A Brief History
October 19 marks the feast of Saint Frithuswith, also spelled Frideswide, who passed away on that date in 727 A.D., and for whom a king had died as he tried to force her into marriage!
Digging Deeper
Frithuswith was born as a princess in England, but became the first abbess of an Oxford double monastery. As such, she is now the patron saint of Oxford.
Before her canonization as a saint, young Princess Frithuswith founded St. Frideswide’s Priory. As such, she became bound to celibacy. Nevertheless, an English king named Algar wanted to marry her and despite her refusal, he was not about to take “no” for an answer.
When Algar tried to abduct her, she reportedly fled to Oxford, but from here we have two different accounts of what happened, neither of which work in Algar’s favor. In one account, she found a ship sent by God to further her efforts to escape from Algar. Meanwhile, the King searched for her in the whole town of Oxford, only to have its residents refuse to help him and for him to furthermore go blind. In another version of the story, the potential bride hid in a forest outside Oxford. This time, Algar followed her as she attempted to sneak back into town. Unfortunately for him, he managed to fall off his horse and broke his neck before entering the city gates. Let that be a lesson to anyone, even a king, to try to pursue someone who is not interested. You just may go blind or break your neck!
Keeping in mind that saints are generally associated with miracles, from there Frithuswith’s legend continued to include other miraculous incidents, including praying for a spring to appear in Oxford, which can be visited at the Church of St. Margaret upriver from Oxford, that happens to have healing properties. Yet, the stories of Algar’s doomed pursuit of her are by far the most adventurous of all the miraculous events attributed to her life.
Question for students (and subscribers): Do you think the legends about her are true? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
But did any of the above actually happen? After all, we have competing accounts of her life. As such, we encourage you to look at this article for a discussion of her historicity. You can also visit the website of her official church in Oxford here. For more members of royalty who became saints, please also read this tantalizing top ten list on our sister site.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Andrew Dunning of a section from a 14th-century stained-glass window in the Latin Chapel of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, depicting St. Margaret with dragon, cross, and palm and St. Frideswide with book and sceptre, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="388 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=388">67 Comments
I guess the lesson here is not to push things too far.. haha
I’m pretty sure he learned his lesson…… the hard way. You have to admire his perseverance though and about Frithuswith I’m not sure what to make about her fortunate events.
Both accounts seem a bit silly. I am not sure how he would just go blind all the sudden, or how (unless he was drunk) he fell off his horse and broke his neck. Either way, it is all less vulgar than the usually beheading or poisoning that seems so prevalent throughout history.
Well he got what he deserved. Either story does not pan out in his favor. If he did try to abduct her and that happened than I guess he should of not been doing something that he shouldn’t of…… the part of going blind im not sure how much truth can go along with that part of the story…..
Guess he learned his lesson & got what he deserved. You live & you learn.
That seems to be the general consensus, definitely had it coming.
NO means NO! — DAVID WARDLE
He got what he deserved. There’s no question about that. The rest seems like a story told to children to keep them from misbehaving.
He defiantly got what he deserves!
That holds true even today. Don’t chase people who do not want you. Especially don’t chase people who have killed someone.
Although she did not want to marry him, she did not do anything to him directly. Yes, she ran but in the end his stubbornness caused his demise.
Well I guess this is a lesson that no means no, especially when it comes to women sworn to celibacy for God. Regardless of the validity of the story, it is an interesting tale that reminds me of a lot of the fairy tales I used to hear as a kid.
God continues to protect those from harm and yes, the king got what he deserved.
He obviously learned his lesson the hard way….
Well he go what he deserved.
It appears he got what was coming to him.
Why anyone would expect a woman who swore herself to celibacy to have sex is beyond me. I have no idea why anyone who wanted to be sexually active with a romantic partner would marry them. I guess it goes to show how our modern society’s values differ from the values of nobles and kings earlier in history. Generally (although there are quite a few exceptions unfortunately), people tend to understand why someone would not want to have sex or be sexually active. At the very least, this type of attitude is being fostered in the younger generation of people to become more accepting of those people who might not want to have sex for religious or other personal reasons. Great article, and another example of how our attitudes about human sexuality have drastically changed throughout the course of history.
I feel like i believe the second story where she hid in the woods more, the first seems very vague and overall made up. Although I do appreciate that karma was served in both versions of the story toward the king.
The first story appears to be rather vague. It seems unbelievable as it is difficult to believe Algar happened to go blind when we could not find her. I agree with Cody: it makes absolutely no sense to chase someone who doesn’t want you.
So his continual searching for her caused him to go blind? I’m more inclined to believe the falling off the horse story. This was also interesting because I had never heard of this saint before.
An interesting line of events that occurred but the more believable storyline is where he falls off his horse and breaks his neck in the process.
I had never heard of this saint before, which isn’t that shocking, considering there are thousands. I’m more inclined to believe the horse story, it seems more plausible in the long run. With these old saint stories, however, we might never really know.
I’d be willing to bet those stories aren’t too true. They seem more like tales parents teach their kids to teach them lessons.
I’m very surprised that Algar pursued her the way he did. I thought rulers were supposed to respect the church, but I guess this wasn’t the case for him. Neither of the stories are believable because I don’t think Algar would have gone to that much trouble to pursue a woman who was a saint. However, if I had to pick one, I would have to say the second story.
Seems like he got what was coming to him by following her when she refused to marry him.
Well that’s pretty interesting. Too bad for the king, though I suppose it’s possible the Accounts have been embellished.
Algar, from the information provided in the above article, comes off as a selfish leader. in both accounts of the story he rightfully received a punishment that was imminent. Personally if you are the king of any area and cannot ride a horse, then you deserve to go blind….or break your neck
This article makes me wonder if all this actually happened to the king, or if it is just a legend told for an educational purpose.
Whether or not this is completely accurate, I’m glad it ended the way that it did. It seems it must have been terrible for her especially someone who is so nice like a saint. It is sad how back in those days women did not exactly have a choice.
the whole thing just kinda seems a little far fetched…but i guess don’t bite off more than you can chew type of deal!
When a woman says no it means no!
These stories all seem to teach a lesson. Sometimes the truth doesn’t matter, all that matters is that people of the time would have seen the cautionary tales as a way to mold their lives in the example of Frithuswith.
These stories seem like tales that are told when saying not to do something or this will happen kind of deal. Almost like teaching children to think about the consequences of your actions in a very extreme way.
It’s interesting how different versions of stories exist. If she were to hide in a forest, wouldn’t she come back to the town at some point?
Sounds like a classic parable
The poor guy was doomed to go blind anyways, maybe you shouldn’t chase after saints!
I definitely don’t think this was a true story but either way, the underlying message is true! Women shouldn’t be forced into any marriage!
I think it is true that she was being pursued, and she tried running away, but not sure what to believe with what happened to the king while pursuing.
I can’t even say why I love this story so much, I just do. Poetic justice probably.
Karma got back to him! Don’t force someone to do something they don’t want to do and if you try to you will get what you deserve.. hopefully not death!
I do not believe this story is true. More like a message about life.
This guy Algar should have learned to back off before it cost him his life. An interesting story, and quite admirable that Firthuswith was so resilient.
It is unfortunate that the importance of documentation did not fall upon the people of this time period. If it had, we would have a significantly better understanding of history and would not have to spend as much time speculating on the ‘why’ of certain historical events and stories such as this one.
I doubt god sent her a ship. That seems unpractical… Is this mythology?
I doubt really any of this truly happened like the way they say it happened here. but its true don’t marry someone that doesn’t wanna marry you or anyone else
No means no, people! I’m glad that whatever occurred, hopefully can be a lesson for other men.
Saints seem to always have some interesting stories attached to them. St. George slaying a dragon being one example.
Not sure if I agree
Obviously mythological
This is so not true. There is no way that any of that is even factual in the slightest.
This is crazy! I don’t think I can believe this.
The story ending with King Algar falling off his horse and breaking his neck, sounds like the most realistic scenario to me. Similar to drowning in a river on the way to leading your armies in a crusade.
I feel this story to be a little off, it seems to be a little more of a tale or a myth. The things said just seem to be unrealistic, like God sending her a ship. But that is the thing about history we will never know what is truly real or what is just a myth.
?????
This was for sure a bizarre story.
This can’t be true… it is forsure made up!
As unrealistic as the story seems, there is still a lesson to be learned. I’m not sure why a king would want to marry someone who had sworn a life of celibacy in the first place.
This sounds like someone heard a story and then exaggerated it 10 fold.
October 19th is my birthday!
I feel like there are certain women who still hold that power today.
Theres no way this stuff happened
First of all, abduction is not the answer when you’re shot down. Take no as your answer and move on.
This sounds like someone heard a story and then people kept exaggerating it till it got to this caliber.
A crazy amount of exaggeration
when reading some of this stuff you start to wonder if its even true and if it is how much of the story was altered
This guy should have found someone else to like.
Sounds a little outlandish, but history is odd.