Mapping Anglo-Saxon Female Saints
This WRoCAH-funded project is a collaboration between the University of York and Isle Heritage CIC, Folkestone. We aim to create a comprehensive catalogue and an interactive web map of female Anglo-Saxon saints across Britain. The interactive map presents the places where the saints lived, worked, were buried, or are venerated today. Pedigrees show the close connection of the women and their mutual support. Follow us on a journey through the centuries of early Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England and across the Island to capture the landscapes of nunneries and monasteries how they can be experienced and understood today.
Image: Saint Hilda, Christ Church, Bebington (source: By Phil Nash from Wikimedia commons CC BY-SA 4.0 & GFDL)
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What is this project about?
Please click the links below to follow us on the journey to the places of life and working of female saints in Anglo-Saxon England.
Our Research
In this section you can find out about the challenges of research into Anglo-Saxon royal houses, name confusions and uncertainty in dating. But also the exciting discoveries of connections.
Our Blog
Have a look at our latest blogs with experiences, images and impressions of the work going into this project. Exciting travel accounts, serious research work and mapping exersices.
Events
Do you know what happens next? We are planning various events and workshops from north to south. Perhaps we might give a talk close to you. Please watch this space.
Interactive Map
Martina will be traveling and recording the landscapes and remains of former nunneries, churches and monasteries associated with Anglo-Saxon female saints across Britain.
The Team
The core team is building the corpus and the map. But there are others supporting this project, and we are very grateful for the support of everyone who is not listed here.
Dr Andrew Richardson
Director, Isle Heritage CIC, Folkestone Researcher and Project Lead
The Director of the newly founded Isle Heritage CIC, based in Sandgate, near Folkestone. Andrew was formerly a leading member of the “Finding Eanswythe” project, which finds further development in “Venerated Women”, connecting Eanswythe with the wider group of female saints.
Martina Tenzer
PhD Researcher, University of York Researcher, GIS and Web Admin
Place attachment and local distinctivness in all its forms is at the heart of the current AHRC/UKRI funded WRoCAH PhD research. This project combines GIS, web design, and Anglo-Saxon female history in an exciting form for immersive story-telling.
Prof Barbara Yorke
University of Winchester, Academic Advisor
As an expert and author of numerous publications on Anglo-Saxon history, the advice of Barbara Yorke is invaluable for the project. The help in untangling the confusion of names and saints in order to present the map as clearly as possible is very much appreciated.
Dr Ellie Williams
Canterbury Christ Church University, Academic Advisor
With a special interest in the relationship between the archaeological and documentary records, particularly for religious contexts, and experience in “Finding Eanswythe”, Dr Williams supports the team with valuable advise.
Do you want to know more about Saint Eanswythe?
Follow the link to the right or below to learn more about the previous project focusing on Eanswythe. The buttons below will be activated over the next few weeks as the project develops.
Finding Eanswythe
‘Finding Eanswythe: the Life and Afterlife of an Anglo-Saxon Saint’ is a community-led project about a nationally important heritage in Folkestone, Kent. Our focus is Eanswythe, an Anglo-Saxon, Kentish royal saint, the granddaughter of Ethelbert who was the first English king to convert to Christianity under Augustine.
Connecting the Projects
How can we connect “Finding Eanswythe” with our project? The connections through family bonds and cooperation between Eanswythe and other saints will be explored in the sections below.
The Pedigree
What does the family connection tell us about the lives of the saints?
Documentary sources
Where did we look for evidence?
More to know
Primary sources for research into Anglo-Saxon saints.
Some Comments
We welcome comments, ideas and inspiration. Please let us know what you think.