Saint Wulfthryth of Wilton

Wulfthryth, also known as Wulfrida, was the second wife of King Eadgar of England, but she was intended to be his wife, or indeed any man's wife. Wulfthryth was a nun at Wilton Abbey, presumably given to the Abbey as a child, though this is pure speculation. A lot of noble families would promise daughters to the church the same as they often-times did for second sons. Girls would be given to convents at young ages and take their vows when they reached the ages that they would have been otherwise deemed fit for marriage. Though we have no strict evidence for this, my guess would be that this is what would have caused Wulfthryth to take holy orders, due to the estimated age she would have been at the time of her marriage to Eadgar.

 

Unfortunately, no details survive of Wulfthryth's parentage but we do know of some of her familial connections, due to another young nun who had also been sought after by the King. Wulfthryth had a cousin at Wilton Abbey, a young nun by the name of Wulfhild, who was perhaps just a few years Wulfthryth's elder;  Wulfhild came from an area in Wessex and is known to have been the daughter of a nobleman. Wulfthryth also had an aunt at the Abbey, possibly by the name of Ælfgyth, who just so happened to be the Abbess. From this information, it would not be outlandish to assume that Wulfthryth also came from a relatively noble family and was possibly sent to the Abbey around the same time as her cousin, to receive their education under the governance of their aunt. This is something that many noble and royal girls would experience during the medieval period, with the majority remaining with the church and taking holy orders; others may have been educated at an Abbey but then brought home to make a suitable marriage when they came of age.

 

As the story goes, the teenaged nun Wulfhild, Wulfthryth's cousin, had received the interest of King Eadgar, himself still in his teenage years, albeit now being what we would consider a young adult. Wulfhild had refused Eadgar's attentions, but Eadgar, having been thrust into Kingship whilst essentially still a child, was not a man used to being refused. Abbess Ælfgyth apparently also desired the match between her niece and the young King because she helped Eadgar by tricking Wulfhild into a meeting with him. When Wulfhild met with Eadgar he was, shall we say, aggressively passionate, to the point where it frightened Wulfhild and she tried to flee. However, Ælfgyth was furious when she found out and locked Wulfhild in her room until she agreed to the wedding. Possibly with help from the outside, Wulfhild managed to escape her captors through the Abbey sewers. Due to her later appointment as Abbess of Barking Abbey, it is possible that she chose to flee to this place for safety from the King's advances. Eadgar himself, around 970, appointed Wulfhild as Abbess, which was widely considered to be his repentance for his earlier pursuit of her. (Wulfhild's story does not end there, but that is a story for another day.)

 

When Eadgar accepted that Wulfhild was beyond his reach, he quickly turned his attention to her equally beautiful cousin, Wulfthryth. Alas, Wulfthryth was not so quick to escape as her cousin, though it is possible that Ælfgyth did not take any chances in allowing it, because Wulfthryth was quickly dispatched from Wilton and taken to Eadgar's residence of Kemsing, in Kent. It was here, in around 961, where she married King Eadgar and gave birth to a daughter, Eadgyth, in 962. There have been suggestions that there was no actual marriage, as some sources, such as Life of St. Dunstan refer to Wulfthryth as Eadgar's concubine, however other sources, such as  Goscelin of Saint-Bertin and William of Malmesbury, seem to accept that there was indeed a full marriage made between Eadgar and Wulfthryth, and there is other evidence to suggest that this is the correct version of events, such as the fact that Eadgar publicly acknowledged his daughter as his own.

There has been suggestion that, due to her youth and the marriage successfully taking place, Wulfthryth was not actually a full nun at the time of her abduction. There is a story of her wearing a veil only for fear of the King, not because she had taken holy orders, and he ripped it from her head before dragging her to his bed. However, due to a later event, in which Saint Dunstan ordered that Eadgar could not wear his crown for seven years, as penance for his violation of Wulfthryth's sacred vows, it would seem that Wulfthryth was indeed a fully-fledged nun by the time of her marriage.

 

At any rate, Wulfthryth's marriage, and time as Queen of England, did not last very long. She remained with her new husband for at least a year after the birth of her daughter, before she herself renounced the marriage. Wulfthryth was apparently disgusted by the act of sex and shunned all sexual relations with her husband after Eadgyth's birth. She retired to Wilton Abbey, taking her daughter with her; Eadgyth was to be dedicated to a life of religious service.

The separation may have been mutual, as it occurred around the same time as Eadgar's relationship began with the woman who would become his third and final wife, the infamous Queen Ælfthryth. The marriage was officially repudiated by 964.

 

Supporting the idea of a mutual separation is the fact that Wulfthryth seemed to retain certain influence after her return to the Abbey. She was able to prevent the bailiffs from arresting a man accused of theft when they had sought sanctuary at Wilton Abbey, and she also managed to secure the releases of two imprisoned Wilton priests.

The above acts show Wulfthryth to have been a compassionate person to those less fortunate than herself. She was also a very pious woman, something which was one of the most crucial traits for a woman in Anglo-Saxon England. However, she was also very aware of her status in society, as well as that of her daughter.  During her time as Abbess of Wilton Abbey, Wulfthryth preferred for the nuns there to dress in white and gold habits, as she believed this better suited the glory of God. It is said, however, that Eadgyth did not dress in the habit of a nun, but in magnificent gowns fit for a princess; this was claimed to be to ensure the continued patronage of the community based in Wilton. When challenged on this by Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, Eadgyth responded "My father, the mind may be as modest and God-fearing under fine clothes as under a serge habit. The God I love looks to the heart and not to the dress." A story of a candle dropping onto her clothes chest and burning everything but her fine clothing was seen as a miracle and the burnt chest was kept in the convent as a reminder. This shows that Eadgyth had a bright mind, and considering she probably received her education from her mother, this indicates Wulfthryth's own intelligence as well.

 

King Eadgar re-married for a third time, but he continued to support both Wulfthryth and their daughter, Eadgyth. Around 976-977, when Eadgyth was roughly 13-15 years old, Eadgar appointed her the Abbess of three convents, Nunnaminster, Barking and Wilton. However, Eadgyth protested her appointment due to her youth and inexperience; deputies were appointed in her place, possibly with Wulfthryth as her deputy for Wilton, as she was the named Abbess of Wilton from the 960's until her death.

 

When her half-brother, Edweard "the Martyr" was murdered, in 978, it is suggested that Eadgyth was offered the throne and refused it. This story is highly unlikely to be true, not only because of Eadgyth possibly being a nun, but also because she had by this point another half-brother, from Eadgar's third marriage, who yet survived. In addition, due to the highly misogynistic views of the Anglo-Saxons, it would be implausible to believe that a young woman would be offered the throne, especially while male members of the royal family still survived, albeit slightly more distant relations.

 

At some point in the late Summer of 984, a church that Eadgyth had ordered built was completed and dedicated to Saint Denis. Saint Dunstan was present at the dedication and he wept during the mass; upon questioning, he claimed that Eadgyth would die within three weeks.

This would turn out to be true, as Wulfthryth lost her only child on 15th September 984, while Eadgyth was still in her early 20's. Though the idea that Dunstan would have some sort of vision of Eadgyth's death seems apocryphal, Eadgyth had died of a fever, so it is entirely possible that she had suffered with an illness for some time before her death and that it was clear to everyone that she would not survive.

Eadgyth was buried in the new church she had built.

 

Though there is no strict evidence for how her daughter's death affected Wulfthryth, one can at least assume the love she felt for her in the efforts she put in to having Eadgyth venerated as a saint.

Several miracles were reported after Eadgyth's death and attributed to her. She had been celebrated for her sanctity, beauty and learning and these miracles added to her prestige. A week after her death, it is reported that she appeared to Wulfthryth and said that she had broken the Devil's head after he had tried to accuse her. In the years that followed, more visions of Eadgyth appeared to others, including Saint Dunstan; she informed him that her body was uncorrupted in her grave.

Goscelin wrote that Dunstan and Wulfthryth opened Eadgyth's tomb and its "fragrant perfumes gave off the breath of paradise." This event has been contested as it was dated 13 years after Eadgyth's death, but Dunstan died only four years after her. Perhaps the event happened sooner than this, or perhaps Dunstan was not himself present, but Wulfthryth definitely had her daughter's body exhumed and reburied, with Eadgyth's thumb reportedly enshrined separately. This thumb would become an important relic for Catholics in the years to come.

Wulfthryth worked tirelessly to ensure her daughter's legacy, until at last, upon the orders of King Æthelred "the Unready," Eadgyth's half-brother, with the support of Æthelred's son, Edmund, Eadgyth was elevated to sainthood, with the feast day of 16th September. Eadgyth would be an important Saint and was even venerated by King Cnut decades later.

 

Wulfthryth herself lived into her late 50's, dying on 21st September in the year 1000. As with her daughter, Wulfthryth too was venerated as a Saint, having been credited with miracles during her life and being renowned for her almsgiving. Her feast day is 13th September.

 

Wulfthryth lived an odd life for a Queen, and an odd life for a nun. But she lived her own life on her own terms. She chose her own path and her own destiny, shunning the trappings of the royal life she could have had and choosing instead to live a more modest life. She chose instead a career of her own as a nun, and later Abbess of Wilton, dispensing alms and caring for those less fortunate. Saint Wulfthryth was the nun Queen of England and one of the only women to make her own decision to separate from her Kingly husband to live instead a life on her own terms, in the convent.