Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Milburg
MILBURG, MILDBURGA, or MILDBURH (d. 722?), saint and abbess, eldest daughter of Merewald, himself a saint and under-king of the Hecani, who inhabited the present Herefordshire (Green, Making of England, p. 328). Her mother, Eormenburga or Domneva, also a saint, was daughter of Eormenred, under-king of Kent and son of Eadbald [q. v.] Merewald's father was Penda, king of the Mercians. St. Mildred [q. v.] and St. Mildgith were Milburg's sisters. About 680 she built a nunnery at Winwick or Wenlock in Shropshire, and was consecrated abbess there, being the first to introduce the monastic institution into that part of England (Stubbs). While at Stoke, near Wenlock, she was in some danger from a suitor, and was saved by the sudden rising of the river Corf. She is said to have been obeyed by the geese, which she commanded to keep away from her fields, and to have performed other miracles. She died at the age of sixty on 25 June, in or about 722. Her day is 23 Feb. Her house having become forsaken and ruined, Roger of Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury, rebuilt it about 1080 as a house of the Cluniac order. During the building of the new church the saint's burial-place was discovered either by a boy who, in running over the pavement, broke in the covering of it, or by means of a paper discovered by a workman named Raymond that contained directions as to its position. After the translation of the relics in 1101 vast numbers of people flocked to Wenlock, and many miracles were performed. Churches dedicated to St. Milburg are at Stoke and Beckbury, Shropshire, Wixford, Warwickshire, and Offenham, Worcestershire (Parker).
[Acta SS. Bolland. Feb. iii. 394–7; Flor. Wig. Geneal. i. 259, 265 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Will of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum, i. 78, 267, and Gesta Pontiff. p. 306 (both Rolls Ser.); Hardy's Cat. Mat. i. 274, 275 (Rolls Ser.); Parker's Anglican Church Calendar, p. 263; Dugdale's Monasticon, v. 72; Dict. Chr. Biog. iii. 913, art. by Bishop Stubbs.]