Audrey of Ely

Society of Antiquaries of London, details here

The Mary of the English

The page will primarily function as an index for posts on Audrey of Ely and may collect links for other material on Audrey.

Audrey of Ely

Associates of Audrey of Ely

Early Medieval East Anglian Church

St. Audrey in Bede’s Works

Benedictional of Aethelwold

Aelfric’s Life of Aethelthryth

Liber Eliensis

Marie de France, Life of Saint Audrey

Judith Schoaf’s translations (1991-1996) of “The Lais of Marie de France”.

7 Comments

  1. Michael said,

    November 28, 2007 at 11:50 pm

    I was just wondering if you knew about the new translation of the Vie Sainte Audree? It is trans. and ed. by June Hall McCash and Judith Barban. “The Life of Saint Audrey: A Text by Marie De France.” McFarland Press, 2006. I only know about it because I was Dr. McCash’s research assistant for the book.

  2. Michelle of Heavenfield said,

    November 29, 2007 at 12:49 am

    No, I hadn’t heard of “The Life of Saint Audrey” by Marie de France. I’ll have to check it out. This is the Marie de France who wrote Arthurian material?

  3. Michael said,

    November 29, 2007 at 9:28 am

    Yeah, she wrote some stuff seen as Arthurian. You know, this blog is fascinating. I wonder if you recall from Bede the story of Imma, the Northumbrain thegn, which notes the link between Aethelthryth and the Kentish royal house. Right now, I am working on seventh-century relations between Kent and Mercia. Mainly during the reign of Hlothere.

  4. Michelle of Heavenfield said,

    November 29, 2007 at 2:15 pm

    I went back and read the chapter. I hadn’t noticed that before. I guess that secures that Hlothere was the son of Saexburh. What do you make of Bede’s claim that Imma had “been one of Aethelthryth’s thanes”? I would have thought that the king referred to in the beginning would have been King Aelfwine, making Imma a Deiran thane. Has anyone ever located Tunnacaestir?

  5. Michael said,

    November 29, 2007 at 11:49 pm

    No, as far as I know no one has satisfactorily found Tunnacaestir. As for the thegn comment, the ASC places the battle in 679, the same year Aethelthryth died. Taking that into consideration, let us look at what Bede says. “During the battle one of the king’s retainers…Imma was struck down.” XXII. Judging from Bede’s frustratingly ambiguous language, I assume that Imma was Ecgfrith’s thegn, his use of the word king referring back to Ecgfrith in chap. XXI, the main leader of the battle, not Aelfwine, presumably a Deirian sub-king. Imma could easily have been attatched to Aethelthryth’s household, as a guard or security type. After she leaves to found Ely, his allegiance reverts back to Ecgfrith. I could be wrong ( certainly not unheard of in my case), but that makes sense.

  6. Michelle of Heavenfield said,

    November 30, 2007 at 12:02 am

    Maybe Imma claims to be Æthelthryth’s thane because he is pleading before Hlothere. Better to say that Æthelthryth had been his queen, than refer to the king who Hlothere had no real ties to.

  7. Michael said,

    November 30, 2007 at 12:15 am

    Maybe, but I still get the feeling that Imma’s allegiance was to Ecgfrith. Imma’s captor comments, after finding out the truth, that he should kill Imma, because of the death in battle of his relatives. A typical blood feud response. Now, if Imma were Aefwine’s thegn, the captor would really have no claim to blood feud, since Aelfwine was not ultimately the commander of the army. However, if Imma were Ecgfrith’s man, all bets were off.

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