EORMENBURGA,[1] pronounced Ermenburga, otherwise called Domneva, was
married to Merwald, a son of king Penda, and had by him three daughters
and a son, who all consecrated their whole estates to pious uses, and
were all honored by our ancestors among the saints. Their names were
Milburg, Mildred, Mildgithe, and Mervin. King Egbert caused his two
nephews, Ethelred and Ethelbright, to be secretly murdered in the isle
of Thanet. Count Thunor, whom he had charged with that execrable
commission, buried the bodies of the two princes under the king's
throne, in the {437} royal palace at Estrage, now called Estria. The
king is said to have been miraculously terrified by seeing a ray of
bright light dart from the heavens upon their grave, and, in sentiments
of compunction, he sent for their sister Eormenburga, out of Mercia, to
pay her the weregeld, which was the mulct for a murder, ordained by the
laws to be paid to the relations of the persons deceased. In
satisfaction for the murder, he settled on her forty-eight ploughs of
land, which she employed in founding a monastery, in which prayers might
be continually put up to God for the repose of the souls of the two
princes. This pious establishment was much promoted by the king, and
thus the monastery was founded about the year 670; not 596, as Leland[2]
and Speed mistake. The monastery was called Menstrey, or rather Minstre,
in the isle of Thanet. Domneva sent her daughter Mildred to the abbey of
Chelles, in France, where she took the religious veil, and was
thoroughly instructed in all the duties of that state, the perfect
spirit of which she had imbibed from her tender years. Upon her return
to England she was consecrated first abbess of Minstre, in Thanet, by
St. Theodorus, archbishop of Canterbury, and at the same time received
to the habit seventy chosen virgins. She behaved herself by humility as
the servant of her sisters, and conducted them to virtue by the
authority of her example, for all were ashamed not to imitate her
watching, mortification, and prayer, and not to walk according to her
spirit. Her aunt, Ermengitha, served God in the same house with such
fervor, that after her death she was ranked among the saints, and her
tomb, situated a mile from the monastery, was famous for the resort of
devout pilgrims. St. Mildred died of a lingering, painful illness,
towards the close of the seventh century. This great monastery was often
plundered by the Danes, and the nuns and clerks murdered, chiefly in the
years 980 and 1011. After the last of these burnings, here were no more
nuns, but only a few secular priests. In 1033, the remains of St.
Mildred were translated to the monastery of St. Austin's at Canterbury,
and venerated above all the relics of that holy place, says
Malmesbury,[3] who testifies frequent miracles to have been wrought by
them: Thorn and others confirm the same. Two churches in London bear her
name. See Thorn's Chronicle, inter Decem Scriptores, coll. 1770, 1783,
1906. Harpsfield: an old Saxon book, entitled, Narratio de Sanctis qui
in Anglia quiescunt published by Hickes, Thesaur., t. 1, in Dissert.
Epistolari, p. 116. Monast. Anglic. t. 1, p. 84. Stevens Supplem. vol.
1, p. 518. Reyneri Apostolat. Bened. t. 1, p. 61, and Lewis's History of
the isle of Thanet, (printed at London in 1723, in 4to.,) pp. 51, 62,
and in Append. n. 23.
Footnotes:
1. Eadbald, king of Kent, had by his queen Emma, daughter to a king of
the French, St. Eanswithe, (whose relics were venerated at
Folkstone, till the change of religion,) and two sons, Eorcombert
(afterwards king) and Eormenred, surnamed Clito. This last left four
children by his wife Oslave, namely, Eurmenburga and St.
Eormengitha, with two sons, St. Ethelred and St. Ethelbright. King
Eorcombert had, by his queen Sexburga, Egbert and Lothaire,
successively kings, and St. Eormenilda and St. Ercongota.
Eormenburga was surnamed Moldeva, as we are assured by the ancient
English Saxon account of these saints, published by Hickes: though
Capgrave frequently speaks of them as different women.
2. Leland, Collect. t. 1, p. 97.
3. L. 2, de Reg. Angl. c. 13.