Hilda of Hartlepool (fl. 8th c.)
Hilda of Hartlepool (fl. 8th c.)
English abbess. Flourished in the 8th century at Hartlepool, England.
Very few discernible facts are available about Hilda of Hartlepool. An English noble, she entered the Benedictine abbey of Hartlepool as a young woman, and eventually rose to be its abbess. Hartlepool was a double monastery where monks and nuns lived communally under the abbess' direction. Hilda continued the tradition of early abbeys as learning centers. She herself had been highly educated in Latin and the classical liberal arts, and saw to it that her monks and nuns were similarly trained. Hartlepool was also a sort of school for children of the Saxon nobility. It is not certain, but the abbey most likely also featured a scriptorium, where manuscripts were copied and illuminated.
Laura York , Riverside, California