Saint Blida

Saint Blida
The saint and her son Saint Walstan depicted on a mediaeval rood screen panel at St Mary Magdalene, Norwich
Died	Martham, Norfolk
Canonized	Pre-Congregation

Blida (recorded as Blithe in some sources) was an Anglo-Saxon princess, known for being the mother of Saint Walstan, whose cult was celebrated during the Middle Ages in the English county of Norfolk. She is associated with the Norfolk village of Martham, where she is considered to have been buried, and where there was once a chapel.

Life

Blida lived in the vill of Bawburgh, where her son Walstan was born. Descended from royalty, her husband is named as being Benedict.^[1] Sge was a kinswoman of the English king Æthelred the Unready and his son Edmund Ironside.^[2] Following her death and burial at Martham, Norfolk, a chapel was dedicated in her honour, and bequests were made to her for over 400 years.^[3] At the age of 12, Walstan renounced his life of privilege and with his parents' permission determined to devote his life to one of prayer,^[4] although not as a monk.^[5]

The anonymous English Life gives Walstan's birthplace as "Blyborow town" or Blythburgh, Suffolk,^[1] and relates that he was the son of a king; as a young prince he might suddenly return home, which would have threatened the contract established between himself and the farmer in Taverham.^[6]

Blida was represented on a painted panel of a rood screen, formerly in the church of St James the Less, Pockthorpe in Norwich. She is depicted with her crown, holding a book and palm. Blida is also depicted in a chancel window at North Tuddenham. She had no known feast day.^[7]

The south aisle chapel at the parish church in Martham is a prayer corner dedicated to the saint, who may have been buried there in the 11th century,^[8]

References

Sources

• Blair, John (2002). "A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints". In Thacker, Alan; Sharpe, Richard (eds.). Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9-780-19820-394-0.
• Farmer, David Hugh (2011). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9-780-19959-660-7.
• Robertson, Kellie (2005). The Laborer's Two Bodies: Literary and Legal Productions in Britain, 1350-1500. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9-781-13706-784-5.
• Stanton, Richard (1887). A Menology of England and Wales. London: Burns & Oates. OCLC 982778548.
• Twinch, Carol (2015). Saint Walstan: The Third Search. Media Associates. ISBN 978-0-9521499-4-1.

Further reading

• Gill, Miriam (1995). "The Saint with a Scythe: A Previously Unidentified Wall Painting in the Church of St Andrew, Cavenham" (PDF). Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History. 38 (3): 245–254.
• Taylor, E. S. (1859). "Notices of the church of Martham, Norfolk, previous to its restoration in 1856". Norfolk Archaeology. 5 (1): 168–179. doi:10.5284/1077337.
• Twinch, Carol (1995). In Search of St. Walstan: East Anglia's Enduring Legend. Norwich: Media Associates. ISBN 978-0-9521499-1-0.
• Twinch, Carol (2004). Saint with the Silver Shoes: The Continuing Search for St Walstan. Norwich: Media Associates. ISBN 978-0-9521499-3-4.

External links

• St Mary's Church, North Tuddenham from Norfolk Explorer (the church has a window depicting the saint)
• Pilgrimage in Medieval East Anglia (thesis by Michael Schmoelz (2017))