An abbess, also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Edward the Martyr was King of England from 8 July 975 until he was killed on 18 March 978. He was the eldest son of King Edgar (959–975). On Edgar's death, the succession to the throne was contested between Edward's supporters and those of his younger half-brother, the future King Æthelred the Unready. As they were both children, it is unlikely that they played an active role in the dispute, which was probably between rival family alliances. Edward's principal supporters were Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury and Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia, while Æthelred was backed by his mother, Queen Ælfthryth and her friend Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester. The dispute was quickly settled. Edward was chosen as king and Æthelred received the lands traditionally allocated to the king's eldest son in compensation.
The Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault was a monastery in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in the former French duchy of Anjou. It was founded in 1101 by the itinerant preacher Robert of Arbrissel. The foundation flourished and became the center of a new monastic Order, the Order of Fontevraud. This order was composed of double monasteries, in which the community consisted of both men and women — in separate quarters of the abbey — all of whom were subject to the authority of the Abbess of Fontevraud. The Abbey of Fontevraud itself consisted of four separate communities, all managed by the same abbess.
Eadburh was the daughter of King Edward the Elder of England and his third wife, Eadgifu of Kent. She lived most of her life as a nun known for her singing ability. Most of the information about her comes from hagiographies written several centuries after her life. She was canonised twelve years after her death and there are a small number of churches dedicated to her, most of which are located near Worcestershire, where she lived.
Shaftesbury is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, 20 miles west of Salisbury and 19.4 miles southeast of Longleat, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about 215 metres above sea level on a greensand hill on the edge of Cranborne Chase.
Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VIII. At the time it was the second-wealthiest nunnery in England, behind only Syon Abbey.
Syon Abbey, also called simply Syon, was a dual monastery of men and women of the Bridgettine Order, although it only ever had abbesses during its existence. It was founded in 1415 and stood, until its demolition in the 16th century, on the left (northern) bank of the River Thames within the parish of Isleworth, in the county of Middlesex, on or near the site of the present Georgian mansion of Syon House, today in the London Borough of Hounslow. It was named after the biblical holy "City of David which is Zion", built on the eponymous Mount Zion.
Seaxburh, also Saint Sexburga of Ely, was a Queen as well as an abbess, and is a saint of the Christian Church. She was married to King Eorcenberht of Kent.
Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country".
The Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas is a monastery of Cistercian nuns located approximately 1.5 km west of the city of Burgos in Spain. The word huelgas, which usually refers to "labour strikes" in modern Spanish, refers in this case to land which had been left fallow. Historically, the monastery has been the site of many weddings of royal families, both foreign and Spanish, including that of Edward I of England to Eleanor of Castile in 1254, for example. The defensive tower of the abbey is also the birthplace of King Peter of Castile.
Amesbury Abbey was a Benedictine abbey of women at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, founded by Queen Ælfthryth in about the year 979 on what may have been the site of an earlier monastery. The abbey was dissolved in 1177 by Henry II, who founded in its place a house of the Order of Fontevraud, known as Amesbury Priory.
Amesbury Priory was a Benedictine monastery at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, belonging to the Order of Fontevraud. It was founded in 1177 to replace the earlier Amesbury Abbey, a Saxon foundation established about the year 979. The Anglo-Norman Amesbury Priory was disbanded at the Dissolution of the monasteries and ceased to exist as a monastic house in 1539.
Wherwell Abbey was an abbey of Benedictine nuns in Wherwell, Hampshire, England.
San Salvatore is a former monastery in Brescia, Lombardy, northern Italy, now turned into a museum. The monastic complex is famous for the diversity of its architecture which includes Roman remains and significant pre-Romanesque, Romanesque and Renaissance buildings.
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury was the first wife of King Edmund I. She was Queen of the English from her marriage in around 939 until her death in 944. Ælfgifu and Edmund were the parents of two future English kings, Eadwig and Edgar. Like her mother Wynflaed, Ælfgifu had a close and special if unknown connection with the royal nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred, where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is 18 May.
Minster Abbey is the name of two abbeys in Minster-in-Thanet, Kent, England. The first was a 7th-century foundation which lasted until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Beside its ruins is St Mildred's Priory, a Benedictine community of women founded in 1937.
Elizabeth Shelford was abbess of Shaftesbury Abbey from 1505-1528. She was the second-last person to serve as Abbess before the monastery's closure under Henry VIII's dissolution.
Marie was an abbess of Shaftesbury Abbey during the 12th century, from at least 1181 to 1215. She was the illegitimate daughter of Count Geoffrey V of Anjou, thus the half-sister of King Henry II of England. It is possible that she is the same person as Marie of France, but it is not known for certain. She became abbess sometime in the 1170s or 1180s and died in 1215 or 1216.
Emma was an abbess of Shaftesbury Abbey at the beginning of the 12th century. It is not certain, but it is possible that she was the successor of Eulalia after her death in 1106. A charter of King Henry I of England in 1121-1122 mentions her.
Leofgifu was abbess of Shaftesbury Abbey in Dorset, England during the mid 11th century. She was the last Anglo-Saxon abbess to hold authority over Shaftesbury prior to the changes that occurred in England after the Norman conquest in 1066. Her successor Eulalia was likely of French descent.
