# Osgyth > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Osgyth > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Osgyth.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osgyth > Source revision: 1353139822 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English saint}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox saint |name=Saint Osgyth |birth_date= |death_date=700 AD |feast_day=7 October |venerated_in={{ubl|[Eastern Orthodox Church](/source/Eastern_Orthodox_Church)|[Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church)|[Anglicanism](/source/Anglicanism)}} |image=Osith.png |imagesize=200px |caption=An illuminated capital commencing the anonymous {{lang|fr|La Vie seinte Osith, virge e martire}} (Campsey Manuscript, British Library Additional Ms 70513, fol. 134v) |birth_place=[Quarrendon](/source/Quarrendon_(village)), now in [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire) |death_place= |titles= |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date=Pre-congregation |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes=Depicted as a [cephalophore](/source/cephalophore); or represented with a stag behind her, |patronage= |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= }} '''Osgyth''' (or '''Osyth'''; died {{c.}} 700 AD) was a Mercian noblewoman and prioress, venerated as an English [saint](/source/saint) since the 8th century, from soon after her death. She is primarily commemorated in the village of [St Osyth](/source/St_Osyth), in [Essex](/source/Essex), near [Colchester](/source/Colchester). Alternative spellings of her name include '''Sythe''', '''Othith''' and '''Ositha'''. Born of a noble family, she became a nun and founded a [priory](/source/priory) near [Chich](/source/Chich) which was later named after her. ==Life== Born in [Quarrendon](/source/Quarrendon), [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire) (at that time part of [Mercia](/source/Mercia)), she was the daughter of [Frithuwald](/source/Frithuwold_of_Surrey), a sub-king of Mercia in Surrey.{{cite book |author=Wragg, Stefany |year=2022 |title=Early English Queens, 650–850 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781-0005-9522-2 |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pw1pEAAAQBAJ&dq=Saint+Osgyth&pg=PA89 }} Her mother was Wilburh, of the royal house of Mercia.{{cite book |author=Butler, Alban |author-link=Alban Butler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RhzAkvei_U8C&pg=PA46 |title=Butler's Lives of the Saints |publisher=Liturgical Press |year=1995 |isbn=9780-8146-2386-2 |volume=10 |page=46 |section=St. Osyth, martyr}} Her parents, with St Erconwald, founded [Chertsey Abbey](/source/Chertsey_Abbey) in 675 AD. Raised in the care of her maternal aunts, [St Edith of Aylesbury](/source/St_Edith_of_Aylesbury) and [Edburga of Bicester](/source/Edburga_of_Bicester), her ambition was to become an [abbess](/source/abbess), but she was too important as a political pawn to be set aside.{{cite web |title=History |website=St. Osyth Priory |url=https://www.stosythpriory.com/history/ }} She was forced by her father into a [dynastic marriage](/source/dynastic_marriage) with [Sighere](/source/Sighere_of_Essex), [King of Essex](/source/Kingdom_of_Essex). She is likely the mother of [Offa of Essex](/source/Offa_of_Essex), although this is not certain. While her husband was off on a long hunt to run down a beautiful white stag, Osgyth persuaded two local bishops to accept her vows as a nun. Upon his return some days later, he reluctantly agreed to her decision and granted her some land at Chich near Colchester, now named after her as [St Osyth](/source/St_Osyth), where she established a convent, and ruled as first abbess. She was beheaded by some raiding pirates, perhaps because she may have resisted being carried off. ==Legends== One day, Edith sent Osgyth to deliver a book to Modwenna of Northumbria at her nunnery. To get there, Osgyth had to cross a stream by a bridge. The stream was swollen, the wind high, she fell into the water and drowned. Her absence was not noted for two days. Edith thought she was safe with Modwenna who was not expecting her visit. On the third day, Edith, wondering that her pupil had not returned, went to Modwenna. The abbesses were greatly concerned when they discovered Osgyth was apparently lost. They searched for her and found the child lying near the banks of the stream. The abbesses prayed for her restoration and commanded her to arise from the water and come to them. This she did.Dunbar, Agnes. "A Dictionary of Saintly Women" (1904){{PD-notice}} A similar tale is found in Irish hagiography. Her later death was accounted a [martyrdom](/source/martyrdom) by some, but [Bede](/source/Bede) makes no mention of Saint Osgyth. The 13th-century chronicler [Matthew Paris](/source/Matthew_Paris) repeats some of the legends that had accrued around her name. The site of her martyrdom was transferred to the holy spring at [Quarrendon](/source/Quarrendon_(village)). The holy spring at Quarrendon, mentioned in the time of Osgyth's aunts, now became associated with her legend, in which Osgyth stood up after her execution, picking up her head like [Saint Denis](/source/Saint_Denis_of_Paris) in Paris, and other [cephalophoric martyrs](/source/Cephalophore) and walking with it in her hands, to the door of a local convent, before collapsing there. Some modern authors link the legends of cephalophores miraculously walking with their heads in their handsWhite, Beatrice (1972). "A Persistent Paradox" ''Folklore'', vol. '''83''' no. 2 (Summer 1972), pp. 122–131, at p. 123: "The stories of St. Edmund, St. Kenelm, St. Osgyth, and St. Sidwell in England, St. Denis in France, St. Melor and St. Winifred in Celtic territory, preserve the pattern and strengthen the link between [legend](/source/legend) and [folklore](/source/folklore)" to the [Celtic](/source/Celtic_polytheism) cult of heads.{{rp|123}} [[Image:StOsyth'sPrioryGatehouse.jpg|thumb|Gatehouse of the former [St Osyth's Priory](/source/St_Osyth's_Priory) (later abbey), [St Osyth](/source/St_Osyth), Essex]] ==Veneration== Her cult was promoted by [Maurice](/source/Maurice_(bishop_of_London)), bishop of London, where there was a shrine dedicated to her at [St Paul's Cathedral](/source/St_Paul's_Cathedral).[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tv7ZRMhNIWYC&dq=Saint+Osgyth&pg=PA117 Burns, Arthur, ''St. Paul's: The Cathedral Church of London, 604–2004'', Yale University Press, 2004, p. 117] {{isbn|9780300092769}} Around 1121, his successor, [Richard de Belmeis I](/source/Richard_de_Belmeis_I) founded [a priory](/source/St_Osyth's_Priory) for [canons of Saint Augustine](/source/Augustinian_Canons), on the site of a former nunnery at Chich. He obtained the relic of an arm for the monastery church. His remains were buried in the chancel of the church in 1127: he bequeathed the church and tithes to the canons, who elected as their first abbot or prior [William de Corbeil](/source/William_de_Corbeil), afterwards [Archbishop of Canterbury](/source/Archbishop_of_Canterbury) (died in 1136). Corbeil acquired the other arm for Canterbury. Benefactions, charters, and privileges granted by [Henry II](/source/Henry_II_of_England), made the Canons wealthy: at the [Dissolution of the monasteries](/source/Dissolution_of_the_monasteries) in 1536, priory revenues were valued at £758 5s. 8d. yearly. In 1397 the abbot of St Osgyth was granted the right to wear a [mitre](/source/mitre) and give the solemn benediction, and, more singularly, the right to ordain priests, conferred by [Pope Boniface IX](/source/Pope_Boniface_IX).Egerton Beck, "Two Bulls of Boniface IX for the Abbot of St. Osyth" ''The English Historical Review'' '''26'''.101 (January 1911:124-127). The gatehouse, the so-called 'Abbot's Tower', and some ranges of buildings remain. Osgyth's burial site at [St Mary the Virgin's Church, Aylesbury](/source/St_Mary_the_Virgin's_Church%2C_Aylesbury) became a site of great, though unofficial [pilgrimage](/source/pilgrimage); following a papal decree in 1500, the bones were removed from the church and buried in secret. Undeterred, according to the curious 17th-century antiquary [John Aubrey](/source/John_Aubrey) (author of the ''Brief Lives''), "in those days, when they went to bed they did rake up the fire, and make a X on the ashes, and pray to God and Saint Sythe [Saint Osgyth] to deliver them from fire, and from water, and from all misadventure." Veneration of St Osyth was widespread across England. [Norwich Cathedral](/source/Norwich_Cathedral) and [St Albans Abbey](/source/St_Albans_Abbey) had chapels dedicated to her in the Middle Ages.{{cn|date=June 2023}} Her [feast day](/source/feast_day) is 7 October. She is often depicted [carrying her own head](/source/cephalophore).{{cite book |last1=Drake |first1=Maurice |last2=Drake |first2=Wilfred |title=Saints and Their Emblems |date=1971 |publisher=Burt Franklin |location=New York |url-access=registration |pages=96, 182 |url=https://archive.org/details/saintstheiremble0000drak/page/182/mode/2up |language=en |orig-date=First published 1916}}{{cite web |title=St. Osyth |url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4926 |website=Catholic Online: Saints & Angels |language=en}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== * Bailey (1989). "Osyth, Frithuwold and Aylesbury" in ''Records of Buckinghamshire'' '''31''' * {{Cite journal| doi= 10.1484/J.ABOL.4.01184| issn=0003-2468|volume=88| issue= 1–2| pages=75–127| last=Bethell| first=Denis| title=The Lives of St. Osyth of Essex and St. Osyth of Aylesbury| journal=Analecta Bollandiana| date=1970}} * ''Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain''. * Geoffrey of Burton's ''Life of Modwenna'' includes material on Osgyth. * Hohler (1966). "St Osyth and Aylesbury", ''Records of Buckinghamshire'' '''18''' (1) * ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' * {{cite thesis |last1=Stark |first1=Karen |title=''Unde continuo exivit sanguis et aqua'': Holy Wells and Beheaded Saints in Later Medieval England and Wales |date=2012 |publisher=University College London, Department of History |url=https://www.academia.edu/6299801}} ==External links== * {{PASE|197480|Osgyth 2}} *[https://stosyth.gov.uk/history/ St. Osyth, Parish Council:] "History" *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040705040044/http://www.mspong.org/picturesque/osyth.html ''Picturesque England'']: St. Osyth's priory, with details of her legend (text) {{Anglo-Saxon saints}} {{Portal bar|Saints}} {{Authority control}} Category:700 deaths Category:Anglo-Saxon nuns Category:Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Category:Mercian saints Category:East Saxon saints Category:People from Aylesbury Category:7th-century Christian martyrs Category:Cephalophores Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Executed people from Buckinghamshire Category:Christian female saints of the Middle Ages Category:Christian royal saints Category:7th-century English nuns Category:7th-century Christian nuns Category:7th-century abbesses --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Osgyth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osgyth) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osgyth?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.