274 ST. ERMELINDA flame of her sanctity, that he had her translated, and built a convent in her honour at MeldsBrt, where she is still commemorated, although the convent has been done away with. She is sometimes called sister of SS. Pharaildis and 6uDULA,and of St. Adel- bert, bishop of Gambray ; but, according to Le Mire, this relationship is a matter of conjecture. AAJ3S. Baillet, Vies, Guerin, P.B. St Ermelinda (2), Erhenilda. St. Ermenburga, Jan. 21, Juno 2, Aug. 2, Nov. 19 (Eaba, Eouhenbeouga, EORMENBUKOA, EoRMENBURH, ErMBURH, DoMNEVA, DoMPNBVA (a corruptiou of Domina Eaba), and perhaps Moldeva). Founder and abbess of Minster, in Thanet. Daughter of Eormenred, son of Eadbald, king of Kent Wife of Mercwald, or Merwold, prince (sub-regulus) of Ha- canos, which lay in and near Hereford- shire. Ermenburga had three sisters, all nuns and venerated as saints : Ermen- oiTHA, Etheldreda, and another Ermen- BUROA ; and two brothers : SS. Ethelred and Ethelbrith, venerated as martyrs. She had three daughters : St. Mildred, abbess of Minster ; St. Milburgb, abbess of Wenlock ; and St. Milgitha, nun at Estry, near Canterbury; and one sou, Meresin, or Merefin, who died young, in the odour of sanctity. Ercombert, king of Kent, uncle of Ermenburga, died in 664, and was suc- ceeded by his son Egbert. This Egbert looked with envy and jealousy upon his young and pious cousins, Ethelred and Ethelbrith, and listened too readily to the evil suggestions of Thunner, one of his advisers, who persuaded him that he was not safe on his throne while these princes lived. Thunner is described by Simeon of Durham as '* a limb of Satan and of the house of the devil, who being puffed up by the empty pomp of the world and graced by the munificence of the king, neither feared God nor regarded man." Egbert never gave a positive consent to the destruction of his cousins, but his opposition to the evil designs of Thunner became weaker and weaker. The princes were murdered and buried privately by Thunner, without prayers or honours, under the hall of the king's house. A supernatural light shone over the con- cealed tomb, and revealed the crime. The king, filled with horror and remorse, sent for his chief thanes and bishops, and confessed his guilty half-consent to the murder. He had the bodies removed and buried with royal honours behind the high altar in the church of Wakering, miracles being wrought at the place in testimony of their innocence and sanctity. According to Saxon law, the king had to pay weregild, or the price of blood, to the sister of the victims. Egbert sent for Ermenburga, received her in great state, and offered her what- ever she chose to ask. Ermenburga chose that the ransom of blood was to be a gift of as much land as her tamo doe could run round in one course. The king consented. The spot chosen was the Isle of Thanet, and there, in the presence of the king and his Court, Ermenburga let loose the doe. Thunner, again moved by envy and spite, tried to dissuade the king from giving up his lands at the instigation of a witch, and, being on horseback, set off in pursuit of the doe. He had scarcely started when the earth opened and swalldwed him up ; the place for centuries after was called
- Thunner's Leap." The doe continued
her course, and did not stop until she had encircled forty-eight ploughs of land. The king made a gift of all this to Ermenburga and her spiritual posterity, and on it, in 670, she built a monastery, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and in memory of her brothers. This monas- tery was called Minster, and was soon filled by seventy nuns, ruled by Ermen- burga as first abbess. In this dignity she was succeeded by her daughter, St. Mildred, who had been educated at Chelles, in France. Ermenburga may have appointed an abbess, and then returned to her husband, and only become a nun and abbess after his death. Brit, Sancta. W. of Malmesbury, Geata Regum Anglorum, B. Ermendrude, or Irmentrudis, of Milendunck, May 29 and 30. 12th century. Cistercian abbess of Deyt Kirchen, in Germany, or Diekirch, in Luxemburg. Contemporary and friend
