Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

through a window and only from there did she make decisions and arrange what was
needed.’ 76 Did the newness of the monastic enterprise in Bavaria grant freedoms to
women that more established cultures of monasticism did not? However, Rudolf also
makes it clear that Leoba was regarded as very much a unique case, since Boniface had
‘commended’ her. ‘Sometimes she came to the monastery of Fulda to say her prayers, a
privilege never granted to any woman either before or since… Permission was only
granted to her, for the simple reason that the holy martyr St. Boniface had commended
her to the seniors of the monastery and because he had ordered her remains to be buried
there.’ 77 One of the most crucial issues for those attempting to regulate the behaviour of
nuns was their ability to leave their monastery. Leoba clearly could, but her activities at
court were described in a way that made clear that she had not set a precedent to be
followed. Her travels between the royal court and her monastery foreshadow to some
degree those of another abbess, Charlemagne’s sister Gisela, whose activities will be
discussed in the next chapter.
One of the most striking features of the letters to and from Boniface is the
emphasis placed by the writers on family ties to those both within and outside monastic
communities. Abbess Ecgburg, writing between 716 and 718, reminded Boniface that
‘since cruel and bitter death has taken from me one whom I loved beyond all others, my
own brother Oshere, I have cherished you in my affection above almost all other men’. 78
It is not known if this Oshere was a layman or a monk, but the emotional bonds to a
relative who lived outside Ecgburg's community are evident. Although Ecgburg's identity
is otherwise unknown, the names of her sister and brother have led Patrick Sims-
Williams to suggest that she was a member of the royal house of the Hwicce, and
possibly the abbess of Gloucester. In her turn, Barbara Yorke has posited a West Saxon
identity for her, based on her use of a scribe who was associated with the abbey at
Glastonbury. 79 In any event, Ecgburg was clearly well-educated. For example, she refers
76
Vita Leobae 2, tr. Talbot, The Anglo-Saxon missionaries, 207.
77
Vita Leobae 18, tr. Talbot, The Anglo-Saxon missionaries, 223.
78
Epist. 13, ed. Dummler MGH Epp. III, 259-60, tr. E. Emerton, The Letters of Saint Boniface (New York,
1940), 34.
79
B. Yorke, ‘The Bonifacian mission’ 152-5. See also P. Sims-Williams, Religion and Literature in
Western England 600-800. (Cambridge,1990), at 220 and 229.
190