Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Bridget of Eltham

3407269Men of Kent and Kentishmen — Bridget of ElthamJohn Hutchinson


Bridget of Eltham,

Was the fourth daughter of Edward IV. and his queen Elizabeth. She was born at the palace at Eltham (which her father had almost rebuilt) Nov. 10th, 1480. "Observing," says Fuller, "her three eldest sisters not over happy in their husbands, she resolved to wed a monastical life, and (no whit ambitious of the place of an Abbess,) became an ordinary votary in the Nunnery at Dartford, founded by King Edward III." On this account she is commonly known as the "Nun of Dartford." She died in the year 1517.

[See "Fuller's Worthies."]