Standing Her Ground Against Power: Æthelthryth, abbess of Ely (c. A.D. 636-679)

Rediscovering Medieval Women

I write often about how sparkly the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ are because I love an opportunity to challenge a dominant narrative - and showing that the early medieval world wasn’t entirely 50 shades of brown is a pretty good narrative to challenge.

Women across the social spectrum, for example, enjoyed fashion and jewellery just as much as we do today and a large part of the surviving material evidence for this period consists of the necklaces and brooches that they wore.

But what about the women who bucked this trend?

The ones who refused to give in to the material trappings of this world because they believed in a higher calling?

This essay is part of a series of biographies aimed at resurrecting the lives and voices of women standing in the shadows of the historical narratives - those who played vital roles yet were excluded from the records - whose stories have a right to be told. For too long they’ve been famous for being the wives / sisters / daughters / mothers of more famous men, and it’s time they enjoyed the limelight in their own right.

So far we’ve told the stories of Bertha, Queen of Kent, and her daughter Æthelburh, Queen of Northumbria, both of whose political activities were sidelined in the written records in favour of the actions of the men around them.

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