OK, story time. Here's the tale of a unique woman who lived near me, albeit 900 odd years ago: Christina of Markyate. She deserves more recognition than she gets. I hope I can introduce her to a slightly wider audience. 
So, Christina is born around thirty years after the Norman Conquest. She seems to have belonged to a family that mixed both Norman and Saxon blood, based on a few names that pop out. Anyhoo, she was smart, clever and was raised to read and write. She was also quite good looking.
According to legend, when Christina was growing up in what is today Huntingdon, Ranulf Flambeard, the (gross) Bishop of Durham took an interest in her - his mistress was Christina's aunt. Christina point-blank refused to have anything to do with him, so he cooked up revenge...
Knowing that Christina was taken by the monastic life of St Albans, where she would travel to, to worship, Ranulf ordered that Christina get married to some no-name noble called Beorhtred. Again, Christina wanted nothing to do with this - she saw a religious life as her destiny.
In what would soon turn into a bit of a farce, Beorhtred was sent in to 'seal the deal'. On the first attempt, Christina's parents found them debating religion the next morning, her maidenhood intact. On a second attempt, he couldn't find her - she hid behind the curtains!
Christina knew that this couldn't go on forever. One night, with the help of friends, she escaped her home and legged it cross-country to Flamstead in Hertfordshire, where she hung out with a hermit and studied the bible.
It was pretty tough going for a young woman of noble birth, hanging out with a hermit in the arse end of Hertfordshire. Accounts of Christina's life say she had to deal with toads constantly entering her cell and making a racket, along with crap food and freezing lodgings.
Christina was then invited to a larger community of hermits by a guy called Roger, her new spiritual advisor. They spent years together doing the hermit thing, studying the Bible, picking lice out of their robes. Unfortunately, eventually, Roger died. Here's his tomb.
Christina was then faced with a problem. She had to move. Thurstan, Bishop of York teamed her up with another hermit friend of his, but there was a problem - he liked what he saw. To make things worse, so did she. He made things worse by walking around naked. No, I'm not kidding.
Eventually, Christina had enough, she fled to St Albans, where she impressed on the Abbot, Geoffrey, that she should stay there. He agreed, and she soon became indispensable. Geoffrey wasn't the greatest at organization and liked to spend too much. Christina put an end to that.
For the next couple of decades, Christina and Geoffrey were a double team that brought more wealth and prestige to St Albans Abbey. Christina became renowned for her bullshit-free advice, and many rich and powerful men came to her to sort out their problems.
Christina was so revered by both Geoffrey and the monks of the Abbey, that Geoffrey gifted her a psalter - a book of religious texts that only the very rich or powerful had access to. He also put in a bloody great 'C' in there to indicate it was hers. abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalte…
Christina also had a 'vitae' or 'life' written about her - something that (within the church) is usually restricted to saints or the 'holiest' of clerics. She was arguably one of the most important and powerful women of her time (in SE England, at least).
Christina died about 1155CE. Unfortunately, we're not sure where she's buried. I like to think all of St Albans Abbey serves as her tomb. She was a woman in an all-male institution, wielding power & respect. All the more impressive considering the violent world she lived in.
If you liked her tale, look her up. While her 'life' is incomplete, scholars have spent a lot of time trying to reconstruct her movements and her interactions with those around her. Also, if you dug the thread (or didn't), let me know - all feedback helps. FIN.
Sorry, should be Flambard. But, like, Flamebeard is the literal translation, so, yeah.
PS. Christina, along with a few other English women mystics, make reference to dealing with sexual desire in either their writing, or accounts of their lives. It seems to be a bit of a trait here. I find that quite refreshing and down to earth.
