Talk:St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate

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This page seems to confuse two St Ethelburgas. According to [1] and [2] there are (at least) two St Ethelburgas - one "of Barking" (died AD 675), of the family of Offa, King of Essex, and the other "of Lyming" (died AD 647), daughter of St Aethelbert; and [3] states that St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate is named after St. Ethelburga of Lyming (died AD 647).

Does anyone have definitive information? -- ALoan 00:01, 28 May 2004 (UTC)

This is confusing... The Oxford Dictionary of Saints lists three St Ethelburgas. Ethelburga of Kent was the abbess of Lyming. According to the church's own website at http://www.stethelburgas.org/History.htm , their Ethelburga was a different one, "believed to have been born at Stalling-borough, some four miles from Grimsby, where also her brother, St. Erkonwald, was born. Erkonwald became Bishop of London in 675. The new Bishop founded a great Benedictine Abbey at Barking in Essex, one of the first religious houses for women in the country, and appointed Ethelburga as the first abbess." The Oxford Dictionary of Saints says the following of her: "Ethelburga (1) (Ædilburh) (d. 675), abbess of Barking. Of a wealthy (possibly royal) family and sister of Erkenwald, Ethelburga was quite likely the owner, as well as the ruler, of Barking. A late tradition says that Erkenwald invited Hildelith from Chelles to be prioress and future abbess of Barking: her difficult task was to teach Ethelburga monastic traditions while retaining a subordinate role." -- ChrisO 10:08, 28 May 2004 (UTC)