St. Osyth was the daughter of Redwald, the first Christian king of East Anglia and his wife, Wilburga, daughter of Penda, king of the Mercians.
She was betrothed to Sighere, King of Essex. However, Osyth was not happy. She had decided to dedicate her life to God. So she went away to a local nunnery and asked to join them and they took her in.
Sighere understood and when he realised how devout Osyth was, he let her take her religious vows.
He gave her the village of Chich and built a nunnery for her and she became the abbess.
In October 653 a group of Danes commanded by Inguar and Hubba landed in the neighbouring village of Chich and ravaged the county.
They came to Osyth's nunnery and dragging Osyth out they took her into Nun's wood and commanded her to turn from Christ and worship their Gods.
She refused. They threatened to whip her and taunted her with even worse torture, but she remained faithful to Christ.
It is said that Hubba, grabbed her by the hair and hacked off her head and she picked it up and walked to the church and rapped on the door before she fell dead.
The martyred princess was first buried in the church of Chich which had been founded by her, but her parents soon removed her body to Aylesbury .
Many miracles were performed at her shrine and six years later her body was taken back to Chich and buried in Christ Church.
Her nunnery was destroyed by the Danes immediately after she was killed but the church of St. Peter and St. Paul now stands on the site of the church she founded.
According to local tradition, on one night of the year, St. Osyth revisits the scene of her martyrdom, walking with her head in her hand.
