Ethelberga of Northumbria (d. 647)
Ethelberga of Northumbria (d. 647)
Queen of Northumbria. Name variations: Aethelburh; Aethelburg; Ethelburga. Died in 647; daughter of Bertha of Kent (c. 565–c. 616) and Aethelbert or Ethelbert, king of Kent; sister of Eadbald, king of Kent; married Edwin (Eadwine) of Northumbria (c. 585–633), in 625; children: Ethelhun; Wuscfrea; Ethelthryth; Eanfleda (wife of Oswy, king of Northumbria); grandmother of Elflaed (fl. 640–714), abbess of Whitby.
When Ethelberga married Edwin, king of Northumbria, she brought a monk named Paulinus along to her new kingdom and was instrumental in converting her husband and family members to Christianity. In a wooden church at York on Easter Eve, in 627, Paulinus baptized the king and many of his relatives, including his great-niece Hilda of Whitby , who would later become the abbess of Whitby. Ethelberga then reared Hilda as a Christian. Six years later, when Edwin was killed in battle, Ethelberga took Hilda and found sanctuary with relatives at Kent. Edwin's successor, King Oswy (Oswio), and his queen, Ethelberga's daughter Eanfleda , continued to champion Christianity; they placed their one-year-old daughter Elflaed under the tutelage of Hilda. On Hilda's death, Elflaed, Ethelberga's granddaughter, became abbess of Whitby in 680.