1. Mildburh was the Benedictine abbess of Wenlock Priory.
12 Facts About Mildburh
1. 2.
Mildburh was a daughter of Merewalh, King of the Mercian sub-kingdom of Magonsaete, and Domne Eafe.
3.
Mildburh was sought in marriage by a neighboring prince, who resolved to have her for his wife, even at the cost of violence.
4.
Mildburh entered the Benedictine monastery of Wenlock, Shropshire.
5.
Mildburh organised the evangelisation and pastoral care of south Shropshire.
6.
Mildburh is said to have had a mysterious power over birds; they would avoid damaging the local crops when she asked them to.
7.
Mildburh was associated with miracles, such as the creation of a spring and the miraculous growth of barley.
8.
Mildburh's veil slipped but instead of falling to the ground was suspended on a sunbeam until she collected it.
9.
Mildburh's tomb was long venerated until her abbey was destroyed by invading Danes.
10.
The Cluniac monks arrived at Wenlock from France, and on discovering what they believed to be the bones of Mildburh, began, in 1101, a process of establishing her relics as a pilgrimage destination for lepers.
11.
Mildburh is named in some of the genealogies of the Kentish Royal Legend, which appear to draw on Anglo-Saxon material, but have no surviving manuscript copies that pre-date the 11th century.
12.
Mildburh is one of the 89 saints listed with their locations in the 11th-century text written in Old English, known as the Secgan, or On the Resting-Places of the Saints.