Ermenburga (fl. late 600s)

Queen of Mercia. Name variations: Eormenburga. Daughter of Queen Emma (fl. 600s); married Merowald or Merwald, king of Mercia; sister of saints Ethered, Ethelbright, and Ermenbert; children: daughters Milburg (d. 722?); Mildred (d. 700?); Mildgyth or Mildgithe; son Mervin or Mervyn.

Ermenburga, queen of Mercia, had three daughters and one son. All of her daughters became nuns, and two—Mildred and Milburg —were canonized saints.

Ermenburga, who flourished in the late 600s, was born into a pious family. But her uncle Egbert, king of the English, caused her two brothers, Ethelred and Ethelbright, to be secretly murdered, employing a Count Thunor as his agent. Count Thunor then buried the bodies of the murdered princes beneath the king's throne in the royal palace of Estria. Thereafter, the king, whose guilty conscience made him see everything with a distorted vision, was terrified one day when he beheld a ray of light that he was certain darted direct from heaven to the graves. (It was probably no more than an ordinary sunbeam.)

Urged to restitution by his terror, Egbert sent for Ermenburga and gave her "48 ploughs of land" as weregild, the fine imposed by the laws of England to be paid by a murderer to the relatives of the murdered. Queen Ermenburga devoted the 48 ploughs of land to the founding of a monastery, called Menstrey or Minstre, situated in the Isle of Thanet, where the village of Minster near Ramsgate resides. Therein, the repose of the souls of the murdered princes was to be prayed for. The king aided in the foundation of the monastery, hoping no doubt to further ease his guilt.

Ermenburga sent her daughter Mildred over to France, to the Abbey of Chelles, where Mildred took the veil and was duly trained in all religious exercises. Upon her return to England, Mildred was appointed first abbess of her mother's newly founded Monastery of Minstre.