Hilda

Hilda (Hild) (614–80), abbess of Whitby. Related to the royal families both of Northumbria and East Anglia, Hilda, whose parents had lived in exile in the British enclave of Elmet (N. Yorkshire), became a Christian with Edwin, being baptized by Paulinus. For the first thirty-three years of her life she lived a secular life; the remaining half was dedicated to God in the monastic life. She first planned to join the nunnery of Chelles from East Anglia, like her sister, but was called back to Northumbria by Aidan, who gave her a small plot of land (one hide) on the north bank of the Wear, whose exact location is unknown. She soon moved to Hartlepool where she succeeded Heiu as abbess and organized community life according to the rule she learnt from mainly Irish sources, based perhaps in part on the Rule of Columbanus. In 657 she founded (or refounded) the abbey of Whitby, a double monastery like Gaulish examples, which became famous for its learning, for training at least five bishops, and for being the site of the famous Synod of Whitby of 663/4. Hilda was hostess to this gathering and supported the Irish party in the discussion over the date of Easter, but she accepted its decision in favour of Rome. Later (678) she supported Theodore's division of Wilfrid's Northumbrian see, for Bosa and John of Beverley, educated at Whitby, were among the bishops who replaced Wilfrid.

Her zeal for education was not confined to building up libraries and instructing clerics in Latin language and literature. Under her rule the Anglo-Saxon cowherd and poet Caedmon was encouraged to produce vernacular poems about Christian doctrine. Hilda enjoyed great personal prestige; not only did religious and learned men value her wisdom, but kings, rulers, and common people would ask her advice. She was an excellent example of how in the Anglo-Saxon Church an able woman could attain to great influence and authority without, however, there ever being question of her being ordained.

The last six years of her life had been spent in chronic illness, which, however, scarcely diminished her activity. She died on 17 November. While the main influences on her own religious life seem to have been Irish and Frankish, her monastery later became more ‘Roman’ in sympathy under Elfleda and Enfleda: in it was written the first Life of Gregory the Great about twenty-five years after her death.

Whitby was very thoroughly sacked by the Danes c.800: Hilda's supposed relics were translated to Glastonbury under King Edmund (d. 946), but Gloucester also claimed them. Fifteen ancient English churches were dedicated to her, eleven in Yorkshire and two in Durham; her cult was strong in the North. Evesham kept her feast at a high rank because of its connection with the refounding of Whitby as an abbey for monks in the 11th century. The most ancient and interesting witness to her cult is the entry in the Calendar of St. Willibrord, written in the early 8th century. Feast: 17 November; translation, 25 August.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• Bede, H.E., iv. 23; N.L.A., ii. 29–33; C.S.P. (under Glastonbury); P. Hunter Blair, The World of Bede (1970), pp. 145–8; H. Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England (1972), pp. 150–2; B.L.S., xi. 157–9