Early England can be proud of having around forty holy abbesses, most of whom were of royal origin. One of them is St. Edith (also Editha, Eadgyth) who became Abbess of Polesworth in central England. One of the earliest testimonies for the veneration of this saint is the eleventh-century “List of Resting Places of Anglo-Saxon Saints,” commonly known as Secgan, which mentions that St. Edith’s relics rest at Polesworth Convent. Let us recall her life.
Unfortunately, there is no reliable information on this saint’s ties of kinship (that would make her different from other female saints of royal blood). Thus, according to a tradition recorded in the twelfth century at Bury St. Edmunds and later recounted by the famous chronicler Matthew Paris (c.1199-1259), St. Edith was a sister of Athelstan (895-939) who effectively became the first ruler of all England. If that is true, then her father was King Edward the Elder (c.870-924), King of Wessex and son of the saintly King Alfred the Great. Another source, the historian William of Malmesbury, early in the twelfth century, confidently wrote of this saint as “daughter of King Edward the Elder and his wife Ecgwynna”. If this was so, then she was truly a sister of King Athelstan, but William refers to no sources confirming that one of King Edward’s daughters was called Edith (it should be said that the period of reign of Edward the Elder and Athelstan is very sparsely covered by written sources).
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