1. Wihtburh was an East Anglian saint, princess and abbess.
11 Facts About Wihtburh
1. 2.
References to Wihtburh first appear in 10th and 11th century records, and the medievalist Virginia Blanton has suggested that the connection between Wihtburh and the family of Anna is likely to be a fabrication, invented to enhance the status of Ely Abbey.
3.
Wihtburh prayed to the Virgin Mary and was told to send her maids to a local well each morning.
4.
Wihtburh was punished for this cruelty when he was thrown from his horse and broke his neck.
5.
Wihtburh died at a great age in 743, and was buried at Dereham.
6.
The historian Barbara Yorke has commented on this date for Wihtburh's death, stating that it is "rather late for a daughter of Anna".
7.
Wihtburh is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle annal for 799, in an addition to the original text that was written after the Norman Conquest of 1066:.
8.
The incorruptibility of Wihtburh's body was considered a miracle and her remains were re-interred in the church which she had built in Dereham.
9.
The process by which the story of Wihtburh was disseminated is not known for certain.
10.
Wihtburh is included as "St Withburge" in The Lives of Women Saints of our Contrie of England, Some Other Liues of Holie Women Written by Some of the Auncient Fathers, written during the first half of the 1610s.
11.
The story of Wihtburh appears only to have been influential at a local level; four images depict Wihtburh on Norfolk church rood screens.