Hilda of Whitby, a member of the Northumbrian royal family ruled a monastery of monks and nuns, holding power in a time when few women carried out important roles.

The Early Life of Hilda of Whitby

St Hilda, known as Hild in her own time, was born in 614AD, into an important royal family. She was the great niece of Edwin, King of Northumbria, in the North-East of England. There were several kings in the country during this period and England was an unstable place, with shifts in power causing wars over land and political influence.

Most of the surviving information about Hilda is taken from the writings of Bede, created around thirty years after Hilda’s death. Hilda was brought up in the Northumbrian royal court, which was a pagan household. She converted to Christianity in around 627AD, when she was in her early teens. Hilda stayed in the royal household until the age of nineteen when King Edwin was killed and her life changed forever.

What happened to Hilda next is unclear. Within the next five years, she decided to become a nun and the missionary Aidan (who later became a saint), bestowed on Hilda a plot of land at Monkwearmouth, in the North East of England, to found a monastery.

After a few years at her original religious house, Hilda was appointed Abbess of Hartlepool, in 649. She was to rule here for six years, until King Oswy took the throne of Northumbria and pledged his infant daughter to the Church and to the care of Hilda. Hilda was granted large tracts of land and founded a new monastery on the cliffs at Whitby, a coastal town then known as Streonshalh.

Hilda as Abbess of Whitby

The monastery was a double house, housing both monks and nuns in separate accommodation. The buildings were made of thatch and timber. The monastery’s reputation and that of its Abbess spread throughout the country. Contemporary accounts report that Hilda was visited by kings and princes, who sought her advice on matters of state.

However, her greatest legacy was to be in 664, when she hosted a meeting of church leaders from around the country, whose job it was to decide on one universal date for Easter.

The Synod of Whitby

Even after some 1300 years, the Whitby Synod is recognised as an important event of the medieval age. At this meeting, which was hosted by Hilda, the method of calculating the date of Easter in England was decided and this decision has been adhered to ever since.

There were two groups at the meeting, those from the Celtic tradition (which Hilda herself favored) and those who followed the Roman customs. Each group had used its own calculations to decide the date of Easter, but Pope Gregory wanted all Christians to follow the same method of determining when Easter should fall.

A spokesperson was appointed from each group and interpreters also attended the meeting, to translate the various languages of Latin, Celtic and English. When the final decision was made, the Roman method of dating was proclaimed to be the one which would be followed.

Hilda of Whitby’s Final Years

Following the synod, Hilda continued to strengthen the reputation of her monastery, and is credited with influencing many of those who lived with her, including the poet Caedmon, who was a servant at the monastery. He is believed to be one of the first Anglo-Saxon poets.

Bede described Hilda’s final years as a time of illness ‘she was attacked by a burning fever that racked her continually for six years’. Hilda died on 17 November 680 at the age of 66.

The present Whitby Abbey was built some 500 years after the death of Hilda, but the abbey over which she presided was constructed on the same site. Its clifftop location, with views over the North Sea, is spectacular, although in Hilda’s time, the abbey was vulnerable to Viking attacks. Whitby Abbey is still a place of pilgrimage today and there are several churches in the area which are dedicated to Hilda.

Sources

The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People [Penguin Classics, 1993]

Mundahl-Harris, Sylvia, St Hilda and Her Times [Caedmon of Whitby, 1997]