Queen of Northumbria and Abbess of Ely. The third of four sainted daughters of King Anna of East Anglia. In 652 she married, reluctantly, tonbert, Prince of Southern Gyrvii. Tonbert died in 655 and, after five years spent in seclusion at her home on the Isle of Ely, she was married to Ecgfrith of Northumbria who, ten years later, became a king. She refused to carry out her conjugal duties and was allowed to enter the monastery of Coldingham, founded by her aunt, St Ebba. When her husband tried to force her to accept public life she fled south to the Isle of Ely and there founded her own monastic house in 673, where she lived until her death in 679.
Queen of Northumbria and Abbess of Ely. The third of four sainted daughters of King Anna of East Anglia. In 652 she married, reluctantly, tonbert, Prince of Southern Gyrvii. Tonbert died in 655 and, after five years spent in seclusion at her home on the Isle of Ely, she was married to Ecgfrith of Northumbria who, ten years later, became a king. She refused to carry out her conjugal duties and was allowed to enter the monastery of Coldingham, founded by her aunt, St Ebba. When her husband tried to force her to accept public life she fled south to the Isle of Ely and there founded her own monastic house in 673, where she lived until her death in 679.
Bio by: julia&keld
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