Either way, Ethelburga's brother Erkenwald founded Barking Abbey specifically for her. The abbey was endowed by "the East Saxon Princes", who came from the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of the East Saxons/Kingdom of Essex, and initially dedicated to Saint Mary. However, Ethelburga served as the Abbey's first abbess., and it was later dedicated to both Saint Mary and Saint Ethelburga. Saint Hildelitha, a nun brought from abroad to teach Ethelburga, would become abbess after her death. Erkenwald himself would die at the abbey in 693, although his body was taken to Chertsey Abbey for burial.