Saint Edith of Wilton

Edith of Wilton (c. 961 – c. 984) was an English saint, nun and member of the community at Wilton Abbey, and the daughter of Edgar, King of England (r. 959–975) and Saint Wulfthryth. Edith's parents might have been married and Edgar might have abducted Wulfthryth from Wilton Abbey, but when Edith was an infant, Wulfthryth returned with Edith and their marriage was dissolved. Edith and her mother remained at Wilton for the rest of their lives. Like her mother, Edith was educated at Wilton. From a young age, Edith chose to enter the religious life, although it is uncertain whether she became a nun or a secular member of the Wilton community. Goscelin, who completed her hagiography around 1080, reports that Edith "always dressed magnificently" because it reflected her status as a member of the royal family and because she was obliged to fulfil certain roles to ensure the continued royal patronage of the Wilton community. Goscelin based his Vita on the oral testimony of the Wilton nuns and their abbess, as well as on existing written sources. The work was dedicated to Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury. When she was 15 years old, Edith's father offered her the position of abbess of three convents, but she declined. In 978, after the murder of her half-brother, Edward the Martyr, she may have been offered the English throne, which she also refused. In 984, Edith constructed a chapel at Wilton Abbey dedicated to St Denys. The chapel was consecrated by St Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who reportedly foretold her imminent death and that the thumb on her right hand would remain uncorrupted. She died three weeks later, at the age of 23, on 16 September 984 and was buried at the chapel she built as she had instructed. Dunstan presided at her translation, which occurred on 3 November 987; her thumb, as Dunstan had foretold, had not decomposed.