Frithuswith
15 May (invention) | |
---|---|
Attributes | pastoral staff; a fountain; the ox |
Patronage | Oxford, England; University of Oxford |
Frithuswith, commonly Frideswide (
Life
The earliest narrative of the saint's life is the Life of Saint Frideswide (
The story recounts that Frideswide was born to King Didan and his wife Safrida. She founds a monastery with her father's assistance while still young. Her parents die soon after. Algar, king of Leicester (Æthelbald of Mercia) seeks to marry her in spite of her vow of celibacy. When she refuses him, Algar attempts to abduct her, and Frideswide flees into the wilderness. On fleeing, she finds a ship sent by God which takes her to Bampton, Oxfordshire. Algar searches for her in Oxford, but the people refuse to tell him where she is, and he is struck blind.
Frideswide later seeks greater solitude and migrates to Binsey, Oxfordshire. To avoid having to fetch water from the distant River Thames, she prays to God and a well springs up. The well water has healing properties and many people come to seek it out. A nineteenth-century reconstruction of this well can be found at the Church of Saint Margaret in Binsey. She later returns to Oxford and remains abbess until her death.
Two Middle English adaptations of the Life of Frideswide are included in the South English legendaries.[4] These include several minor variants on the narrative.[5]
The priory
St Frideswide's Priory, a medieval
In 1180, the Archbishop of Canterbury Richard of Dover translated Frithuswith's remains to a new shrine in the monastery church, an event that was attended by King Henry II of England. The later history of the monastery was chequered, but it remained sufficiently prominent that Catherine of Aragon visited the shrine during her final pregnancy.[7]
The priory seal, designed in the late 1180s, depicts Frideswide with a
The shrine was repeatedly vandalized during the
In modern tradition
Frideswide remains the patron saint of Oxford and its university, and there is a revived tradition of pilgrimages to Christ Church.[10] In later art, she is depicted holding the pastoral staff of an abbess with a fountain springing up near her and an ox at her feet. She appears in medieval stained glass, and in Pre-Raphaelite stained glass by Edward Burne-Jones in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, in the chapel where her shrine is also located.
See also
- St Frideswide's Church, Oxford
- Frideswide Square in central Oxford
- Frithuwold of Chertsey, a purported ancestor of Frithuswith
- List of Catholic saints
References
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10183. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b Blair, John (1988). "St Frideswide's monastery: problems and possibilities" (PDF). Oxoniensia. 53: 221–258.
- ^ a b c Blair, John (1987). "Saint Frideswide Reconsidered" (PDF). Oxoniensia. 52: 71–127.
- ISBN 978-1-58044-046-2.
- JSTOR 43629614.
- ISBN 978-0-907628-68-2.
- ^ Highfield, J. R. L. (1988). "Catherine of Aragon's visit to the shrine of St. Frideswide" (PDF). Oxoniensia. 53: 274–275. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ^ Heslop, T.A. (1988). "The late 12th-century seal of St. Frideswide's priory" (PDF). Oxoniensia. 53: 271–274.
- S2CID 238798382.
- S2CID 252669922.