Æthelburh of Barking


Saint Æthelburh or Ethelburga was the founder and first abbess of Barking Abbey and sister of Saint Earconwald, Bishop of London.

Life

The main source for Æthelburh's life is Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Bede's account, which includes the founding of Barking Abbey, early miracles there, and Æthelburh's death, is itself based on a "little book", likely a Life of Saint Ethelburga written at Barking Abbey and now lost. Bede describes Æthelburh as "upright in life and constantly planning for the needs of her community," and says that, upon her death, "no one who knew her ought to doubt that an entrance into the heavenly country was open to her."
Some time before he became Bishop of London in 675, Æthelburh's brother Earconwald founded a double monastery at Barking for her and a monastery at Chertsey for himself. Barking Abbey's traditional founding date is 666, though Bede implies Æthelburh was already the head of the monastery during the plague of 664, and charter evidence may suggest a founding c. 660–664.
Around 675, Æthelburh founded the church of All Hallows Berkyngechirche in the City of London on land given to her by Earconwald.
In the Hodilred Charter, Æthelburh was granted 40 hides of land to expand Barking Abbey. She is also the recipient of the Earconwald Charter of disputed authenticity.
The year of Æthelburh's death is uncertain, though she is believed to have died on 11 October. Bede does not provide a year, instead thematically positioning Æthelburh's story after the discussion of her brother Earconwald's appointment as Bishop of London in 675. He begins his narrative of events at Barking Abbey by calling back to his earlier description of the plague of 664. Florence of Worcester mentions Æthelburh's death under 664 and again under 675, perhaps following Bede. If the Hodilred Charter is genuine, Æthelburh's death must fall after 685. If she was still alive in 693, it is possible that Earconwald died while visiting her at Barking Abbey.
Æthelburh was succeeded as abbess by Saint Hildelith, who certainly held the position by 709, was recruited by Earconwald to teach Æthelburh, and lived "to an extreme old age." Æthelburh was buried at Barking Abbey, likely in the nuns' cemetery.

Relics and miracles

Æthelburh's relics were translated within Barking Abbey several times over the centuries, including by Hildelith, Abbess Ælfgifu, and Abbess Mabel de Bosham. At the time of the monastery's dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539, Æthelburh's relics occupied the central position in the abbey's saints' chapel, alongside Hildelith and Saint Wulfhilda. A trio of modern grave slabs at Abbey Green remember the three saints.
The following miracles are attributed to or associated with Æthelburh. The primary sources are Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People and Goscelin of Saint-Bertin's Life of Ethelburga, commissioned by Abbess Ælfgifu and completed c. 1087.
  • While building Barking Abbey, a beam was found to be too short, and Æthelburh and Earconwald miraculously lengthened it to the correct dimensions.
  • During the plague of 664, Æthelburh asked where the nuns should be buried, and in response a light that "seemed to exceed the utmost brightness of daylight" came down from the heavens "like a great sheet" and illuminated the area where the cemetery should be placed. Goscelin adds a lightning strike.
  • A few days before Æthelburh's death, Tortgyth, a nun of Barking, saw a figure being drawn up to heaven by "cords brighter than gold."
  • A disabled nun of Barking prayed before Æthelburh's relics, entreated her for mercy and deliverance, and died twelve days later.
  • The day before Tortgyth died, Æthelburh appeared to her in a vision and held a conversation with her.
  • A thegn's wife prayed before the relics of the saints at the abbey's cemetery and was healed of her blindness.
  • During the translation of Æthelburh's relics by Hildelith, "a brightness of heavenly light" and "a fragrancy of wonderful sweetness" of flowers and spices were perceived.
  • During a Danish raid in the time of King Ethelred the Unready, Æthelburh enlisted a wolf, a bear, and a lion to defend Barking Abbey. When the raiders prayed and asked to leave in peace, the beasts allowed them passage into the monastery, where they left gifts rather than taking spoils.
  • During another Danish raid, the intruders attempted to destroy the church and its treasures and were struck by "divine displeasure" that rendered them mad, blind, or assaulted by other "torments and calamities."
  • When Abbess Ælfgifu sought to translate the relics of Æthelburh, Hildelith, and Wulfhilda, Æthelburh appeared to the monastery's steward "with shining countenance" and gave her approval for the translation.
  • Ælfgifu, while lying in prayer beside Æthelburh's tomb, felt the tomb move of its own volition. The tomb then opened and Æthelburh rose from it, "white as snow and of natural size." Æthelburh chastised Ælfgifu for not completing her translation in a timely fashion, transformed into a little girl, and rested in Ælfgifu's embrace as, around them, other shrines and reliquaries appeared.
  • In the time of Abbess Alviva, a London girl with a limp prayed daily at Æthelburh's tomb and received a vision of Æthelburh asking her to also pray to Earconwald. The girl did so, fell asleep beside Æthelburh's tomb, had a vision of Earconwald, and was healed.
  • A priest stole a book from Barking Abbey and, upon returning to England by ship eight years later, encountered a great storm that "threatened immediate death." When the priest confessed his crime to Æthelburh and promised to return the book, the storm immediately ceased.

Legacy

The church of St Ethelburga the Virgin in the City of London is dedicated to her. It survived the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz but was extensively damaged in an IRA attack in 1993; however, it has been restored and is now a centre for international reconciliation.
An area near Battersea Park and Albert Bridge was also named after her.
Other churches dedicated to Æthelburh include the Grade II listed St Ethelburga's at Great Givendale, near Pocklington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, as well as the Church of St Mary and St Ethelburga with St Erconwald in Barking, a short distance from the original site of the abbey.
Æthelburh is remembered on her 11 October feast day in the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, and the Orthodox Church.