Legendary Essex note: Fantastically gory renderings by Flitch Green Academy artists of the demise of the Saxon Princess attacked by Viking marauder.
During a Viking raid in 653 AD, led by Inguar and Hubba, Saxon Princess Osyth was captured and, refusing to renounce her Christian faith, was beheaded. A spring is said to have miraculously bubble up in the spot where her head fell. Osyth valiantly picked up her head and carried it to the nunnery where she went to bid farewell to her sisters. The Augustinian Priory founded in 1120 in her name benefited from many donations and pilgrimages inspired by her story to seek spiritual redemption.
