifiable monastic founders were of royal, princely or aristocratic rank...'. 78 See John Blair, 'Frithuwold's kingdom and the origins of ' in Bassett, p. 103. Blair also cites King of 's vow in 654 to give twelve little estates for the foundation of monasteries. 79 Schulenburg 2, pp. 52 and 81. 80 Knowles, p. 22 and pp. 563 ff; Godfrey, p. 162. See also Fletcher, pp. 155 ff, who thinks that in spite of its many shortcomings the Adelskirche succeeded in hamassing the aristocratic loyalties in the service of the Christian faith. 81 See Sir Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 1971), p. 163, and Fletcher, p. 455. 82 Stenton, pp. 365 - 71 and p. 546. Mediaevistik 14 ■ 2001 139

Male and female

In her survey on Western European saints Schulenburg83 found a significant discrepancy between the number of male and female saints. A similar variance can be discerned among Anglo-Saxon saints. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints lists 151 male Anglo-Saxon saints,84 almost twice the number of female saints. The career opportunities in the ecclesiastical hierarchy open to men only — and increasing their chances to obtain sainthood — are reflected in the high religious status of many male saints.85

T a b l e 6 y ^ " " - - - religious status no. % bishop 54 35 archbishop 19 12 abbot 15 8 monk 10 6 hermit 22 14 martyr* 16 10 deacon 5 3 secular priest 3 2 unknown 14 10

* this figure does not include martyrs who also had another religious status. The total numbers of martyrs is 26.

The high percentage of (arch) among the male saints conforms to a pattern that was established during the fourth century, when the cult of the martyrs was replaced by that of the confessors. 'Because of their prominent role in the local Churches, the first confessors to be venerated were either beloved bishops or well- known ascetics.'86 In other words, (arch)bishops especially enjoyed the 'visibility' needed to become a saint.87 Male martyrdom is also linked to this active lifestyle. Once Christianity had become an accepted religion the definition of what constitutes a martyr changed, and

83 See Schulenburg, p. 122. 84 As this is only a general comparison no other works have been consulted for Anglo- Saxon male saints. The 2 : 1 ratio tallies with Schulenburg's figures for the whole of Western Europe. See Schulenburg 2, pp. 6 - 7. As in Western Europe the majority of the Anglo-Saxon saints is pre-Carolingian. 85 See Schulenburg 2, p. 269, ’Church and society offered men a wider choice of careers which might lead to sanctity...'. 86 Scarcella, pp. 73 and 76. 87 Especially the missionary (arch)bishops were popular in England. Birinus is mentioned 19 times in the calendars, Paulinus 14, Augustine 13 and 13. 140 Mediaevistik 14-2001

favoured those active in (Church) politics. Whereas the thirteen women saints who achieved martyr status generally represent the ’old’ type of passive martyr, helpless against the onslaughts of the heathen Britons, Anglo- and Danes, seventeen of the male martyrs belong to the ’new’, active type of martyr - missionaries killed by the people they tried to convert, kings and princes killed in battles against pagans, or murdered by kinsmen.88 Male saints seem to have been more attracted to the eremitic ideal favoured by the Irish Church than women, who favoured a balanced contemplative and active life as members of coenobitic monasteries that also devoted time to the world outside; a model supported by the Rome-oriented Anglo-Saxon church authorities as it was more suited to the needs of the conversion period.89 In most Anglo-Saxon sources the references to male and female saints accord with the 2:1 ratio.

T a b l e 7 - v i source malefemale Bede’s Martyrology90 2 1 Old English Martyrology 15 4 Aelfric91 4 1 Pa Halgan 3 15 Secgan 42 19 Service books, calendars 58 26

Only the compiler of the Old English martyrology shows a marked preference for male saints. The inverse disparity in Pa Halgan, which lists 3 male saints92 and 15 female ones, may be ascribed to the fact that it concentrates on the Kentish royal house, which boasted a large number of female saints. The proportion in the 10th- and 1 lth-century service books and calendars is reasonable, showing only a small bias in favour of the male saints. In total female saints are mentioned 145 times, and male saints 351 times. This results in a 1 : 2.3

88 For the classification and development see Graus, pp. 93-100. Of course many of these people were not in the strictest sense martyrs, i.e. killed for not-denying God. The battles they died in were in most cases political, and the kinsmen who killed them in dynastic struggles were often Christians themselves, who founded monasteries in expiation of their crimes. Graus, p. 96, is of the opinion that there were not many missionary-martyrs. Even St Boniface was primarily killed because the Frisians wanted to rob him. 89 On the development of opinions on the eremitic ideal see Mary Clayton, 'Hermits and the Contemplative Life', in Szarmach, pp. 147 - 176. 90 As with the female saints a number of well-known saints such as and Wilfrid are mentioned in the HE, but they do not appear in the Martyrology. 91 See the Appendix to ‘Aelfric’s Sanctorale’, Michael Lapidge in Szarmach, p. 125. 92 Some of the male saints are not found in any of the other sources. They may have been purely local. Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 14! ratio. This bias is mainly caused by a number of individual calendars that are disproportionate, such as Galba A (7 male, no female) and Wells (15 male, 2 female). After so many centuries the compilers' preference for male Anglo-Saxon saints can only be a matter of conjecture. Male popular saints also enjoyed a slightly higher degree of popularity than popular female saints as Table 8, listing the ten most popular male and female saints, shows.

T able 8 female saints X male saints X Etheldreda 21 Cuthbert 24 Ermenhild 16 Boniface 23 Sexburga 16 King Oswald 22 Edburga of Winch. 15 Wilfrid 18 Bathild 12 Guthlac 17 Mildred 12 Edward martyr 17 Elgiva 10 Kenelm 17 Ethelburga of Bar. 6 Dunstan 17 Wihtburga of Ely 6 Cedd 17 Edburga of Bicester 5 16

Ermenhild Erkengota

Werburga

The genealogical table above is typical. Most Anglo-Saxon female saints were members of ‘ of saints’. Forty-six saints are related to each other.93

93 See Appendix IV. However, the Anglo-Saxon family connections are based on genealogies that cannot always be trusted. It is known that some were falsified for political ends, and a similar phenomenon may have occurred in the case of saints. See S. Bassett, 'In search of the origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms', Bassett, p. 4 and K. Sisam, 'Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogies', Proceedings of the British Academy, 1953, p. 296. On the Continent monasteries tried to prove that connections existed between 142 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

Table 9 Mother - daughter 13* Sister - sister 29 Grandmother - granddaughter 3 Aunt - niece 5 Brother - sister 6 mother - son 1

* 13 saints had a mother who was also a saint, 29 saints had a sister who was also a saint etc.

It seems that apart from the socio-economic forces discussed above other factors also played a role in the establishment of ‘dynasties of saints’. Scholars are divided on the explanation as to who initiated the phenomenon of beata stirps and two schools of thought exist. The first takes the perceptions of ordinary folk as a starting point, as it is believed that in most cases the cult was initiated by them. Families and dynasties might have orchestrated the cults and contributed to their distribution, but they were, in general, not the ones who started the cult.94 According to Vauchez95 popular attached itself spontaneously to high-born persons. In the view of ordinary people the nobility had special physical and moral qualities that constituted a kind of charisma and this facilitated veneration as a saint. This charisma had pre-Christian origins. The Germanic peoples believed that kings and members of the royal family had a special Heil, an intrinsic quality found in a certain group of people.96 Their Heil ensured victory in battle, prosperity

the saint(s) they venerated and certain royal families, and the royal families themselves dreamed up connections that had no historical basis. See L. van der Essen, Etude Critique et Littéraire sur les Vitae des Saints Mérovingiens de VAncienne Belgique (Louvain, 1907), p. 173, and K. Hauck, 'Geblutsheiligkeit', in Liber Floridus, Mittellateinische Studien, B. Bischoff and S. Brechter, eds. (St. Ottilien, 1950), p. 218. 94 Pierre Delooz, quoted in Schulenburg 2, p. 21., holds that 'the value of sanctity is first of all situated in the collective memory of the community'. See also Schulenburg 2, p. 59. Schulenburg is of the opinion that many early medieval cults were popular in origin, but formalized and organized by the Church. 95 'Beata stirps', pp. 397-8. See also Fletcher, p. 10 'Instead [of official canonization], holy men and holy women were simply recognized and revered by the neighbourhood and the community', R. Pernoud, Die Heiligen im Mittelalter (transi, of Les saints au Moyen Age, Darmstadt, 1988), p. 277, and Scarcella, p. 75, 'The first "canonizations" of confessors, like those of the martyrs, were rooted in the spontaneous, popular veneration of a Servant of God...' 96 Scholars favouring the theory of Germanic sacral kingship are: W. Grönbech, Kultur and Religion der Germanen (reprint Darmstadt 1980), in 2 vols., I, pp. 136 - 180; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 37 ff., 'Britain was invaded...by bodies of adventurers.. .Most of them came from the remoter parts of the Germanic world, where kingship was less a matter of political authority than of descent from ancient gods.'; K. Hauck, 'Geblütsheiligkeit'; A. Angenendt, Geschichte der Religiosität im Mittelalter Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 143 and fertility.97 With the advent of Christianity the character of this Heil changed, Königsheil (felicitas) became Königsheiligkeit (sanctitas)9*, and aristocratic charisma Geblütsheiligkeit.99 The miracle stories and the legends from southern Europe could easily be applied to Germanic kings, especially as people already thought that kings had miraculous powers.100 The second school holds that the cults were started by ecclesiastical and interested parties and that a pre-Christian charisma did not play any role.101 However, scholars agree that once established the concept of Geblütsheiligkeit was kept alive by the royal families and/or other interested parties.102 Genealogies indicate that this was indeed the case, even to the point of attaching dynasties which had illustrious members to others less blessed.103 Having eminent ancestors was an advantage104, as

(Darmstadt, 1997), pp. 314 ff.; J. Nelson, 'Royal saints and early medieval kingship' in Sanctity and Secularity: The Church and the World (Oxford, 1973), pp. 39 - 44. 97 See Grönbech, Vol. Í, pp. 136 - 180. See also Nelson, pp. 39-44. The sacral powers of kings are not an achieved status, the bearer possesses magical powers by definition. 98 See Bishop Avitus' letter to Clovis, quoted in Hauck, 'Geblütsheiligkeit', pp. 194 - 5. Nelson, pp. 42-3 is of the opinion that the Church was afraid of the non-Christian sacral powers of the king, and that the practice of anointing served to present kingship as an office within the ecclesia. RoIIason, Saints and Relics, pp. 126 - 7, believes that the saint kings cannot be seen as direct descendants from the pagan priest kings, sanctitas was not in the blood but had to be earned, and was generally awarded posthumously. 99 Vauchez, p. 399. 100 See Grönbech, Vol. I, p. 139, 'Es besteht keine Zweifel, dass man eifrig, mit unbewusster Absicht...die Keime des Heiligtums im Königstum gepfelgt hat.' See also Southern, pp. 31-33, who is of the opinion that the anointment ceremonies gave kings 'a sacred character', and 'conferred a mysterious power on the anointed ruler'. 101 See Graus, pp. 430-1. Rollason, Saints and Relics, p. 125 thinks that the close relationship between the Church and royal families explains the undue proportion of royal saints. 'The pre-850 saints' cults were mainly an ecclesiastical affair. ... and there seems to have been no strong movement to introduce any popular appeal in the cult of the saints or to attract the patronage of lay people except for a narrow stratum of society.' (p. 104). Although Pernoud is of the opinion that cults have a popular origin (see note 95 above) she thinks that the beata stirps can be explained by the greater visibility of royal persons, tighter family ties and by nurture/education. See pp. 145-7. See also Schulenburg 2, p. 257 on the formative role female saints played in the lives of their children. This would explain why so many of their daughters also became saints. 102 See Rollason, Saints and Relics, pp. 120 - 125, on the advantages of having a saint in the royal family. See also Ridyard, pp. 176 - 80, '...there was a direct connection between hereditary proprietorship, hereditary abbatical status and subsequent veneration: a of royal patrons produced a dynasty of royal saints.' 103 See note 93. At the end of the Middle Ages the concept of Geblütsheiligkeit was still very much alive. The Emperor Maximilian I counted St Boniface among his ancestors. Hauck, pp. 214-8. R. Künzel in 'Heidendom, syncretisme en religieuze volkscultuur in de vroege middeleeuwen, problemen en perspectieven', in Willibrord, zijn wereld en zijn werk, P. Bange and A.G. Weiler, eds. (Nijmegen, 1990), p. 270, is of the opinion that 144 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 the qualities of these ancestors were believed to be transferred to the entire dynasty. Conversion called for a different type of ‘eminent ancestor5 and the Germanic gods or legendary kings105 were replaced by saints.106 It must be pointed out, however, that the latter is a rather late phenomenon.107 Anglo-Saxon genealogies drawn up in the 8th and 9th centuries still favour Germanic (demi-)gods and heroes over saints108. Only one list has the names of two female saints, viz. Cuthburg and Cwenburg, and they owe their inclusion to the fact that they were children of Cenred.109 It is only in the late 10th century, when Pa Halgan on Angelcynn, the 'Kentish Royal Legend', was composed, that an Anglo-Saxon royal house started to emphasise its sanctity.

Reasons for taking the veil

The sources always postulate a sincere vocation, but 'monastic life had so many social advantages that its attraction certainly cannot have been of a purely religious character'110. In other words, which contemporary social circumstances made monastic life an attractive option to so many royal/noble Anglo-Saxon women?111 In many medieval vitae daughters refuse to marry the husband the family has selected for them, and wives implore their husbands to release them from the bonds of marriage112, so that they may enter upon life as a religious. This topos of opposition to

Adelsheiligen came into being because the aristocracy wanted to legitimise its power in a religious way when society had become Christian. 104 The advantage might be political, as in the case of Frederick II during his conflict with the Pope. Hauck, p. 205. 105 See Sisam. Anglo-Saxon genealogies go back to Woden or beyond. 106 Hauck, pp. 191-2 and p. 207. It seems that the illustrious forebears shown in genealogies were very much subject to cultural developments. The emperor Charles IV had a family-tree in which Jupiter and Saturn were the founding fathers, and which also included Roman emperors. 107 This also goes for the Continent. See Corbet and van der Essen. 108 See Sisam, pp. 289 - 98, and Pilch and Tristram, pp. 41 - 2. Some genealogies include the Christian patriarchs Adam and Noah. 109 See Sisam, p. 296. 110 P. Bot, Tussen Verering en Verachting; de rol van de vrouw in de middeleeuwse samenleving (Kampen, 1990), pp. 152-3, 'Het kloosterleven bezat zoveel maatschappelijk aantrekkelijke kanten, dat de zuigende werking die er van uitging stellig niet puur religieus van aard kan zijn geweest.' 111 Of course some of the ladies may have had a sincere vocation. I agree with Fletcher (p. 522) that we should not rule out that some of the people during the conversion period were indeed pious. 112 See S. Millinger 'Humility and Power: Anglo-Saxon Nuns in Anglo-Norman Hagiography', in Medieval Religious Women, Vol. I, Distant Echoes (Cistercian Studies Series, no. 71, 1984), pp. 115-19. The phenomenon was not confined to England. Many of the Belgian-Merovingian saints mentioned in van der Essen show a similar inclination. See also Pilch and Tristram, p. 55. 'Die heilige Jungfrau die nicht heiraten Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 145 or escape from marriage may well have been be founded in reality.113 Most royal and noble marriages were arranged and politics predominated over passion.114 Once married to a man she did not like the wife had to put up with concubines and the dangers of childbirth.115 She also ran the risk of being repudiated if she did not produce the necessary heirs, or if political circumstances changed.116 In this light it is not surprising that monasteries were an attractive alternative. When a marriage did not work a monastic life may have been preferable to the disgrace of being renounced. Etheldreda was married twice for political reasons117, and her failure to produce an heir — caused by denying her husband sexual relations (according to Bede118) or a physical disability — may have induced her second husband Ecgfrith to allow her to retreat to a monastery. Fourteen saints were widowed when they opted for monastic life. Many noble and royal women outlived their husbands, and ’faced with a flood of widows and given its own doctrines on sex and marriage the Church favored a life of prayerful celibacy as the correct condition for the female bereaved'.119 Moreover, without a husband or a son to protect her a queen was open to the harshest treatment (exile, imprisonment and even murder), and retirement to a monastery appeared to most the best of ends. Even when they had a son or grandson living filial gratitude was not a matter of

will’ is one of the three basic types of AS hagiography. Graus, Appendix 4, pp. 468 - 477, discusses many variations on this topos. 113 See Graus, p. 75, 'Ebenso darf uns die Feststellung eines Topos nicht dazu verleiten, die Nachricht oder Behauptung, die topisch dargestellt ist, einfach a limine als 'unhistorisch' zu verwerfen.' See also D. von der Nahmer, Die Lateinische Heiligenvita, eine Einführung in die Lateinische Hagiographie (Darmstadt, 1994), pp. 153 - 169, who is of the same opinion. 114 See Pauline Stafford, Queens, Concubines and Dowagers, The King's Wife in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1983), chapter 2. Most Anglo-Saxon royal marriages were arranged by the male members of the family, and had a strong political angle. According to Bot, pp. 150-1, this was one of the reasons why especially upper-class women flocked to monasteries. In their class familial control over marriages was strongest. 115 See A. Rouselle, Porneia. De la maîtrise du corps à la privation sensorielle. Ile-IVe siècles de Vére chrétienne (Paris, 1983), p. 244. Rouselle is of the opinion that poor medical care made many women opt for monastic life. See also Giselle de Nie, ‘Visies op St. Radegunde’s ‘vlammende geest” in Emoties in de Middeleeuwen, R.E.V. Stuip and C. Vellekoop, eds. (Hilversum, 1998), p. 56. In early medieval devotional literature childbirth is always painted in the most gruesome terms, whereas the life of a ‘bride of Christ’ is absolute bliss. 116 Stafford, pp. 63 - 79. 117 See Higham, p. 124. 118 HE, IV. 19. 119 Stafford, pp. 144-5. See also M. Skinner, 'Benedictine Life for Women in Central France, 850 - 1100, in Distant Echoes, p. 98. In France (850 - 1100) a high proportion of the women entering a monastery was married/widow. 146 Mediaevistik 14 * 2001 course, and founding a monastery was often the only way to secure a widow’s inheritance120 or to escape a second, arranged marriage.121 Entering a monastery also provided Anglo-Saxon women with an opportunity to receive an education and to prove their managerial skills. Edburga of Minster-in- Thanet corresponded with St Boniface and her monastery produced beautiful manuscripts for him,122 Ethelburga of Faremoutier initiated the building of the abbey church,12"5 Hild and Elfleda were very much involved in church politics.124 In this milieu women were able to achieve a prominence, a 'visibility', which they had previously been denied.125 Finally, a 'trend' to opt for a monastic life cannot be completely ruled out, especially in the pre-Viking period. It is difficult to tell whether Anglo-Saxon England also witnessed the 'stampede into monastic life' that was found in 7th-century Spain126, but Bede's 'Letter to Archbishop Egbert’ echoes the worries of the Spanish documents — 'innumerable places' had been founded and 'there is a complete lack of places where the sons of nobles or of veteran thegns can receive an estate' so that those who ’defend our people from the barbarians...leave the country for which they ought to fight’.127

Piety and Patronage

One of the reasons why so many royal women could achieve the visibility necessary to become a saint was their economic power. McNamara’s assertion that ’the road to sanctity for the women of Merovingian Gaul was paved with their familial fortunes’,128 is also valid for Anglo-Saxon female saints.129 Especially in the pre- Viking period many high-born ladies could and did alienate land to found monasteries. This exceptional generosity certainly played a role in their election to sanctity. From 1050 onwards the rights of women to inherit and dispose of property were curtailed, and this led to fewer foundations and consequently fewer female saints.130

120 See Stafford, pp. 166-7, pp. 176-7 and Carol Neuman de Vegvar, 'Saints and Companions to Saints: Anglo-Saxon Royal Women Monastics in Context', Szarmach, p. 53. 121 See Bot, p. 150. 122 Briefe des Bonifatius, p. 114. 123 HE, III.8 124 HE, 111.25 and IV.23. Elfleda’s role is discussed in Eddius Stephanus' Life of Wilfrid. 125 Schulenburg, p. 121. 126 See Fletcher, pp. 158-9. 127 EHD, pp. 804-5. On the parallels between Bede and the Spanish sources see Fletcher, p. 172. 128 Jo Ann McNamara, quoted in Schulenburg 2, p. 73. 129 See Ridyard, pp. 176 - 80. 130 See Schulenburg, pp. 122 - 123, and Stafford, pp. 194-5. Mediaevistik 14 • 2001 147

Once the monastery had been founded the interest in its continuation was transferred to the community. The vitae show that safeguarding the foundation's property was all-important to them.131 During her lifetime the saint acted as a mediatrix ad regem and in this way ensured the protection and even the extension of the endowments. Thus the virgo regia lived up to the community's expectations, not because she renounced her royal status, but because she used it.132 This sponsorship continued after the saint's death. A royal saint's relics raised the profile of the monastery, stimulated recruitment and wealth and guaranteed a continued interest on the part of royal families. 133 Thus it is not to be wondered at that the community had good reasons to promote the cult of 'their' saint. The Church recognised these cults because it knew that royal power was essential to the foundations' prosperity.134 Moreover, the earthly patron also became a protector in Heaven. Edith of Wilton used her miraculous powers to safeguard the financial interests of the community, punishing businessmen who tried to cheat the nuns.135 She also jealously guarded her own relics, which were a financial asset as they brought pilgrims. The 10th-century re-foundation of Ely was not a simple affair, but the relics of Etheldreda, Wihtburga and brought a title to the land that those saints had given to the monastery during their lifetime. Even the Norman abbots used Etheldreda as a patron saint against aristocratic claims to the monastery's property. The new vitae some communities had written after the Norman Conquest can be seen as a defensive move to prove that their saints were worthy of patronage.136

Conclusion

Within Anglo-Saxon society the female saints really were 'in a class of their own'. Nearly all of them belonged to the upper classes of society and were in a position of authority within their monasteries. Their rise to positions of power and sainthood in a

131 This interest might conflict with the saint's deeds. The nuns of Wilton complained that Edith was too charitable. See Millinger, 'Humility and Power', in Distant Echoes. 132 See Ridyard, chapter 4, in which the patronage of Edburga of Winston is discussed, and chapter 5, which deals with the financial and judicial benefits Edith brought to Wilton. See also D.W. Rollason, Saints and Relics, Chapter 8, on the saints' influence on the ownership of lands and titles to rights and privileges. 133 See Ridyard, pp. 234 ff. and Burton, p. 16. A royal cult could be used to political ends, e.g. when a 'new' king, such as Cnut, venerated 'old' saints to 'prove' continuity. 134 See Ridyard, pp. 234 ff. M.A. Meyer in 'Women and the 10th-century reform' Revue Bénédictine (1977, 87), thinks the 1 Oth-centuiy reform would have been impossible if especially widows had not contributed financially. 135 On the saints' active intervention in the form of posthumous miracles see Rollason, Saints and Relics, pp. 111-2. 136 See Ridyard, pp. 143 - 184 and pp. 196 ff. The nuns of Wilton had a new vita written, and the compiler of the Liber Eliensis stressed Ely's antiquity, thus vindicating any financial/ecclesiastical interests that Ely might have. 148 Mediaevistik 14 • 2001

very misogynist environment is remarkable. For a few centuries these women enjoyed a status that surpassed anything before or afterwards. Looking at sainthood through the ages they are in a class of their own too by then- very ordinariness. A few were martyrs (although it is debatable whether they really died for their faith), a few were incorrupt upon translation, a few had visions or could prophesy, but the majority were, in our eyes, just ordinary abbesses or nuns. However, a society that was still half-pagan may well have regarded these high-born ladies, already credited with special powers because of their royal status, as holy women when they gave up the splendours of court for a life of poverty, obedience and humility,137 especially when so many nuns simply continued the courtly lifestyle they had been used to. The Anglo-Saxon female saints share many of these characteristics with their early medieval German and French sisters. It seems as if the social conditions — a Germanic society that was still in the process of being converted — generated a particular type of woman saint, 'in a class of her own'.

Notes

I would like to thank my colleague Henk Lemmen for the layout of the appendices and for his useful suggestions.

A first version of this article was read at the XlXth English Medievalists' Research Symposium at Utrecht University.

Dr. Wiesje Nijenhuis Polytechnic FOO Herengracht 266 NL-1016 BV Amsterdam Netherlands

137 It is striking that in many of the vitae especially the virtue of humility is stressed, apparently a conduct not expected of royal ladies. See Ridyard, p. 16 and Schulenburg 2, p. 26. Millinger, when discussing Goscelin’s vitae of Edith and Wulfhild, says Goscelin was especially interested in evidences of humility because these contrasted to the status these women could have enjoyed.