Frideswide (d. 735?)

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Frideswide (d. 735?)

English saint and princess. Name variations: Fredeswitha or Fritheswith. Died possibly in 735; was buried in St. Mary's Church, Oxford; her shrine was destroyed in 1538.

An English saint, Frideswide was a royal princess, according to legend, who fled from the persecution of her lover, a king, to Oxford, where she founded the monastery of St. Frideswide. The monastery was refounded by Roger, bishop of Salisbury, then suppressed in 1524 and put in the hands of Cardinal Wolsey. Her feast day is on October 19.

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