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| - Seaxburh's sisters were Æthelburg of Faremoutiers, Saethryth, Æthelthryth and possibly Withburga. Her marriage to Eorcenberht produced two sons, both of whom ruled, and two daughters. After her husband's death in 664, Seaxburh remained in Kent to bring up her children. She acted as regent until her young son Ecgberht came of age.
- Saint Seaxburh or Saint Sexburga of Ely (died c. 699) was an Anglo-Saxon king's daughter, an Abbess and saint of the Christian Church. Seaxburh was one of four daughters of King Anna of East Anglia. Her sisters were Saint Æthelburg of Faremoutier and Saint Saethryth, who were both abbesses of Faremoutiers Abbey in Brie, Æthelthryth who was abbess of Ely and Withburga, an abbess of East Dereham.
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abstract
| - Saint Seaxburh or Saint Sexburga of Ely (died c. 699) was an Anglo-Saxon king's daughter, an Abbess and saint of the Christian Church. Seaxburh was one of four daughters of King Anna of East Anglia. Her sisters were Saint Æthelburg of Faremoutier and Saint Saethryth, who were both abbesses of Faremoutiers Abbey in Brie, Æthelthryth who was abbess of Ely and Withburga, an abbess of East Dereham. Seaxburh married Eorcenberht of Kent. She had two sons, Ecgberht and Hlothhere, who both became kings of Kent, and two daughters who were eventually canonised: Saint Ercongota, a nun at Faremoutiers, and Ermenilda, who married Wulfhere, King of Mercia, and after his death became a nun at Ely and eventually succeeded her sister as abbess. After the death of her husband on July 14, 664, she ruled Kent until her son came of age. Thereafter, Seaxburh became a nun and founded the abbey of Minster-in-Sheppey. Shortly afterwards she moved to Ely to join her sister Æthelthryth in the monastery for men and women she had founded there.. Æthelthryth died around 679 and Seaxburh was elected abbess in her place. In a vivid demonstration of the dynastic value of the cult of royal saints in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, in 695, Bede recorded later, she organised the translation of St. Etheldreda's relics, which were discovered to be incorrupt, to a new shrine she had erected for her at Ely, which included a sarcophagus of white marble from the Roman ruins at Grantchester. The date of her death is not known for sure, but she is buried in Ely. St Sexburga's feast day is celebrated on July 6. An accessible source for her hagiography in the context of the Kentish royal legend is Rosalind C. Love, ed., Goscelin of Saint-Bertin: The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely (Oxford Medieval Texts)
- Seaxburh's sisters were Æthelburg of Faremoutiers, Saethryth, Æthelthryth and possibly Withburga. Her marriage to Eorcenberht produced two sons, both of whom ruled, and two daughters. After her husband's death in 664, Seaxburh remained in Kent to bring up her children. She acted as regent until her young son Ecgberht came of age. Seaxburh founded the abbeys at Milton Regis and Minster-in-Sheppey, where her daughter Ermenilda was also a nun. She moved to the double monastery at Ely where her sister Æthelthryth was abbess and succeeded her when Æthelthryth died in 679. According to Bede, in 695, Seaxburh organised the movement (or translation) of Æthelthryth's remains to a marble sarcophagus, after they had lain for sixteen years in a common grave. On opening the grave, it was discovered that her body was miraculously preserved. The legend is described in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which celebrates the saintly virtues of Æthelthryth, but speaks less highly of Seaxburh, referring only to her marriage, succession as abbess and translation of her sister's relics. The date of Seaxburh's death at Ely is not known. The surviving versions of the Vita Sexburge, compiled after 1106, describe her early life, marriage to Eorcenberht, retirement from secular life and her final years as a nun and abbess at Ely.
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