Venerable (Monastic) 7th century

Saint Eanswythe Abbess of Folkestone

c. 614 - 640

Also known as Eanswith

A daughter of King Eadbald of Kent who became a nun and abbess at Folkestone, venerated as an early English monastic woman.

Feast Day

August 31

Draft

Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.

Hymn / Apolytikion Icon gallery Video / Media

Commemorated as

Our Venerable Mother Eanswythe, Abbess of Folkestone

Life

Eanswythe of Folkestone was a seventh-century princess of Kent who founded and led what is generally regarded as the first monastic community for women in England. She was the only daughter of King Eadbald of Kent and his Frankish wife Emma, and a granddaughter of King Ethelbert, the first Christian Anglo-Saxon king, who had been baptized at Canterbury by Saint Augustine. She is commemorated on August 31.

By tradition Eanswythe was born around 614 and raised in the recently converted royal house of Kent. When a pagan prince sought her hand in marriage, she declined, preferring monastic life to a royal alliance. Her father established a monastery for her at Folkestone, on the Kentish coast, which was completed about the year 630; she was then only about sixteen, and the sources note that she did not serve as abbess from the outset.

Eanswythe died on the last day of August, traditionally placed in 640, when she was still only in her mid-twenties; her father is recorded as having died the same year. She came to be venerated as the spiritual mother and wonderworker of Kent, and she remains the patron of the town of Folkestone, where she is depicted on the civic seal. Her relics, lost from public memory after the Reformation, were rediscovered in 1885 and, following scientific study announced in 2020, are regarded as among the earliest verified remains of an English saint.

Timeline 6 moments Read Hide

c. 614 Birth in Kent Born the only daughter of King Eadbald of Kent and his Frankish wife Emma.
c. 630 Monastery at Folkestone completed Her father established a monastery for her at Folkestone, regarded as the first women's monastery in England.
640 Death Died on the last day of August, in her mid-twenties; her father died the same year.
1138 Translation of relics Her relics were translated to a new priory church at Folkestone.
1885 Rediscovery of relics A lead reliquary containing the bones of a young woman was found in a wall niche of the Folkestone church.
2020 Scientific authentication Radiocarbon dating placed the remains in the mid-seventh century, consistent with Eanswythe.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributions Read Hide

Foundation of the monastery at Folkestone

The monastery at Folkestone, completed around 630, is described in the tradition as the first women's monastery founded in England. Its establishment by King Eadbald for his daughter reflects the close ties between the Kentish royal house and the new Roman mission to the English; Eanswythe's grandfather Ethelbert had received Augustine of Canterbury, and her mother Emma came from the Christian Frankish court.

The sources note that Eanswythe was only about sixteen when the house was completed and that she was not made its abbess at first. She is nonetheless remembered as the abbess who shaped the community, and her name became permanently attached to Folkestone's later religious foundations.

Miracles and veneration

The tradition preserves several miracles attributed to Eanswythe both during her life and after her death, including the restoration of sight to a blind man and the casting out of a demon from one who was possessed. She has long been honoured as the spiritual mother and wonderworker of Kent, and she is the patron saint of Folkestone, appearing on the town's seal.

After her death her relics were translated more than once: first to a church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, and then in 1138 to a new priory church. Memory of their location was eventually lost.

Rediscovery and dating of the relics

On 17 June 1885 workmen at the Folkestone parish church discovered a plastered-up niche in the wall containing a lead reliquary with the bones of a young woman, long taken to be those of Eanswythe.

In March 2020 the 'Finding Eanswythe' project, involving the Canterbury Archaeological Trust and Christ Church University, reported that osteological study identified the remains as those of a single individual, probably a woman aged between about seventeen and twenty-one. Radiocarbon dating carried out at Queen's University Belfast indicated a high probability that the bones date to between 649 and 673, consistent with a mid-seventh-century burial. The remains are described as among the earliest verified relics of an English saint.

Notes

Pre-schism Western saint.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints