VIII. How Earconbert, King of Kent, ordered the idols to
be destroyed, and of his daughter Earcongota, and his
kinswoman Ethelberg, virgins consecrated to God. [640 A.D.]
CHAP. VIII. How Earconbert, King of Kent, ordered the idols to be destroyed, and
of his daughter Earcongota, and his kinswoman Ethelberg, virgins consecrated to
God. [640 A.D.]
IN the year of our Lord 640, Eadbald,king of Kent, departed this life, and left
his kingdom to his son Earconbert, who governed it most nobly twenty-four years
and some months. He was the first of the English kings that of his supreme
authority commanded the idols throughout his whole kingdom to be forsaken and
destroyed, and the fast of forty days to be observed; and that the same might
not be lightly neglected, he appointed fitting and condign punishments for the
offenders. His daughter Earcongota, as became the offspring of such a parent,
was a most virtuous virgin, serving God in a monastery in the country of the
Franks, built by a most noble abbess, named Fara, at a place called In Brige;
for at that time but few monasteries had been built in the country of the
Angles, and many were wont, for the sake of monastic life, to repair to the
monasteries of the Franks or Gauls; and they also sent their daughters there to
be instructed, and united to their Heavenly Bridegroom, especially in the
monasteries of Brige, of Cale,and Andilegum.Among whom was also
Saethryth,daughter of the wife of Anna, king of the East Angles, above
mentioned; and Ethelberg,the king’s own daughter; both of whom, though
strangers, were for their virtue made abbesses of the monastery of Brige.
Sexburg, that king’s elder daughter, wife to Earconbert, king of Kent, had a
daughter called Earcongota,of whom we are about to speak.
Many wonderful works and miracles of this virgin, dedicated to God, are to this
day related by the inhabitants of that place; but for us it shall suffice to say
something briefly of her departure out of this world to the heavenly kingdom.
The day of her summoning drawing near, she began to visit in the monastery the
cells of the infirm handmaidens of Christ, and particularly those that were of a
great age, or most noted for their virtuous life, and humbly commending herself
to their prayers, she let them know that her death was at hand, as she had
learnt by revelation, which she said she had received in this manner. She had
seen a band of men, clothed in white, come into the monastery, and being asked
by her what they wanted, and what they did there, they answered, "They had been
sent thither to carry away with them the gold coin that had been brought thither
from Kent." Towards the close of that same night, as morning began to dawn,
leaving the darkness of this world, she departed to the light of heaven. Many of
the brethren of that monastery who were in other houses, declared they had then
plainly heard choirs of singing angels, and, as it were, the sound of a
multitude entering the monastery. Whereupon going out immediately to see what it
might be, they beheld a great light coming down from heaven, which bore that
holy soul, set loose from the bonds of the flesh, to the eternal joys of the
celestial country. They also tell of other miracles that were wrought that night
in the same monastery by the power of God; but as we must proceed to other
matters, we leave them to be related by those whose concern they are. The body
of this venerable virgin and bride of Christ was buried in the church of the
blessed protomartyr, Stephen. It was thought fit, three days after, to take up
the stone that covered the tomb, and to raise it higher in the same place, and
whilst they were doing this, so sweet a fragrance rose from below, that it
seemed to all the brethren and sisters there present, as if a store of balsam
had been opened.
Her aunt also, Ethelberg, of whom we have spoken, preserved the glory,
acceptable to God, of perpetual virginity, in a life of great self-denial, but
the extent of her virtue became more conspicuous after her death. Whilst she was
abbess, she began to build in her monastery a church, in honour of all the
Apostles, wherein she desired that her body should be buried; but when that work
was advanced half way, she was prevented by death from finishing it, and was
buried in the place in the church which she had chosen. After her death, the
brothers occupied themselves with other things, and this structure was left
untouched for seven years, at the expiration whereof they resolved, by reason of
the greatness of the work, wholly to abandon the building of the church, and to
remove the abbess’s bones thence to some other church that was finished and
consecrated. On opening her tomb, they found the body as untouched by decay as
it had been free from the corruption of carnal concupiscence, and having washed
it again and clothed it in other garments, they removed it to the church of the
blessed Stephen, the Martyr. And her festival is wont to be celebrated there
with much honour on the 7th of July.
