Saint
Eanswythe: The Patron Saint of the Ancient Harbour Town of Folkestone |
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"Ethelbert,
King of Kent, who was converted to the faith by Saint Augustine
the Bishop, begat Edbald and Ethelburga the virgin, whom her father
Ethelbert gave as wife to Edwin, King of the Northumbrians, as
is more clearly set forth in the Life of that Saint and King which
follows. Edbald, however, begat by Emma, daughter of the Franks,
Ermured and Ercombert and a daughter Eanswida, who from infancy
renouncing worldly pomps, studied to serve God, trod under foot
all the treasures of the world, and having embraced the holy doctrine
with all her might, longed with constant desire for the life of
the heavenly kingdom, and meditated submitting herself to the
rule of life of holiness. For the convenience of his observance
she selected a suitable place, remote and unfrequented, called
Folkestone, where also her father Edbald built a Church in honour
of Saint Peter the Apostle."
"Anonymous
Life of St. Eanswith" translated from Capgrave's Nova
Legenda Angliae, in the British Museum
The fish shown on
either side of St. Eanswythe are seemly
'Rumbold Whiting'
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St Eanswythe was an Anglo-Saxon
princess, the only daughter of Eadbald, King of Kent, and Emma,
daughter of the King of Franks. Her father's father was King
Ethelbert, under whose protection St Augustine and his fellow
monks in the year 597 reintroduced Christianity into this land,
after it had been all but extinguished by the pagan Anglo-Saxons.
St Eanswythe was probably born ten years after the death of
St Augustine; St Laurence became first Archbishop of Canterbury
after St Augustine's death in 604. Eanswythe's father was a
pagan at the time of her birth, her mother was a Christian,
St Ethelbert her grandfather, who was baptised by St Augustine
died in 614, when Eanswythe was only two years old. Eadbald
though still a pagan was not opposed to the Christian faith
while his father was alive. When Ethelbert died, Eadbald publicly
brought back idolatry, and the Christian was in danger of being
extinguished. Eanswythe was not immediately made Abbess of the
new community. If she was born in 614, a girl of sixteen would
have been considered rather young to rule a new and untried
community. A number of legends have come down to us about Eanswythe's
rule as Abbess, the spring water that she bade follows her,
which it did, uphill and over the rocks and streams to the monastery
also the wooded beam that was too short for the place it was
required to fill, a quest that she gave to her pagan suitor
to deal with failed. Which when Eanswythe approached the beam,
and at her prayer it immediately extended itself to the required
length. Other miracles were performed, including the restoring
of sight to a blind woman, and the release of one possessed
by a devil. Of the rest of her life we are told only that "in
this place she served God day and night in virginal chastity,
in the habit of holy religion, and merited to come to a blessed
end on the last day of August" (Capgrave)
The date of Eanswythe's death
is no more certain than that of her birth, but tradition has
it that she died young, and only a few years after becoming
Abbess. The one date of her death of 640, only gives her ten
years of monastic life if 630 can be trusted as the date of
the foundation of the monastery, this would mean that both Eanswythe
and her father died in the same year. (Taken
from St. Eanswythe of Folkestone: Her Life, Her Relics and her
Monastery By Dame Eanswythe Edwards, nun of Stanbrook1980)
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The report of an examination
of the relics of St. Eanswythe in Folkestone Parish Church By Dr. P.H.Garrard,
M.B., B.S., on 29th February 1980. Notes taken from Canon Scott Robertson,
Honorary Secretary of the Kent Archaeological Society, article in "
Archaeologia Cantiana, XVI " suggest that the remains of a female
of 5ft 4in height and aged between 18 to 25 years could possibly well
be St Eanswythe. Mr T.Tatton-Brown, Director of the Canterbury Archaeological
Trust suggested that "The only way we could really confirm, or
not, the attribution of the bones as being those of St. Eanswythe is
to use one small bone for Radio Carbon dating (this would destroy that
particular bone) and I think it would be well worth doing."
A public meeting at the
church was held on Monday 6th June 2016, to discuss a project called
“Finding St. Eanswythe”, which was to carry out
Radio Carbon dating of the remains. However as St Eanswythe was a Royal
Princess the remains like the alleged remains of possible one or both
‘Princes
in the Tower’ project to do carbon dating on the remains might
not be granted the Queen’s Royal Approval.
7th March 2020, we learn of the desecration of the
shrine of Saint Eanswythe at Folkestone & the removal of teeth and
bone for DNA – Click
here for link.
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On Thursday 13th May 2021, a Canterbury Archaeological
Trust's 'Zoom' meeting was held with Dr Andrew Richardson, the talk
was an update about 'The Finding Saint Eanswythe Project'.
A tooth and bone samples were removed from the remains of allegedly
relics of Saint Eanswythe, for DNA, Carbon-14 dating. The reported findings
in January 2020 which indicated the remains of the person was around
22 years (could be seen in the jawbone X-ray which showed that the wisdom
tooth was unerupted).
The DNA findings indicated the remains had been that
of a person born around a probable date of AD633 to AD641, whose death
was around a probable date of AD653 to AD663. In the 29th February 1980
examination of the ‘relics’ by Dr P.H.Garrand reported that
the angle of the sciatic notch is wide (estimated at nearly 90 degrees).
These findings are consistent with a female skeleton. This was not supported
in the recent findings.
The reported findings (AD2020) on the bone and teeth
samples taken from remains did not confirm to the understanding of the
historic the life of Saint Eanswythe as is commonly believed. Which
is that she became Abbess of a religious community of Sisters in AD630,
did not match with a female born between AD633 to AD641.
So are these the remains of Saint Eanswythe the Patron
Saint of Folkestone? If this can be proven then the history of Folkestone
and Kent needs to be rewritten. Perhaps as the first nunnery of England
had many 'Sisters' who when they passed away their remains were seemly
was treated in the same way as Eanswythe’s. It could be that the
human remains found on St Alban’s Day 17th June 1885, are not
of Saint Eanswythe but those of a Sister of that place?
Further analysis of
the bones and teeth might support for additional findings of Carbon-14
dating, such as ‘isotopic analysis' could furnish us with details
of her local geology, and diet, to enable us to possibly pinpoint
where ‘she’ was born and had lived and what food was to
be found where she lived, this reseach might some day, go some way
to solve the Saint Eanswythe’s Mystery.
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