William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England: From the earliest period to the reign of King StephenWilliam, of Malmesbury
History
William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England: From the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen
William, of Malmesbury
Great Britain -- History -- Norman period, 1066-1154; Great Britain -- History -- To 1066; Middle Ages -- Sources
Merewald the brother of Wulfhere, by Ermenburga, the daughter of
Ermenred brother of Erconbert king of Kent, had two daughters:
Mildritha and Milburga. Mildritha, dedicating herself to celibacy,
ended her days in the Isle of Thanet in Kent, which king Egbert
had given to her mother, to atone for the murder of her brothers,
Ethelred and Ethelbert.[275] In after times, being transferred to St.
Augustine’s monastery at Canterbury, she is there honoured by the
marked attention of the monks, and celebrated equally for her kindness
and affability to all, as her name[276] implies. And although almost
every corner of that monastery is filled with the bodies of saints of
great name and merit, any one of which would be of itself sufficient to
irradiate all England, yet no one is there more revered, more loved,
or more gratefully remembered; and she, turning a deaf ear to none who
love her, is present to them in the salvation of their souls.
Milburga reposes at Wenlock:[277] formerly well known to the
neighbouring inhabitants; but for some time after the arrival of
the Normans, through ignorance of the place of her burial, she was
neglected. Lately, however, a convent of Clugniac monks being
established there, while a new church was erecting, a certain boy
running violently along the pavement, broke into the hollow of the
vault, and discovered the body of the virgin; when a balsamic odour
pervading the whole church, she was taken up, and performed so many
miracles, that the people flocked thither in great multitudes. Large
spreading plains could hardly contain the troops of pilgrims, while
rich and poor came side by side, one common faith impelling all. Nor
did the event deceive their expectations: for no one departed, without
either a perfect cure, or considerable abatement of his malady, and
some were even healed of the king’s evil, by the merits of this virgin,
when medical assistance was unavailing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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