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Author Insight
A Vow Fulfilled
Queen Etheldreda escaped to Ely with her two companions and established her monastery. King Egfrid dissolved the marriage, and Etheldreda fulfilled her vow to God without further difficulty. In A.D. 679 Abbess Etheldreda died from plague and was buried with her religious sisters. Etheldreda's sister became the new abbess. After her death, Etheldreda became what she never sought to be, a saint whose grave was visited by pilgrims from near and far.
Book Excerpt
Saxon Heroines
“Abbess Seaxburg writes that when the plague arrived, Etheldreda predicted she and several sisters would die. She had a painful tumor on her jaw and claimed it was because of her vanity in the past.”
Elfleda gives me a questioning look.
“Etheldreda kept many austerities,” I explain, “but couldn’t refrain from wearing her gold torc. I see the connection, but I doubt her jewelry caused her death. What else?”
“She asked to be buried with the other sisters who would die, and so she was.”
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