Hieu was a 7th-century Irish abbess who worked in Northumbria. She was foundress of abbeys at Hartlepool and Healaugh in Yorkshire England. Hieu was also the first of the saintly recluses of Northumbria,Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, lib. iv, c. 23. and the first known woman to rule a double monastery.Archaeologia Aeliana, Vol. xix, 47.Eckenstein, Lina. (1972) Woman Under Monasticism. Cambridge University Press. p. 88.
Life Nothing is known of her early life, until she met Aidan of Lindisfarne who appointed her abbess of Hartlepool Abbey and subsequently a monastery at Healaugh near Tadcaster.Michael Lapidge, & Helmut Gneuss, Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England: Studies Presented to Peter Clemoes on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday (Cambridge University Press, 1985) page 8.Bell, Susan G. (1980) Women, from the Greeks to the French Revolution. Stanford University Press. p. 103.
She died at Healaugh on 12 March of an unknown year in the 7th century.Dunbar, Agnes. (1904) A Dictionary of Saintly Women. London: G.Bell. It is possible that the towns of Hartlepool (Hereteu) and Healaugh are named after her.
Hieu's memorial is kept on 2 September.September 2/September 15. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).
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