Domne Eafe
Domne Eafe (Old English pronunciation:
Origins
According to the
The legend records several children of Eormenred and Oslafa. Their sons Æthelberht and Æthelred were murdered during the reign of their cousin King
Domne Eafe and Eormenburg
From at least the 1030s, Domne Eafe has been described as also named Eormenburg (or such variants as Irmenburg and Ermenburga). The given name of Domne Eafe appears to be very uncertain. Domne would seem to be a title, implying that she was a highly respected lady, while Eafe could be a variant of Eve (and so could be her given name) or Abbess (i.e. yet another title). There are six Anglo-Saxon charters (legal documents) dating from the time she was Abbess, all of which simply refer to her by the Latin title (or name) Æbbe.[4] One of these, a Charter from 699, names three other 'renowned abbesses', Hirminhilda, Irminburga and Nerienda, who, along with Æbbe, are present to witness that various privileges had been granted to the Kent Churches.[5] This enabled David Rollason, writing in 1982, to conclude, despite the variant spellings, that they were two individuals.[6]
The next known references to either name are written some 300 years later, when various different accounts of the Kentish Royal Legend were written up. Three of these documents introduce the idea that Domne Eafe and Eormenburg were the same person.[7] Others, such as a genealogy from Ramsey Abbey, identify Eormenburg as a sister of Eafe.[8] However, the 10th- and 11th-century texts, even those that offer Eormenburg as an alternative, then use Domne Eafe and its variants throughout their texts.
Uneasiness appears to set in after that date about the idea that there were sisters, Eormengith, Eormenburg and Domne Eafe, of which one name didn't seem to be part of the set.[9] From the 12th century onwards, some writers have liked the idea that a Kentish monastic princess should be called Eormenburg rather than Domne Eafe, and thus only refer to Ermenburg (or variants), as the Abbess of Thanet and mother of Mildrith. Following a lead perhaps given by William of Malmesbury in c. 1135[10] books such as 'Villages of Britain',[11] web sites such as 'Hidden historical heroines',[12] and modern lists of saints[13] refer to her simply as Ermenburg.
The legend
The legend survives in varying forms in a number of manuscripts which date from the eleventh and twelfth centuries (and later copies). These include a life of Saints
According to the legend, Domne Eafe, daughter of Eormenred, a sub-king of Kent, marries
It is thought likely that the legend's details are all considerably earlier than the date of the surviving manuscripts. It contains features, such as the establishment of a monastery in compensation for kinslaying (an analogous case is recorded by
Charter evidence
A number of Kentish charters from the reigns of Oswine and Wihtred name Domne Eafe, or rather "Æbbe", as witness or beneficiary of grants to Minster-in-Thanet. Rollason argues that these show that Minster-in-Thanet was the main beneficiary of Kentish royal patronage of monasteries, surpassing even St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury.[21]
No charters survive from Ecgberht's reign, and written charters only began anywhere at around that period, so the original grant may have been oral rather than written.
Family tree
The Kentish royal legend includes expansive genealogical sections which appear to differ from most Anglo-Saxon genealogies both in their fuller treatment of female lines, and in having no interest in Pagan warlord ancestors. By contrast its chief interest is in recording the ability of the royal line of Christian kings to produce female saints. At least eleven are incorporated into the genealogy, including not just the Kentish princesses, but those from the East Anglian, Mercian and Magonsaetan kingdoms into which they married.[24] From Æthelberht I, whose reign may have begun in 560, down to Domne Eafe's three daughters, all acclaimed as saints, who are thought to have died in the early 8th century. The family tree below, based solely on the information in the various versions of the Kentish royal legend, finds various points of corroboration in Bede's writings and in other early documents. Other individuals and relationships are known only from the legend.[25]
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Notes:
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Notes
- ^ Yorke, pp. 32, 33, table 1 & 35; Rollason, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Blair, The Church, pp. 232–233 & Blair, "Handlist", pp. 533–534, suggest that she may have been buried in a tumulus as mixing Christian and Pagan rites was common at this time as per Pope Gregory's instructions.
- Boniface, replaced her as abbess.
- ^ "Æbbe 3". Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England. Retrieved 6 December 2009. Also Rollason, e.g. pp. 39–40, where the name is given as "Æbba".
- ^ Cartularium Saxonicum: A collection of Charters relating to Anglo-Saxon History. edited by Gray Birch (1894), p.144. Charter No 99, from 699, is a 'Grant by Wihtred, King of Kent, of privileges to the Churches and Monasteries in Kent.' Written in Latin the Charter describes how it was duly witnessed by the very reverend archbishop Berhtualdum, bishop Gemmundum, venerable priests, monks and abbot and also present were the most renowned Abbesses Hirminhilda, Irminburga and Ebba and Nerienda. (Ad cujus cumulum firmitatis manu propria signum sancte crucis expressi et tam reverentissimum Berhtualdum archiepiscopum atque Gemmundum sanctissimum episcopum quam etiam venerabiles presbyteros et religiosos abbates praesentibus ibidem clarissimis abbatissis hoc est Hirminhilda, Irminburga et AEbba et Nerienda ut subscriberent rogavi.) [Please improve the English translation above if you can]
- ^ Rollason 1982, p. 15.
- Stowe 944statesÞonne wæs Sancte Eormenbeorge óðer naman Domne Éue, héo wæs forgyfen Merwale Penda[n] sunu cyningces, & þǽr hí begéaton Sancte Mildburge, & Sancte Mildryðe, & Sancte Mildgyðe, & Sancte Merefin. likewise Cotton Caligula A. xiv, (called S.Mildrið by Rollason, 1982, p.29) has Þonne wæs eormenburh & oðre naman domne eafe & eormengyð & æðelred & æðelbriht wæron eormenredes bearn, and Lambeth Palace 427, fol. 211., Þonne wæs sancte Eormenburge oðer nama Domne Eue, heo wæs forgifen Merwale.
- ^ Bodley 285 (BHL 2641-2), a 13th-century manuscript, but with a strong case for being in large part an 11th-century text. Reproduced in full in Rollason, 1982, pp.90-104. The relevant section reads: Clarissimi uero fratres Ethelredus ac Ethelbrictus (...) erant ipsius et Oslaue uxoris eius filii, ac insuper bis bine filie, his uocitate nominibus: Domneua necnon Eormenberga, simulque Eormanburh, atque Eormengith, quas beauit largiflua bonitas Dei laude dignissime uite. [Full translation would be welcome] ... daughters called these names: Domneua and also Eormenberga same time Eormanburh, and furthermore Eormengith. (Rawlinson raises a possibility of four daughters, including twins? but only includes three on his family tree).
- ^ Rollason 1982, p. 9.
- ^ "William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the kings of England. From the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen", translated by J A Giles, (1847), p,243
- ISBN 978-0-7475-8872-6.
- ^ Lawless, Erin (24 September 2013). "Hidden historical heroines (#36: Eormenburg)".
- ^ for example, The Saints of Great Britain and Ireland: synaxarion.org.uk accessed 8 November 2014
- ^ Rollason 1982, p. 15-31..
- ^ Rosalind C. Love, Goscelin of Saint-Bertin: The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely (Oxford University Press, 2004) p32-33
- ISBN 9780820427645
- ^ a b Hollis 1998, p. 48-49.
- ^ For the legend, see Rollason, pp. 10–11 & 73–87.
- ^ Rollason, 1982, p. 33, notes that a version of the legend "was in existence by the second quarter of the eighth century"; Blair, The Church, p. 144, note 33.
- ^ Rollason 1982, p. 35-36.
- ^ a b Rollason 1982, p. 35.
- ^ Rollason 1982, p. 34.
- ^ Rollason 1982, p. 10 & 67.
- ^ Rollason 1982, p. 43
- ^ Family tree is from Rollason, 1982, p.45
References
- Blair, John (2002), "A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints", in Thacker, Alan; Sharpe, Richard (eds.), Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 495–565, ISBN 978-0-19-820394-0
- Blair, John (2005), The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-921117-3
- Hollis, Stephanie (1998). "The Minster-in-Thanet foundation story". Anglo-Saxon England. 27. Cambridge University Press: 41–64. . Retrieved 18 October 2014.
- Kirby, D. P. (1991), The Earliest English Kings, London: Unwin Hyman, ISBN 0-04-445691-3
- Rollason, D. W. (1982), The Mildrith Legend: A Study in Early Medieval Hagiography in England, Leicester: Leicester University Press, ISBN 0-7185-1201-4
- ISBN 1-85264-027-8