Frithuswith | |
|---|---|
 Depiction ofMargaret the Virgin and Frideswide inChrist Church, Oxford, 14th-century. | |
| Born | c. 650 upperThames region |
| Died | 19 October 727 Binsey,Oxford |
| Venerated in | Anglicanism Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church |
| Majorshrine | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Feast | 19 October 12 February (translation) 15 May (invention) |
| Attributes | pastoral staff; a fountain; the ox |
| Patronage | Oxford, England;University of Oxford |
Frithuswith, commonlyFrideswide (Old English:Friðuswīþ; c. 650 – 19 October 727), was an English princess andabbess.[1] She is credited as the foundress of amonastery later incorporated intoChrist Church Cathedral, Oxford.[2] She was the daughter of a sub-king ofMercia namedDida of Eynsham whose lands occupied westernOxfordshire and the upper reaches of theRiver Thames.[3]
The earliest narrative of the saint is theLife of Saint Frideswide the Virgin (Latin:Vita sanctae Fritheswithae uirginis) preserved in a manuscript from the early twelfth century, copied in the hand ofJohn of Worcester. A longer adaptation of this work is attributed toRobert of Cricklade, head of thePriory of St Frideswide, Oxford.[3][4]
The story recounts that Frideswide was born toKing Didan and his wife Safrida. She founds a monastery with her father's assistance while still young. Her parents die soon after. Algar, king ofLeicester (Æthelbald of Mercia) seeks to marry her in spite of her vow ofcelibacy. When she refuses him, Algar attempts to abduct her, and Frideswide flees into the wilderness. On fleeing, she finds a ship sent by God which takes her toBampton, Oxfordshire. Algar searches for her in Oxford, but the people refuse to tell him where she is, and he is struck blind.
Frideswide later seeks greater solitude and migrates toBinsey, Oxfordshire. To avoid having to fetch water from the distantRiver Thames, she prays to God and a well springs up. The well water has healing properties and many people come to seek it out. A nineteenth-century reconstruction of this well can be found at the Church ofSaint Margaret in Binsey. She later returns to Oxford and remains abbess until her death.
TwoMiddle English adaptations of the Life of Frideswide are included in theSouth English legendaries.[5] These include several minor variants on the narrative.[6][7]
St Frideswide's Priory, a medievalAugustinian house (some of the buildings of which were incorporated intoChrist Church, Oxford following thedissolution of the monasteries) is claimed to be the site of her abbey andrelics. From early times the abbey appears to have been an important landowner in the area; however, it was destroyed in 1002 during the events of theSt. Brice's Day massacre.[2] A shrine was kept at the abbey in Frithuswith's honour; later a monastery was built there forAugustiniancanons.[8]
In 1180, theArchbishop of CanterburyRichard of Dover translated Frithuswith's remains to a new shrine in the monastery church, an event that was attended by KingHenry II of England. The later history of the monastery was chequered, but it remained sufficiently prominent thatCatherine of Aragon visited the shrine during her final pregnancy.[9]
The priory seal, designed in the late 1180s, depicts Frideswide with alily and a set ofwax tablets.[10]
Henry Chichele, the archbishop of Canterbury, officially declared Frideswide the patron saint of Oxford and theUniversity of Oxford in 1440. Herfeast day is 19 October, the traditional day of her death; the date of her translation is commemorated on 12 February; and the invention (discovery) of her relics on 15 May.[3]
The shrine was repeatedly vandalized during theDissolution of the Monasteries and beyond. In 1546 the monastery church became (and still remains) the cathedral church for thediocese of Oxford. Her shrine was reinstated byQueen Mary in 1558, but was later desecrated byJames Calfhill, aCalvinist canon of the church, who was intent on suppressing her cult. As a result, Frithuswith's remains were mixed with those ofCatherine Dammartin, wife ofPeter Martyr Vermigli, and they remain so to this day.[11]
Frideswide remains thepatron saint of Oxford and its university, and there is a revived tradition of pilgrimages to Christ Church.[12] In later art, she is depicted holding the pastoral staff of anabbess with a fountain springing up near her and an ox at her feet. She appears in medieval stained glass, and in Pre-Raphaelite stained glass byEdward Burne-Jones in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, in the chapel where her shrine is also located.
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