Cuthburh

Cuthburga, also Cuthburg or Cuthburh (* 670, † 725 ), was an English nobleman and abbess, who was revered as a saint shortly after her death.

Tradition

About Cuthburgas life is not much known; the written tradition began only in the period after the Norman Conquest of England, more than 300 years after her death; one of her biographers was Florentius of Worcester.

Biography

Cuthburga was the daughter of Prince Cenred, a cousin of 2nd degree Caedwalla, King of Wessex. Her brothers were Ine, which was after the abdication and her conversion to the Christian faith Caedwallas of 688-726 king of Wessex, and Ingild, an ancestor of Alfred the Great. She also had three sisters: Cwenburga, Edburga and Tata.

Around the year 695 married Cuthburga Aldfrith, king of Northumbria (r. 686-705 ), and later gave birth to him a year a son named Osred, who later also king of Northumbria was (reigned 706-716 ). Other sons named Offa († 750 ) and Osric († 729 ) are also mentioned. There may also have a daughter by the name Osanna ( 698 - 750 ), which was later venerated as a saint. A few years later Aldfrith and Cuthburga parted - as it is for religious reasons. Aldfrith died in the year 705

Along with her ​​sister Cwenburga, which was later venerated as a saint, Cuthburga then took in the nunnery of Barking Abbey in London, which was famous for its high standard of education, the veil. Either on its own initiative or on the initiative of her brother Ine was founded around the year 705 in the forest solitude of Wimborne, Wimborne Minster today, a nunnery, whose first abbess she was. Her sister appeared as a nun also in this Benedictine monastery, which soon surpassed by the ruling discipline and education, the monastery Barking. The Holy Walpurga and Leoba received their religious and secular education before the hl in Wimborne. Boniface followed on a mission trip to southern Germany.

Cuthburga died according to tradition, on August 31, 725 ( also the year 718 is called ). Allegedly, her grave lies under the pulpit of the former monastery church of Wimborne.

Others

In the letters of St.. Boniface found a vision of Cuthburga in hell.