caption death_place issues birth_place attributes feast_day imagesize major_works venerated_in image article_title name
stained arrival of st bega on the coast . glass window in st bees priory showing the northumbria possibly mythological ireland virginity , bracelet 7 november 200 `` oracio ad sanctam begam '' st bees priory st bega stained glass.jpg saint bega
 saint bega
saint bega

saint bega was reputedly a saint of the early middle ages ; an irish princess who valued virginity .
promised in marriage to a viking prince who , according to a medieval manuscript `` the life of st bega '' , was `` son of the king of norway '' , bega `` fled across the irish sea to land at st. bees on the cumbrian coast .
there she settled for a time , leading a life of exemplary piety , then , fearing the raids of pirates which were starting along the coast , she moved over to northumbria '' .
the most likely time for this would have been after ad 850 , when the vikings were settling ireland .
