Died 960. Saint Edburga was a granddaughter of King Alfred and the
daughter of Edward the Elder. It is reported that, while she was still a
young child, her royal father offered her precious jewels in one hand
and a penitential habit in the other. Edburga chose the latter joyfully.
At that her parents placed her in Saint Mary's Convent, which was
founded by Alfred's widow, Alswide, at Winchester, finished by her own
father, and placed under the direction of Saint Etheldreda. Having
finished her education, Edburga became a nun and later the abbess of the
foundation. After Edburga died of a fever, Bishop Saint Ethelwold placed
her remains in a rich shrine, which Abbess Saint Elfleda covered with
gold and silver. When the Earl Egilwald of Dorsetshire sought relics for
his newly rebuilt foundation of Pershore in Worcestershire after its
pillage by the Danes, the abbess give him part of Edburga's skull, some
of her ribs, and other bones, which were enclosed in a rich case. She
was especially venerated at Pershore in Worcestershire, where these
relics were enshrined and many miracles have taken place, and at Saint
Mary's in Winchester
(
Attwater,
Benedictines,
Husenbeth).