Saint Mildthryth also Mildrith, Mildryth or Mildred, was an Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 abbess

Abbess

An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....

.

Mildthryth was the daughter of King Merewalh

Merewalh

Merewalh Merewalh Merewalh (sometimes given as Merwal or Merewald was a sub-king of the Magonsæte, a western cadet kingdom of Mercia thought to have been located in Herefordshire and Shropshire...

 of Magonsaete

Magonsaete

Magonsæte was a minor sub-kingdom of the greater Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, thought to be coterminous with the Diocese of Hereford.The British territory of Pengwern was conquered by Oswiu of Northumbria in 656, while he was overlord of the Mercians. Western Pengwern was then occupied by Anglian...

, a sub-kingdom of Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

, and Eormenburh (Saint Eormenburga), herself the daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent. Her sisters Milburh (Saint Milburga of Much Wenlock) and Mildgytha

Mildgytha

Saint Mildgyth was the youngest daughter of Merewalh, king of Mercia and Saint Eormenburh. Her sisters were Saint Mildburh of Wenlock and Saint Mildrith....

 (Saint Mildgyth) were considered to be saints. Goscelin

Goscelin

Goscelin of Saint-Bertin was a Benedictine hagiographical writer, born between 1020–1035 and who died shortly after 1107...

, probably relying on a now-lost history of the rulers of the Kingdom of Kent

Kingdom of Kent

The Kingdom of Kent was a Jutish colony and later independent kingdom in what is now south east England. It was founded at an unknown date in the 5th century by Jutes, members of a Germanic people from continental Europe, some of whom settled in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans...

, wrote a hagiography

Hagiography

Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

 of Mildthryth.

Mildthryth's maternal family had close ties to the Merovingian rulers of Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

, and Mildthryth is said to have been educated at the prestigious Merovingian royal abbey of Chelles. She entered the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet

Minster-in-Thanet

Minster-in-Thanet, also known as Minster, is a village and civil parish in the Thanet District of Kent, England. The village is situated to the west of Ramsgate and to the north east of Canterbury; it lies just south west of Kent International Airport and just north of the River Stour...

, which her mother had earlier established, of which she became abbess by 694. Suggesting that ties to Gaul were maintained, number of dedications to Mildthryth exist in the Pas-de-Calais, including at Millam

Millam

Millam is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.A chapel dedicated to the Mercian Saint Mildrith , Abbess of Minster-in-Thanet, who is said to have stayed there, exists in Millam, but is privately owned and not easily visited....

. Mildthryth died at Minster-in-Thanet and was buried there.

Her remains were translated to St Augustine's Abbey

St Augustine's Abbey

St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Canterbury, Kent, England.-Early history:In 597 Saint Augustine arrived in England, having been sent by Pope Gregory I, on what might nowadays be called a revival mission. The King of Kent at this time was Æthelberht, who happened to be married to a...

, Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

 in 1035, the translation is commemorated on 18 May.

Mildthryth was apparently followed as abbess by Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet

Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet

Saint Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet was the only daughter of King Centwine and Queen Engyth of Wessex in the 8th century of the Kent royal family and a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Edburga was a friend and student of Saint Mildred and regularly corresponded to Saint Boniface...

, correspondent of Saint Boniface

Saint Boniface

Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...

.

Literature

• Brooks, Beda: The world of Saint Mildred, c. 660- 730. A study of an Anglo-Saxon nun in the golden age of the English Church, Bath 1996, ISBN 1-89866-308-4.
• Rollason, David W.: The Mildrith legend. A study in early Medieval hagiography in England, Leicester 1982, ISBN 0-7185-1201-4.