Her beauty aroused the passion of King Edgar of Mercia, but the virgin knew how to remain an intact bride of the Lord. Edgar then gave her the abbey of Barking, which W. restored to flourishing life. The intrigues of some nuns in the household of the widowed queen, Ælfthryth, secured her removal for about twenty years; but in the end she was able to return, to the joy of the entire community. She died about the year 1000. Feast: 19 December.
BIBL.: A *Life with legendary traits* was written about 1086–98 by Goscelin (BHL, *Suppl.*, 8736 b; ed., *Anal. Bolland.*, 32 [1913], pp. 10–26); A. Zimmermann, *Kalendarium Benedict.*, III, Metten 1937, pp. 33–37. Anscario Mundò Marcet