ABSTRACT
It must have been the aristocratic tone o f the women’s abbeys o f northern Gaul, as well as their reputation for asceticism and learning, that com mended them to the notice o f the nobility in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms o f Britain. Bede had heard that for lack o f suitable nunneries nearer home, Earcongota, the daughter o f King Earconberht o f Kent, had become a nun at Faremoutiers-en-Brie; and he reports that many girls o f the English nobility were sent to Chelles and Andelys and other Gallic monasteries to be educated and in some cases to enter the religious life.1 Abbess Hilda, who was related to the royal family o f Northumbria and who had been baptised by Paulinus together with the rest o f the Northumbrian court, had a sister at Chelles. She had intended to go to Chelles herself until Aidan undertook her spiritual direction, and by so doing saved her for English monasticism and the English Church.
