Ostrythe (d. 697), queen of Mercia. Daughter of Oswiu, king of Northumbria (641–70), Ostrythe married Ethelred, king of Mercia c.679. Together they founded and enriched the monastery of Bardney (Lincs.), where Ostrythe received the relics of her uncle Oswald in spite of the Mercian monks' initial reluctance to venerate a Northumbrian saint. Ostrythe was murdered, presumably for political reasons; but her cult continued round her shrine at Bardney, as is testified by the ‘Resting-Places of the Saints’, a late Saxon document of c.1000. The day of her feast is unknown.
Bibliography
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- Bede, H.E., iii. 11 (with Plummer's notes); R.P.S.
