Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ethelburga
ETHELBURGA or ÆTHELBURH, Saint (d. 676?), abbess of Barking, sister of Erkenwald [q. v.] or Earconwald, bishop of London, was placed by her brother to rule a monastery he built at Barking in Essex, and showed herself worthy of his confidence. The foundation was for men as well as women, the two sexes living in separate parts of the buildings. During the pestilence that followed the synod of Whitby in 664, Æthelburh's house appears to have suffered severely. Bæda tells some stories of this time of trouble at Barking, which he took from a written source; his narrative power gives them their only value. He goes on to describe a vision that was seen at the death of the abbess, a miracle that was worked when her body was brought into the church, and her appearance to one of the sisters. She is said to have died in 676 (Florence). The church of St. Ethelburga in Bishopsgate, London, is said to be dedicated to her, but this appears to be doubtful. Capgrave says that she, as well as her brother, was born at Stallington in Lindsey, that she was the daughter of a king named Offa, that she converted him and fled from his house to avoid marriage, and that when her brother made her abbess of Barking he sent for Hildelith to instruct her in monastic practices. Her day is 11 Oct.
[Bædæ Hist. Eccl. iv. 7–10; Acta SS. Bolland. Oct. v. 648 sq.; Capgrave's Nova Legenda, 139; Dugdale's Monasticon, i. 436.]