Elizabeth Felmersham

Elizabeth Felmersham (? – 1446) became the English abbess of the Benedictine Godstow Abbey at a time when the abbey was not well regulated.

Life The details of Felmersham's early life are unclear but her family is presumed to have come from Felmersham in Bedfordshire and at some time her family moved to Oxfordshire. Records show that a William Felmersham owned property in Oxfordshire in the 1420s.

Elizabeth Pytte had been the abbess of the Benedictine Godstow Abbey when Felmersham was elected to be the abbess. The nuns were not well disciplined and she had the task of managing the abbey and in bringing the nuns into good order. The abbey had been built on an island in the River Thames just outside the university town of Oxford.

She was still abbess in 1445 and died the following year. The date is unknown but the Godstow community of nuns was given permission to elect a new abbess on 14 July 1446.