St Mildrith or the monastic life against all odds in Goscelin's Vita Deo dilectae virginis Mildrethae

Abstract

This paper discusses St Mildrith (dies natalis*, 13 July, +732/733) in Goscelin's Vita Deo dilectae virginis Mildrethae, the abbess of the famous monastery Minster-in-Thanet, Kent, and a consecrated virgin descended from the Kentish and Mercian royal families. The emphasis of the paper is on the examination of a limited number of hagiographic elements which stress most pointedly Mildrith's associations with monasticism and which are viewed in the broader perspective of Anglo-Saxon female sanctity.