Baring-Gould’s sources: Mayhewsays, “In the Monastery of Croyland, on this day, the commemoration of the Blessed Etheldritha the virgin, called by some Alfteda." The Bollandists also on this day. Authorities: — Ingulf of Croyland and John of Brompton. Ingulfs History of Croyland is unfortunately not to be depended upon in many matters. It was certainly not composed by Ingulf, who died a.d. 1169, and is a forgery of some monk of Croyland composed for the purpose of supporting the claims of the abbots of Croyland in their lawsuits with the monks of Spalding. The charters it contains are also forgeries. It was too frequently the custom of the monastic bodies in the Middle Ages to forge charters and grants of lands, &c., to support their claims. Some of these forgeries may be seen in the Durham library at the present day. Ingulf's History of Croyland may, however, and probably does, contain fragments of genuine history, and among such may be the notice of S. Etheldritha. It is moreover confirmed by other writers.] Offa, King of the Mercians, by his wife Cynedritha, had a daughter named Etheldritha, or Alfreda, whose hand Ethelbert of the East Angles sought. The young prince came to the court of Offa at Sutton Wallis to make his suit, but was treacherously murdered by Cynedritha, no doubt with the private sanction of Offa, who, after his death, sent troops into East Anglia, and annexed it to his own possessions.1 Etheldritha, filled with horror at the crime — the murder by her own mother of the young king who had sought her in marriage — fled her home, and retired to the island of Croyland, in the desolate marshes of Lincolnshire, and spent forty years in a cell adjoining the church. Another daughter of Offa was Eadburg, who became wife of Beortric, King of Wessex, and was the murderess of Worr.2 On the death of Offa (a.d. 794), Mercia was governed by Kenwulf, who died in 819; S. Kenelm,3 the little son of Kenwulf, was murdered by his sister in the same year, and then the throne was occupied by Ceolwulf. Two years after, he was driven out by one Beornwulf, who was defeated 1 See for particulars, May 20th, p. 308. z See SS. Judith and Salome, June 29th. 3 See S. Kenelm, July 17th. by Egbert, King of the West Saxons, in 823. He was succeeded by Lndeca, who was killed by the East Anglians. On his death, Witlaf was elected king; but in 827 Egbert drove him out of his kingdom. Witlaf took refuge in the cell of his kinswoman, S. Etheldritha, at Croyland. The soldiers of Egbert sought him everywhere throughout Mercia, but could not find him, and for four months he lay concealed in the cell of the recluse. Siward, Abbot of Croyland, then mediated between him and Egbert, and Witlaf was allowed to return to his kingdom, on a promise of paying an annual tribute.1 “This King Witlaf perseveringly continued up to the.ime of his death in the same love which he had entertained lor the monastery of Croyland. And when he heard of the death of the most holy virgin Etheldritha, he was overwhelmed with such excessive grief, that as he lay for a long time on his bed, his friends feared that his death was nigh at hand. At length, having, by the grace of God, been in some degree restored, he came to her sepulchre — for she had been buried at the head of the holy man Tatwin, formerly the guide and boatman of the holy father Guthlac, in the said island — and there, as though in an ecstasy, he shed as many tears over the tomb as if he had lost wife and son, or his whole family had perished by a sudden misfortune; until Lord Siward, the abbot, whom he always most tenderly venerated as his father, having rebuked him with some severity, led him away, unwillingly and reluctantly, from the tomb to his own chamber.” 2 1 This is the occasion of the pseudo Ingulf introducing a forged charter granting extensive lands to the Abbey of Croyland, signed by Witlaf, 2 Ingulf ■S'. Alphonso Liguori,