Seaxburg (Kent)

Seaxburg on a window of the refectory of Chester Cathedral

Seaxburg (also Sexburga, Seaxburh, Sexberga , † around 700) is an Anglo-Saxon saint .

Life

She was the eldest daughter of the Anglo-Saxon King Anna of East Anglia from the Wuffinger dynasty . Around 640/645 she became the wife of King Earconberht of Kent and exerted great influence on his government. Seaxburg is the mother of Saints Eormenhild and Eorcengota and of Kings Ecgberht I and Hlothhere of Kent.

After the death of her husband († 664), she led the reign of the country for her son Ecgberht for two years and then became abbess in the Benedictine monastery of Minster-in-Sheppey ( Thanet island near Ramsgate, County Kent). In 675 she left the monastery again. The " Liber Eliensis " contains Seaxburg's farewell speech to the nuns of Minster and reports on their arrival at the Ely monastery (north of Cambridge ) founded and directed by her sister Æthelthryth , where Seaxburg became a nun . When her sister Æthelthryth died in 679, Seaxburg succeeded Ely as abbess. In 695 Seaxburg had Æthelthryth's bones reburied in a new sarcophagus made of white marble. Her corpse was found in the process. Her sister was also a saint.

Seaxburg died in Ely around 699/700 and was buried next to her sister Æthelthryth. On October 17, 1106, the relics of the saints buried in Ely were reburied in new shrines and transferred to the Norman Cathedral of Ely. Her feast day is July 6th.

swell

Beda Venerabilis : Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum

literature

RC Love: Sexburg, St . In: Lapidge et al (eds.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 418.

Web links

Sexburga by Sheppey in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
Seaxburg 1 in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)
Seaxburh in Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Beda: HE 3.8
↑ ^a ^b Stefan Burghardt: Sexburga. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 9, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-058-1 , Sp. 1530-1531. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
↑ Beda: HE 4.1 and HE 4.26
↑ Beda: HE 4:19
↑ RC Love: Sexburg, St . In: Lapidge et al (eds.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 418.

personal data
SURNAME	Seaxburg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Seaxburh; Sexburga; Sexburg; Sexberga
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Anglo-Saxon saints
DATE OF BIRTH	7th century
DATE OF DEATH	around 700

[he3-8-1] Beda: HE 3.8

[bbkl-2] Stefan Burghardt: Sexburga. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 9, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-058-1 , Sp. 1530-1531. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

[3] Beda: HE 4.1 and HE 4.26

[4] Beda: HE 4:19

[5] RC Love: Sexburg, St . In: Lapidge et al (eds.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England , Wiley-Blackwell, 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 418.