Eanflæd

Saint Enflaeda
Born	19 April 626 Deira area, Northumbria
Died	after 685 Whitby, Yorkshire
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Orthodox Christian Church
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Feast	November 24

Eanflæd (19 April 626 – after 685, also known as Enfleda) was a Kentish princess, queen of Northumbria and later, the abbess of an influential Christian monastery in Whitby, England. She was the daughter of King Edwin of Northumbria and Æthelburg, who in turn was the daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent. In or shortly after 642 Eanflæd became the second wife of King Oswiu of Northumbria. After Oswiu's death in 670, she retired to Whitby Abbey, which had been founded by Hilda of Whitby. Eanflæd became the abbess around 680 and remained there until her death. The monastery had strong association with members of the Northumbrian royal family and played an important role in the establishment of Roman Christianity in England.

Eanflæd's mother had been raised as a Christian, but her father was raised as an Anglo-Saxon pagan and he remained uncommitted to the new religion when she was born on the evening before Easter in 626 at a royal residence by the River Derwent. Bede recounts that earlier on the day that Eanflæd was born, an assassin sent by Cwichelm of Wessex made an attempt on Edwin's life. Afterward, Edwin, prompted by Æthelburg's bishop, Paulinus, agreed to Eanflæd's baptism and promised to become a Christian if he was granted a victory over Cwichhelm. Eanflæd was baptised, Bede says, on the feast of Pentecost (8 June 626) with eleven others of the royal household.

Edwin campaigned successfully against Cwichelm and adopted the new faith in 627. His reign ended in 633 with his defeat and death at the battle of Hatfield Chase. Fleeing the unsettled times which followed Edwin's death, Æthelburg, together with Bishop Paulinus, returned to Kent, where Eanflæd grew up under the protection of her uncle, King Eadbald of Kent.

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