Saint Eanswith also spelled Eanswythe or Eanswide, was an Anglo Saxon princess.

In 630, Eanswith founded the Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 Folkestone Priory

Folkestone Priory

Folkestone Priory was a pre-Reformation Benedictine monastery at Folkestone in the English county of Kent. The priory church survives as the present parish church...

, the first nunnery in England. She was supported in this by her father, Eadbald

Eadbald of Kent

Eadbald was King of Kent from 616 until his death in 640. He was the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, a daughter of the Merovingian king Charibert. Æthelberht made Kent the dominant force in England during his reign and became the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity from...

, who ruled as king of Kent from 616 to 640 CE.

She remained at the abbey until her death and was later canonized by the Catholic Church.

Saint Eanswith's day falls on September 12. Traditionally, this is the date on which her remains were translated to the new church in 1138.

In 1885 human remains were discovered in the church wall at the Folkestone parish church, dedicated to "St Mary and St Eanswythe" which may have been those of Saint Eanswith.