Frideswide

Saint Frideswide (c.680–727) was the daughter of the Mercian sub-king Dida of Eynsham or Oxford - or indeed both. Her legend was written down many years after her death, but seems to contain nuggets of verifiable fact. She was the first abbess of the double monastery of Oxford, founded by her father. The legend recounts the preservation of her chastity by miracles of divine intervention, and the discovery of a holy well. The abbey, owner of several estates in the Thames valley near Oxford, became the nucleus of the city of Oxford: St Frideswide is the ackowledged patron saint of the City of Oxford. She was also declared patron saint of the University of Oxford by Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1440.

The double monastery which she had headed was closed by 1002. In 1122 a new priory of Augustinian canons regular was established in 1122 called The Priory of St Frideswide. Cardinal Wolsey dissolved the Priory in 1524 and appropriated its lands to be the basis of Cardinal College, then King Henry VIII's College and finally Christ Church, Oxford's Christ Church Cathedral. The shrine to Saint Frideswide, which was damaged in the Reformation, has been restored, and is still in the Latin chapel of the cathedral.

Much of the information on this page is derived from ODNB.

• • Frideswide is a transliteration of the Old English: Friðuswīþ. [wikipedia, 2021] lists Fridiswade, Frideswith, Fritheswithe, Frevisse, or simply Fris as alternative renderings of the name, which ODNB gives as Frithuswith, which is also the headword of the article on her in wikipedia. Few of these renderings are to be found much on line. She is known as Ste Fréwisse in France.
    • Where the Old English name may have been realized as 'free-thus-wee-the' (IPA: /friː ðʊs wiː θə/), there is variation in the pronunciation of the modern name. Some make it a disyllable, with the vowels being like that in 'eye' or like that in 'see' IPA: /fraɪð swaɪθ or friːð swiːθ/; others give it three syllables 'fried-us-wide' /fraɪd ʊs waɪd/, or follow the Old English pattern of four syllables making it 'freed-oos-weed-eh', /friːd ʊs wiːd ə/.