Judith and Salome
Judith and Salome (9th century), anchoresses of Ober Altaich (Bavaria). Salome was reputedly an English princess, whom Judith, her aunt, was sent from England to find. The only possible English princess identifiable with Salome is Edburga, daughter of Offa of Mercia. This beautiful but wicked wife of Beorhtric, king of the West Saxons (786–802), was reputed to have murdered some of his noblemen and accidentally killed her husband, who drank some poison intended for a young favourite. Rumour of her misdeeds led to her exile: Charlemagne gave her a rich monastery to rule, but deposed her for scandalous behaviour soon after. She then led a wandering life with a maidservant as her companion: Asser said that people had seen her begging at Patavium (Pavia). But if this is a mistake for Patavia (Passau), it would provide a vital link with Salome; for it was from Passau that the Altaich biographer said that Salome had come. The identity of these two recluses, however, is by no means certain. There is no contemporary Life, but Asser, from whom William of Malmesbury drew part of the story, is contemporary. This may be a case of a lost saga of Anglo-Saxon England receiving unexpected confirmation from a German source. Feast: 29 June.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Iun. V (1709), 492–8; W. Holder-Egger in M.G.H., Scriptores, xv. 847 ff.; G.R., i. 118; B.L.S., vi. 235–6; R. M. Wilson, The Lost Literature of Medieval England (1952)
