Werburga

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A seventh-century English princess and abbess who is honored as a saint, particularly as the patron of the city of Chester
2. The Anglo-Saxon royal abbess later revered as a saint, whose cult centered on the church and city of Chester in northwest England
3. A medieval religious figure of Mercian royal birth, remembered as an abbess and saint associated with the Cheshire town of Chester

Etymology: Werburga was a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon abbess, a daughter of the Mercian king Wulfhere, and the name is her own. Her cult centred on Chester, where her relics were taken after the Viking raids of the late ninth century. Chester's great abbey was later dedicated to her, and the church of St Werburgh still stands in the city, so the name survives there far more than in most of England. The name is Old English, probably from "wǣr", meaning a covenant or protection, joined to "burh", meaning a fortress or stronghold. The Old English form is Wǣrburh, and the spelling "Werburga" reflects the Latinised version used in medieval Latin saints' lives. Its later English forms, such as Werburgh, show the usual shift of the vowel and the loss of the final syllable.