MILBURG, MILDBURGA, or MILDBURH (d. 722?), saint and abbess, eldest daughter of Merewald, himself a saint and under-king of the Hecani, who inhabited the present Herefordshire (Green, Making of England, p. 328). Her mother, Eormenburga or Domneva, also a saint, was daughter of Eormenred, under-king of Kent and son of Eadbald [q. v.] Merewald's father was Penda, king of the Mercians. St. Mildred [q. v.] and St. Mildgith were Milburg's sisters. About 680 she built a nunnery at Winwick or Wenlock in Shropshire, and was consecrated abbess there, being the first to introduce the monastic institution into that part of England (Stubbs). While at Stoke, near Wenlock, she was in some danger from a suitor, and was saved by the sudden rising of the river Corf. She is said to have been obeyed by the geese, which she commanded to keep away from her fields, and to have performed other miracles. She died at the age of sixty on 25 June, in or about 722. Her day is 23 Feb. Her house having become forsaken and ruined, Roger of Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury, rebuilt it about 1080 as a house of the Cluniac order. During the building of the new church the saint's burial-place was discovered either by a boy who, in running over the pavement, broke in the covering of it, or by means of a paper discovered by a workman named Raymond that contained directions as to its position. After the translation of the relics in 1101 vast numbers of people flocked to Wenlock, and many miracles were performed. Churches dedicated to St. Milburg are at Stoke and Beckbury, Shropshire, Wixford, Warwickshire, and Offenham, Worcestershire (Parker).
[Acta SS. Bolland. Feb. iii. 394–7; Flor. Wig. Geneal. i. 259, 265 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Will of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum, i. 78, 267, and Gesta Pontiff. p. 306 (both Rolls Ser.); Hardy's Cat. Mat. i. 274, 275 (Rolls Ser.); Parker's Anglican Church Calendar, p. 263; Dugdale's Monasticon, v. 72; Dict. Chr. Biog. iii. 913, art. by Bishop Stubbs.]
MILDMAY, Sir HENRY (d. 1664?), master of the king's jewel-house, was second son of Humphrey Mildmay (d. 1613) of Danbury Place, Essex, by Mary (1560–1633), daughter of Henry Capel of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire (Visitations of Essex, Harl. Soc., vol. xiii. pt. i. pp. 252, 452). He was brought up at court, and excelled in all manly exercises. Clarendon terms him a ‘great flatterer of all persons in authority, and a spy in all places for them’ (Rebellion, ed. Macray, iv. 487–8). On 9 Aug. 1617 Mildmay, being then one of the king's sewers, was knighted at Kendal (Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 171). In 1619 he made a wealthy match, through the king's good offices (Court and Times of James I, ii. 152), and bought Wanstead House, Essex, of the Marquis of Buckingham, where he entertained James in June of that year (Nichols, Progresses of James I, iii. 454, 483, 553). In April 1620 he was appointed master of the king's jewel-house (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1619–23, p. 140), on 8 Aug. following entered Gray's Inn (Foster, Register, p. 161), and was elected M.P. for Maldon, Essex, of which he became chief steward on 20 Dec. He was chosen one of the tilters before the king on the anniversary of his accession, 24 March 1622 (Nichols, iv. 754). On 3 Feb. 1623–4 he was returned to parliament for Westbury, Wiltshire, and on 12 April 1625 again for Maldon, which he continued to represent in the parliament of 1627–8, and the Short and Long parliaments of 1640 (Members of Parliament, Official Return, pt. i.) In parliament he took part in the great debate on the foreign policy of the crown, 6 Aug. 1625, when, as a friend of Buckingham, he proposed a vote of money for completing the equipment of the fleet against Spain (Gardiner, History, v. 413). On 5 May 1627 the king suspended a statute of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for the removal of fellows at the time of commencing doctors, or within one year thereafter. Mildmay being anxious, as grandson of Sir Walter Mildmay [q. v.], the founder, to maintain the statute, offered to annex five or six new benefices to the college within six years, and thus obtained its revocation (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1627–8, p. 165). On 4 Aug. 1630 he was appointed a commissioner for compounding with persons selected for knighthood, and likewise a collector (ib. 1629–31, p. 321). In 1639 he accompanied Charles on his expedition to Scotland, and maintained an interesting correspondence with Secretary Windebanke (ib. 1639). As deputy-lieutenant of Essex he endeavoured in May 1640 to collect the ‘conduct-money’ in that county, but found the task little to his liking (ib. 1640, p. 163). On 21 April 1641 he voted against the bill for the attainder of Lord Strafford (Verney Papers, Camden Soc., p. 59).
Mildmay eventually deserted the king, and was appointed one of the committee of the commons on 9 Sept. 1641 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1641–3, p. 201; Clarendon, i. 386). The parliament, regarding him as an important acquisition, refused, despite its ordinance, to expel him for his notorious peculation (Declaration of the King concerning the Proceed
