Chapter 5
OswinWhen Etheldreda had been six years at the school at Dunwich, her studies ranging from logic and arithmetic to metaphysics, astronomy and theology, she received a message from her father requesting that she return home to take her place at court.
At first she was determined to refuse, instructing the messenger to declare that she wanted to become a nun like her eldest sister Ethelberga, her step-sister Sathryd, and her aunt Hereswith, thinking that in this way she would be allowed to pursue her studies uninterrupted. But the messenger told her on his own account that it was her mother who really needed her and that without her she would surely die.
Startled she looked at him.
‘I have received no news that my mother is ill.’
‘No, my lady.’
‘Why not?’
‘She did not want y
