Edward the Martyr was King of the English from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. He was the eldest son of King Edgar. 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.
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.
Romsey Abbey is the name currently given to a parish church of the Church of England in Romsey, a market town in Hampshire, England. Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was the church of a Benedictine nunnery. The surviving Norman-era church is the town's outstanding feature and is now the largest parish church in the county of Hampshire since changes in county boundaries led to the larger Christchurch Priory being now included in Dorset. The current vicar is the Reverend Thomas Wharton, who took up the post in September 2018.
Ealhswith or Ealswitha was wife to King Alfred the Great. She was one of the most powerful noble women in early medieval England during the time of the Vikings. She was mother to King Edward the Elder who succeeded King Alfred to the Anglo-Saxon throne. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini, which is thought to be an old Mercian tribal group. Her mother was Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family and her lineage was one of the primary reasons for Alfred taking Ealhswith as his wife. Her legacy persists; after her death in the nunnery she founded and in the estates left to her by Alfred.
Wilton Abbey was a Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England, three miles west of Salisbury, probably on the site now occupied by Wilton House. It was active from the early tenth century until 1539.
Edith of Wilton was an English saint, nun and member of the community at Wilton Abbey, and the daughter of Edgar, King of England and Saint Wulfthryth. Edith's parents might have been married and Edgar might have abducted Wulfthryth from Wilton Abbey, but when Edith was an infant, Wulfthryth returned with Edith and their marriage was dissolved. Edith and her mother remained at Wilton for the rest of their lives.
Godstow is a hamlet about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of the centre of Oxford. It lies on the banks of the River Thames between the villages of Wolvercote to the east and Wytham to the west. The ruins of Godstow Abbey, also known as Godstow Nunnery, are here. A bridge spans the Thames and the Trout Inn is at the foot of the bridge across the river from the abbey ruins. There is also a weir and Godstow lock.
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".
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.
Wherwell Abbey was an abbey of Benedictine nuns in Wherwell, Hampshire, England.
Leominster abbey was an Anglo-Saxon monastery established at Leominster in the county of Hereford, England. The name of the town refers to its minster, a settlement of clergy living a communal life.
St. Mary's Abbey, also known as the Nunnaminster, was a Benedictine nunnery in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded between 899 and 902 by Alfred the Great's widow Ealhswith, who was described as the 'builder' of the Nunnaminster in the New Minster Liber Vitae. The first buildings were completed by their son, Edward the Elder. Among the house's early members was Edward's daughter Edburga.
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.
Cecily Bodenham was the last abbess of Wilton Abbey. Her tenure as abbess was from 1534 to 25 March 1539, when she surrendered the abbey to the commissioners of King Henry VIII of England during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. She received a generous pension and a property at Fovant, where she retired with about ten of the nuns from Wilton.
Hildelith of Barking, also known as Hildilid or Hildelitha, was an 8th-century Christian saint, from Anglo-Saxon England but was of foreign origin.
Wulfthryth, also known as Wilfrida, was the second known consort of Edgar, King of England, in the early 960s. Historians disagree whether she was his wife or mistress. In 964, Edgar married Ælfthryth, and then or earlier Wulfthryth returned to Wilton Abbey, where she had been educated. She was accompanied by her daughter Edith, who was widely revered in the eleventh century as a saint. Wulfthryth remained there for the rest of her life as abbess and died on 21 September in an unknown year, around 1000. She was regarded as a saint at Wilton, but her cult did not spread more widely.
Wulfhilda, also known as Wulfhild and Wulfreda among several other names, was an Anglo-Saxon abbess who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
John Stourton of Preston Plucknett in Somerset was seven times MP for Somerset, in 1419, 1420, December 1421, 1423, 1426, 1429 and 1435.
Elizabeth Zouche, was an English abbess. She was the last abbess of Shaftesbury Abbey, a Benedictine nunnery founded by Alfred the Great which was one of the largest and richest in England. She signed the deed of surrender on 23 March 1539 which brought the 650 year life of the abbey to an abrupt end and granted all its property and wealth to Henry VIII.
Matilda de Bailleul aka Maud was a Flemish abbess of the English Wherwell Abbey. She arrived in 1173 and transformed the abbey that had few nuns following damage done by William of Ypres years before. She annotated and then gifted an illuminated psalter to her successors which is known as the Saint Bertin psalter.
