The details about St. Editha's life are sketchy, but there are several sources which give us a glimpse into the life of this remarkable woman.

 

St. Editha was a 10th century princess in the Kingdom of Mercia, one of several kingdoms making up what we now call England. She was probably the sister of Athelstan, who was crowned first King of all England in 925 AD. Renowned for her charity and good works, she renounced royal luxury to live a holy life.

 

She was famously married in Tamworth Church in 926 AD (the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and, after she was abandoned by her pagan husband Sihtric, the Viking ruler of York and Northumbria, she led a life of saintly devotion and good works in Tamworth where she had a convent (recorded in the Will of Wulfric Spot, 1004) until her death - held to have occurred in 960 AD. She was then canonised by popular acclamation. It is likely that miracles were attributed to her, and that a shrine to her at Tamworth became a site of pilgrimage. The town's  church was named in her honour - traditionally in about 963 AD by her nephew King Edgar when he completed the rebuilding of the church and its foundation as a collegiate church.  

 

Several other churches in the area also bear the name of St. Editha or St. Edith; most famously Polesworth Abbey. It is possible that the patron of Polesworth is the same Editha of Tamworth, but it is also possible that it is a completely different saint altogether, dating from an earlier period.

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There is an old tradition of pilgrimage to Tamworth to venerate St. Editha, as evidenced by this delightful poem (author unknown) likely dating from the middle ages. The marble statue referred to was likely removed or destroyed in the Reformation of the 16th century:

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Over ye river broad, ye pilgrims onward speed

By olden Tamworth altars fare, for ghostly good to speed.

Soundeth ye church bells merrily, about ye lofty aisle

Through tinctured shapes of saints and kings ye shafted sunbeams smile.

Standeth ye marble of Saint Edith, all in bright array.
Ora pro nobis peccatoribus [pray for us sinners] each rich one doth say.

Gentles from embroidered silk scraps scattereth pence around

To simple men, with dusty feet, weeping upon ye ground.

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St. Editha is still held in high regard today as an example of holiness, faithfulness and devotion to her calling to serve God.  Today, a new statue of her likeness can been seen in St. Editha's Church, Tamworth, commissioned in 2025 to mark the inauguration of the new pilgrimage route. She is depicted with a crozier (because she was an abbess) and a church, representing the churches over which she is the patron.