Hygeburg ( floruit 760–780), also Hugeburc , Hugeberc , Huneberc or Huneburc , was an Anglo-Saxon nun and hagiographer at the Alemannian monastery of Heidenheim . She is "the first known Englishwoman to have written a full-length literary work" and "the only woman author of a saint's life from the Carolingian period".
8-602: Heidenheim was founded as a monastery for monks in 752 by Wynnebald , an Anglo-Saxon from Wessex . On his death in 761, his sister Walburg inherited it and converted it into a double monastery with the introduction of nuns. Hygeburg was among those who came to Heidenheim immediately after Wynnebald's death. Probably she had already been in Germany for some time, one of the nuns summoned by Boniface . Hygeburg was, in her own words, "a humble relative" of Wynnebald, Walburg and their brother, Willibald . On Tuesday, 23 June 778, while he
16-647: A monk at Monte Cassino . Boniface recruited both nephews for the German mission. Willibald was ordained and based in Eichstätt. Boniface received a promise that Winnebald would go to Germany. Winibald arrived in Thuringia on 30 November, 740, and was ordained priest. He was placed in charge of seven churches, including one at Erfurt . Winibald established a monastery in Schwanfeld , but in 742 transferred it to Heidenheim, where
24-532: A witness to some of the post-mortem miracles she attributes to Wynnebald's intervention. The name of the nun who wrote the lives of Willibald and Wynnebald was not known until in 1931 Bernhard Bischoff discovered it in a cryptogram in the oldest manuscript (from c. 800). Wynnebald Winibald (Winebald, Winnibald, Wunebald, Wynbald) (c. 702 - 18 December 761) was abbot of the Benedictine double monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm . Traditionally, he
32-581: Is called the brother of Willibald and Walpurga . Winibald's father was a West Saxon nobleman, Richard the Pilgrim and his mother was Wuna of Wessex . Willibald was his brother. With his father and brother he made a pilgrimage to Rome around the year 721. His father died in Italy. In Rome, they fell ill, possibly with malaria, although Hygeburg says it was the Black Plague. Once recovered, Willibord continued to
40-565: The Carmen paschale , the Vita Bonifatii and the riddles of Aldhelm . Although there was opposition to her writing within the convent, Walburg encouraged it. Hygeburg also wrote a biography of Wynnebald, the Vita Wynnebaldi . Although her two works were a single project, completed by 780, they are textually distinct, indicating her use of oral reports and eyewitness testimony. She was herself
48-480: The Holy Land, while Winebald, who from his childhood did not have a strong constitution, remained at Rome, to recover and study. In 730, Winibald returned to England and engaged a third brother and several amongst his kindred and acquaintance to accompany him in his journey back to Rome to begin a monastic life there. Around 737, Boniface visited Rome. By this time Willibald had returned from his travels, and had become
56-678: The brothers founded a double monastery for the training of priests and as a center of learning. Winibald became the first abbot. Winibald took part in the Concilium Germanicum , in 742, and subscribed Pepin's donation to Fulda in 753. In 762, he joined the League of Attigny, a confraternity of prayer established by Chrodegang , Archbishop of Metz. All this the saint accomplished in spite of continual illness, which prevented him from ending his life at Monte Cassino as he had hoped. Winibald died at Heidenheim on December 18, 761. Winebald's feast day
64-506: Was visiting Heidenheim, Willibald dictated to Hygeburg an account of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the 720s or 730s. She subsequently worked this account into a biography of Willibald, called the Hodoeporicon ("relation of a voyage"). (The conventional name Vita Willibaldi , "Life of Willibald", was given to it by editors.) From her choice of phrase and motif, she must have had access to
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