Æthelburh of Wilton
Æthelburh of Wilton |
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Æthelburh or Alburga of Wilton (died c.810) was abbess of Wilton and an Anglo-Saxon saint.
Alburga was the half-sister of Egbert, King of Wessex, and wife of Wulfstan, ealdorman of Wiltshire (also known as Weohstan).[1]
Alburga's brother Egbert became king of Wessex in 802.[2] Upon the day of his succession Wessex was attacked by the Hwicce, lead by an ealdorman named Æthelmund. Alburga's husband Wulfstan, rode out to oppose them with an army of Wiltshiremen. The Hwicce were defeated and Æthelmund was killed, unfortunately Wulfstan was killed as well.[3]
Now widowed, Alburga turned the college of canons, Wilton Abbey, that her husband had established in 773 at Wilton, Wiltshire, into a nunnery, a convent for herself and about a dozen fellow Benedictine nuns. She is considered the founder of the house. She died there of natural causes in 810.[4] Her feast is celebrated on 25 December.[1]
References
- ^ a b Farmer, David (2011). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (5th revised ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-959660-7.
- ^ Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 186.
- ^ Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 58–63.
- ^ “Saint Alburga of Wilton“. CatholicSaints.Info. 18 April 2019. Web. 6 September 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-alburga-of-wilton/>