VULFIDA (Vulfhildis), saint. – At a very tender age she was offered to the Benedictine monastery of Wilton.
Her beauty aroused the passion of King Edgar of Mercia, but the virgin knew how to preserve herself as the Lord’s undefiled bride. Edgar then gave her the abbey of Barking, which V. caused to flourish anew. The intrigues of certain nuns with the dowager queen, Alfrude, secured the removal of the abbess for approximately 20 years; but in the end she was able to return, to the joy of the entire community. She died around the year 1000. Feast day, 19 December.
BIBL.: a Life containing legendary features was written around 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