I rode down England
as they fired the crop
that was the leavings of a crop,
the smashed tow-coloured barley,down from Ely’s Lady Chapel,
the sweet tenor latin
forever banished,
the sumptuous windowsthreshed clear by Thomas Cromwell.
Which circle does he tread,
scalding on cobbles,
each one a broken statue’s head?(from Leavings by Seamus Heaney)
Heaney, the Irish poet and Nobel Laureate, is talking about Ely Cathedral near Cambridge in England, one of the most atmospheric places on earth. A place of water and faeries and destruction, and last refuge of the Anglo-Saxon princess, Etheldreda, who ran away from her husband, the King of Northumbria, in order to preserve her virginity.
And it’s Etheldreda who’s kicking off this series on “women who carried the day.”
*****
Ely has been a site of worship for over 1300 years and has endured through many vicissitudes: from Etheldreda’s founding of a monastery in 672, to the destruction of the monastery by invading Danes in 869, Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries and the smashing of the statues of Mary in 1539, and the armed entry of Oliver Cromwell (Thomas’s descendant) in the 1640s.
Throughout it all Ely has persisted. And when I first saw it rising massive from the dark plain on a day of cold, low sun I felt the same awe that all who’ve seen the “Ship of the Fens” have felt.
*****
Vow of perpetual virginity
Etheldreda (also, Æthelthryth, Audrey) was born around 636, one of four daughters of King Anna of East Anglia. She was ”remarkable for personal beauty and for gentleness of character” (note 1), and was devoted to God (2).
Despite an apparent vow of perpetual virginity, she married her first husband, Tondberct, a prince of the Gyrvians or “fenmen”, at the age of 16.
Tondberct’s gift
When Tondberct died three years later in 655, Etheldreda retired to the Isle of Ely, given to her by her husband on their marriage. Ely was then a tract of land surrounded by marshes and water, and accessible only by boat. Even today, after the draining of the Fens in the 18th century, it’s a place of water and mists, and one can imagine a long ago time when it might have been joined to the low lands of Holland across the Channel.
The second marriage
In 660 Etheldreda married again, this time to Ecgfrith, who later became King of Northumbria. By her own account, in this marriage, and her first marriage, Etheldreda was able to persuade her husbands to respect her vow of virginity. At least, that is, until she formalised her devotion and became a nun in 670.
At first, Ecgfrith acceded to her decision, and allowed her to set up home at the monastery of Coldingham where his aunt was abbess. Soon after, however, he changed his mind, and began planning to seize her and consummate the marriage.
The flight
Etheldreda got wind of Ecgfrith’s plans and fled to Ely. In some accounts, she caused miracles on her journey including a sudden rising of the tide that made good her escape and the sprouting of her staff into a tree while she lay sleeping on the ground one night. In 673 she founded a monastery on the island, a monastery for both nuns and monks.
The beginning of the long history
The monastery flourished under a long line of abbesses (including, after Etheldreda’s death, her sister Sexburga and Sexburga’s daughter, Ermenilda) until the Danes invaded in 869. When the Danes invaded the monastery was burnt and pillaged, and the nuns and monks were either killed or fled for their lives. Ely was left in ruins until a century later when it was revived as a Benedictine monastery. A century later again, work began on the massive stone structure that’s still there today.
Her death
Etheldreda died in 679 (aged 43) of a throat tumour caused by bubonic plague. Almost 20 years after her death her remains were moved into the church and Bede “records that the body was found to be in an amazing state of preservation, with the tumour healed.” (3)
For many centuries, Etheldreda’s fame was immense and attracted wealth and pilgrims to Ely from all over the world. She is remembered today on her death day (23 June) and as the source of the word, “tawdry.” A common version of her name was St Awdrey, and many of her admirers brought lacework at an annual fair held in her name at Ely. Over time the lacework acquired the reputation of being cheap or old-fashioned, particularly by the Puritans of the 17th century who “looked down on any form of lacy dressiness.” (4)
Etheldreda, this mighty and determined princess-cum-abbess, this queen of a watery world, is also the patron saint of throat complaints.
*****
Notes
1. W. E. Dickson, Cathedral Churches, edited by Prof. T.G. Benney, Volume 1, Cassell and Company Ltd, London, 1896
2. Christianity had been introduced to the region about half a century earlier.
3. Ely Cathedral, A Pitkin Cathedral Guide
4. Wikipedia
Images: I D Kippax (top); E Smith, RIBA British Architectual Library Photographs Collection (middle); Old Photos (bottom)
“……..this marriage, and her first marriage, Etheldreda was able to persuade her husbands to respect her vow of virginity……….”
Etheldreda would appear to have had the knack of picking exactly the right sort of man to marry. Even today, how many men, upon marrying, would agree to his wife remaining a virgin?
Can we assume that Tondberct and Ecgfrith, being denied the wifely charms of Etheldreda, would have found other women to satisfy their, like, needs?.
Whenever I’ve visited monasteries and cathedrals built 500, 1000, years ago, I’m always amazed at the enormous amount of expertise, money and manpower which must have gone into their construction, given that 90%, or even more, of the people lived and died in poverty.
Etheldreda’s very young age when marrying both times, and her death at only 43, reminds us that people then didn’t live long. Almost no-one knew their grandparents, and almost no-one ever knew their grandchildren. In the times of Henry VIII, there were epidemics each year of the “sweating sickness”, which killed many thousands in London alone.
Thomas Cromwell, for instance, lost his wife and two children to the “sweating sickness”. Henry VIII, himself, each summer escaped London for the countryside to escape the “sweating sickness”. There was no running water, no flush toilets. The streets were filled with human and animal waste. People hardly ever washed, and therefore, by our contemporary standards, stank.
Despite the primitivity of life then, cathedrals and monasteries were built, which we, even today, would have trouble building.
It is literally marvellous what these people built under such conditions. Ely is magnificent. The main part of the Cathedral took 106 years to build. I was fascinated by the mention of Etheldreda sleeping on the ground during her flight to Ely; like, of course, where else would travellers have slept? And probably she would have been on foot, not even a horse to carry her.
Re the question of other women, I’m assuming these marriages were largely/wholly for political purposes given Etheldreda’s father was a King. So probably there were other “arrangements.” There’s a note that Ecgfrith married a second wife, Eormenburg in 678. Let’s hope he got to consummate that one :)
What a great character. has everything that makes a good story:
- Danes, Angles, Saxons etc
- sex (including the lack of it)
- Plague
- tawdriness
- legacy
Where are you planning (if you have a plan) to take this “Women who carried the day” tag? Possibly a thread on “heroines”? Or just women in history who seem remarkable?
BTW, did she ever say WHY she wanted to remain a virgin? Was it a Christian revulsion thing? Clearly, she also decided to forgoe reproduction that way. I’ve always considered this a higher form of suicide.
ha ha, yes, tawdriness too ;) She is a great character, isn’t she? She got into my heart when I visited the Cathedral. I was sitting in a pew marvelling at it all and I looked down and saw someone had made cushions for kneeling, each embroidered with the names of Etheldreda, Sexburga and the other sisters.
Was inspired by your thread on (male) heroes and wanted to do something similar for women. After a bit of thought I decided to avoid the terminology issues of “hero” and go with “women who carried the day” (the word “hero” is particularly vexed in Aust). Still formulating it, but I’m thinking of those women who were at the centre of events, who made things happen that weren’t going to happen otherwise.
Re her being a virgin, I assumed it was because of her piety. Though I think there may have been political associations with virginity too. For example, I read a line that said, “Virginity at that time was highly prized” and then stopped there. Made me laugh and tantalised me. And remember that even 1000 years later with the reign of Elizabeth I her reclaimed “virgin” status had political/power connotations.
Great idea for a thread. I hope you run far with it.
Immediately makes me think of all the great women who carried one day or another:
Joan of Arc
Eleanor Roosevelt
Thatcher (?)
Florence Nightingale
Medea (?)
Cleopatra
on and on …
We think alike :) Though Thatcher’s a doozy, and Medea too (you have tantalised me there). SGx