Died c.680. Also commemorated 5th March.
Penda, King of Mercia, was the most stalwart enemy of the church all his
life but it appears that all of his children became devout Christians
and were instrumental in bringing many people to the Faith. Kyneburga
his elder daughter was married to King Oswy of Northumbria, Aelfrith,
who was patron of Sr. Wilfrid in his early years. She seemed to have
lived with her husband in a brother and sister relationship so that it
was said that their home was like a monastery. After a number of years,
in 650 they both decided to retire from their royal estate as they held
worldly position in contempt, "mundo contempto" as the Chronicle puts
it. Aelfrith died soon after entering a monastery but Kyneburga starting
to build a convent on the site of an old Roman settlement presented to
her by her brothers and called Dormancaster on the river Neve.
Kyneburga was soon joined by a large number of ladies, "multis congratis
virginibus", and among these were her sister Kyneswide and her kinswoman
Tibba. Kyneswide, the youngest of King Penda's daughters, vowed herself
to a life of virginity from a very early age but this did not prevent
her brother Wulfhere arranging a political marriage for her to Offa King
of the East Saxons. When the time came for the wedding the princess
commended her cause to Our Lady St Mary and set about convincing Offa of
the excellence of a life totally dedicated to God. She was so successful
that Offa resigned his Kingdom and went, in company with St. Egwin, on
pilgrimage to Rome where he died as a monk. This left Kyneswide free to
embrace the religious life at Dormancaster and to succeed her sister as
Abbess when Kyneburga died in about 680.
The village of Castor as it is now called is built over the remains of a
large Roman villa which had been deserted around 450 and in which St.
Kyneburga had erected her nunnery two hundred years later. In Roman
times Castor had an international reputation for producing fine pottery
and traces of this industry can be found in Normangate Field where a
ridge is locally known as Lady Conneyburrow's Way, obviously a relic of
the days of the Convent. The present fine church is dedicated to St.
Kyneburga and although mainly Norman there is a tympanum from the Saxon
church over the south porch and a carved stone in the south wall
believed to be part of the original Saxon shrine, which was in the North
aisle and where a chapel has been restored and dedicated to S.
Kyneswide. The bodies of the Saints were translated to Peterborough
early in the eleventh century and the Feast of the Translation was kept
with great solemnity on March 6th or 7th. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
record that when the Abbey was founded by King Peada his sisters
Kyneburga and Kyneswide were associated with him and there is a chapel
in the South transcept of the Cathedral dedicated to them
(
Stanton,
Cartwright,
Darnell & Wild).