Pershore Abbey

Last updated

Pershore Abbey
Abbey Church of Holy Cross with Saint Edburgha
Church of the Holy Cross
Pershore Abbey 3a.jpg
Pershore Abbey
Pershore Abbey
Denomination Church of England
Churchmanship Broad Church
Website
History
Dedication Holy Cross
Architecture
Heritage designationGrade I listed building
Designated11 February 1965
Style Romanesque, Gothic
Administration
Province Canterbury
Diocese Worcester
Parish Pershore
Clergy
Vicar(s) Claire Lording

Pershore Abbey, at Pershore in Worcestershire, was an Anglo-Saxon abbey and is now an Anglican parish church, the Church of the Holy Cross.

Contents

History

Foundation

The foundation of the minster at Pershore is alluded to in a spurious charter of King Æthelred of Mercia (r. 675–704). It purports to be the charter by which Æthelred granted 300 hides (about 36,000 acres) at Gloucester to King Osric of the Hwicce, and another 300 at Pershore to Osric's brother Oswald. [1] [2] It is preserved only as a copy in a 14th-century register of Gloucester, where it is followed by two charters listing the endowments made to the abbey until the reign of Link Burgred of Mercia (852-874). [3] [4] The 300 hides mentioned here are unlikely to be a contemporary detail, as they were intended to represent the triple hundred which later made up the area of Worcestershire. [1] Historian H. P. R. Finberg suggests that the foundation charter may have been drafted in the 9th century, based on some authentic material. [5] Oswald's foundation of a monastery at Pershore is not stated explicitly in the charter, but the Worcester chronicle Cronica de Anglia , written c. 1150, reports it under the annal for 683, and John Leland, consulting the now lost Annals of Pershore, places the event around 689. [1] [6] Patrick Sims-Williams suggests that the foundation by Oswald may also represent an oral tradition at Pershore, as its archives were probably destroyed in fires of 1002 and again in 1223. [1]

In the 9th century, Pershore comes to light again as a minster under the patronage of Mercian kings. In other charters contained in the Gloucester register, Coenwulf (r. 796–821) and Burgred are recorded as having been patrons of Pershore. [4] A charter of King Edgar refers back to a grant of privileges by Coenwulf at the request of his ealdorman ( dux ) Beornnoth. [1] [7]

Refoundation

In the reign of King Edgar (959-975), Pershore reappears as one of the abbeys to be re-established (or restored) under the programme of Benedictine reform. Writing c. 1000, the Ramsey monk Byrhtferth relates that under the auspices of Oswald, bishop of Worcester, seven monasteries were founded in his diocese, notably including Pershore. [8] The first abbot was one Foldbriht, [9] whose name is sufficiently rare to suggest that he may be the same Foldbriht whom Bishop Æthelwold previously installed at Abingdon and used to be a monk of Glastonbury before that time. [10]

The refoundation is what lies behind an exceptionally elaborate charter for Pershore, dated 972, in which King Edgar is presented as granting new lands and privileges as well as confirming old ones, such as the one granted by Coenwulf. [7] The authenticity of this document, however, has been questioned. Simon Keynes in 1980 showed that it belongs to the so-called Orthodoxorum group of charters, so named after the initial word of their proem, which he concluded were forgeries based on a charter of Æthelred II's reign. [11] Since then, Susan Kelly and John Hudson have vindicated the status of some of these charters, including the one for Pershore, which is written in square minuscule characteristic of some of Edgar's charters. [12] More recently, Peter Stokes has brought to light a variant copy of the charter and suggests that two different versions may have been produced around the same time, somewhere between 972 and 1066. A possible scenario is that they were produced to make up for the loss of the original charter(s), perhaps shortly after the fire which is reported to have destroyed the abbey in c. 1002 (see below). [13]

The 12th-century historian William of Malmesbury, who seems unaware of any pre-existing minster, claims that one Æthelweard (Egelwardus), whom he describes as "ealdorman of Dorset", had founded the abbey of Pershore in the time of King Edgar. [14] Similarly, Osbert's Life of Eadburh of Winchester alleges that one Alwardus, who is styled comes and consul, was responsible for the refoundation. Both authors also attribute to him a role in the translation of some of the saint's relics to Pershore. Osbert writes that an abbess of Nunnaminster had sold some relics to Æthelweard (Alwardus), who in turn handed them over for the refoundation of Pershore. [15] Some scholars have identified him with Æthelweard, the well-known chronicler and ealdorman of the western shires. [16] [note 1]

Whatever high-level patronage the foundation may have received, it was not enough to sustain its fortunes for very long. Precisely what happened to Pershore in the later 10th century is poorly documented, but some sources seem to hint that it went into decline during the succession crisis which emerged in the wake of King Edgar's death. [18] William of Malmesbury says that "it, too, like the others, decayed to a pitiful extent, and was reduced by more than a half". [14] According to Leland, the Annals of Pershore hold an earl called Delfer responsible for depriving the abbey of several of its lands. This Delfer has been interpreted as a misreading for Ælfhere (d. 983), ealdorman of Mercia [18] (whom Leland mentions elsewhere). [19] While himself a patron of Ely and Abingdon, Ælfhere was also charged with despoiling reformed monasteries during Edward the Martyr's brief reign (975-978). The targets included houses refounded by Bishop Oswald or Bishop Æthelwold and considerably enriched under the patronage of Æthelstan Half-King's sons, notably Æthelwine, ealdorman of East Anglia. Evesham Abbey, for instance, as later reported by its own chronicle, also claimed to have lost several of its lands in this way, and Winchcombe was disbanded altogether. Æthelwine, in his turn, was remembered at Ely as a despoiler of its lands. Tensions between Ælfhere and Bishop Oswald, whose authorities overlapped, and between Ælfhere and Æthelwine, with whom Oswald maintained a close relationship, are therefore likely to have been the principal cause of the upheaval. [18] Whether a liberty similar to that of Oswaldslow was an extra cause for concern, compromising Ælfhere's authority as ealdorman, cannot be ascertained from the sources. [18]

"Second" refoundation

The chancel Pershore Abbey Nave.JPG
The chancel

Pershore suffered worse misfortune when, according to Leland, it was destroyed by fire and subsequently deserted by the monks, [19] [20] probably in the year 1002. [21] The monastic archives were largely lost in the event, as no original record from before that date survives today. [21] Pershore, however, found a generous patron in the wealthy nobleman Odda of Deerhurst (d. 1056), who restored many of its lands and granted new ones. It has been suggested[ who? ] that he was a kinsman of the ealdorman Æthelweard. The earliest extant record from the archive of Pershore, a charter of 1014 by which King Æthelred granted Mathon (Herefordshire) to ealdorman Leofwine, may testify to Odda's restorations of lands to the house. [21] [22] The monastery was active again by the 1020s, as its abbot Brihtheah was promoted bishop of Worcester in 1033. [21] Odda's brother Ælfric was buried at Pershore in 1053, joined three years later by Odda himself. [21]

In Odda's lifetime the total landed assets of Pershore grew to 300 hides, but after the loss of its benefactor in 1056 about two-thirds were seized and given to Edward the Confessor's new foundation at Westminster. [21] The original single sheet which preserves the fullest version of King Edgar's refoundation charter (though it need not be authentic) is marked by a number of textual alterations and erasures. Some of these changes may suggest a response to the abbey's proprietary struggles. [13]

From the early 12th century there is evidence that Pershore Abbey claimed possession of some of the relics of Saint Eadburh of Winchester, the sainted daughter of King Edward the Elder. Her body was initially buried at Nunnaminster (Winchester), but it was translated in the 960s to a more central spot in Winchester, and again to a shrine in the 970s. Among several possibilities, Susan Ridyard has suggested that the Eadburh whose relics were preserved at Pershore may have been a Mercian saint of that name whose identity had become obscure. [15]

Later Middle Ages

The main building was begun in about 1100. In the fourteenth century it benefited greatly from the generosity of Adam de Harvington, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1327–30, who was a cousin, and eventually the heir, of the Abbot, William of Harvington. The abbey was dissolved in 1539. A monk of Pershore, named Richard Beerly, was one of those who gave evidence to Thomas Cromwell in 1536 about the misbehaviour of some of his brothers, writing that "Monckes drynk an bowll after collacyon tell ten or xii of the clock, and cum to mattens as dronck as myss, and sume at cardes, sume at dyss." [23] (Monks drink a bowl after collation [28] until ten or twelve o'clock, and come to Matins as drunk as mice, some [playing] at cards, some at dice.) [29]

Pershore Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1057540.jpg

Pershore Abbey church was partly demolished after the reformation when it was surrendered to the King's Commissioners in 1540; only the tower, choir, and south transept remain. [30] The abbey church remained in use as a parish church. When the north transept collapsed in 1686, a wall was built in its place. Further alterations were carried out, including a restoration by George Gilbert Scott in 1862–64. His work included the removal of the belfry floor and the opening up of the lantern tower to expose the beautiful internal tracery panelling. Scott described the lantern as the finest in the country after that of Lincoln Cathedral. The tower pinnacles were added in 1871. [31] In 1913, two western flying buttresses were added to replace the support from the missing portion of the building.

Current structure and features

Norman baptismal font Pershore Abbey font.jpg
Norman baptismal font

The church as it now stands represents only a small portion of the original building. It is a Grade I listed building. [32]

Major repairs were undertaken in 1994, to stabilise the south transept with a ring beam and to strengthen its roof and to repoint the tower and pinnacles. An underfloor heating system was installed.

Bells

Pershore Abbey has a ring of eight bells, of which six were cast by the younger Abraham Rudhall in 1729. The treble was cast in 1814 by Thomas Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The cracked 4th (also 1729 by Rudhall) was recast by J. Barwell & Sons of Birmingham [33] [34] with "moderate success" [35] in 1897, the same year they were rehung. The largest bell (the tenor) is estimated to weigh 25½ cwt (2856 lbs.) and sounds the note D. [36]

The ringing room, devised as part of Gilbert Scott's 1862-64 restorations, is a metal 'cage' suspended high above the chancel crossing; it is accessed by means of two stone spiral staircases, a walkway through the roof, a squeeze through a narrow passage and a see-through iron staircase.

The bells have the following inscriptions (in capital letters). [36] [37]

1. (Treble) "Joseph Martin and Thomas Evans churchwardens 1814"
2. "Peace and good neighbourhood"
3. "Abr Rudhall of Gloucester cast all of us"
4. "Barwell Founder Birmingham. Prosperity to the Church of England 1729 Recast 1897" [38]
5. "Prosperity to all our benefactors A R 1729"
6. "Walter Marriott and Edmund Gale churchwardens A R 1729"
7. "Richard Roberts Esq John Yeend and Thomas Ashfield Gent[leme]n trustees A R 1729"
8. (Tenor) "I to the Church the living call: And to the grave do summon all"

Font

In about 1840 the abbey was given a new baptismal font and the original Norman font was cast out into the churchyard. It was later used as a cattle trough, and later used in a garden at nearby Kempsey. In 1912 a war memorial was erected on the site of the Victorian font and the old font was returned, on a pedestal designed by Harold Brakspear. The font is decorated with an interlacing arcade, in the panels of which are the figures of Christ and his Apostles. [39]

Abbots

NameIn officeComments
Foldbrihtc. 970 – 988 [40]
Brihtheah (Brihteah) ? – 1033Nephew of Wulfstan I, Archbishop of York; went on to become bishop of Worcester (1033–8) [40]
Ælfric ?fl. 1046 x 1050. [40]
Edmund1058–1085d. 1085. [40]
Thurstan1085–1087Master of Gloucester. [40]
Hugh ?Died before 1113. [40]
Guy ? – 1102
 ? – 1136/7
Deposed in 1102, but later restored to office. [40]
William1138 – ?Master of Eye. [40]
Thomas ?Appears in 1143 x 1145 and following suspension, again in 1145 x 1150. [40]
Reginald ? – 1174First known appearance in 1155. [40]
Simon1175–1198 [40]
Master Anselm1198–1203Master of Reading, d. 1203. [40]
Gervase1204–1234d. 1234. [40] [41]
Roger de Rudeby (Rudby)1234–1251Chamberlain of Pershore. [41]
Elerius1251–1264Prior of Cogges. [41]
Henry of Bidford1264 – ?Master of Pershore. [41]
Henry de Caldewelle1274–1290Master of Pershore. [41]
William de Leghe1290–1307Cellarer of Pershore. [41]
William of Harvington1307–1340Master of Pershore, etc. [41]
Thomas of Pirton (Pyriton)1340–1349Cellarer of Pershore. [41]
Peter of Pendock1349–1363Master of Pershore. [41]
Peter (de) Bradewey(e)1363–1379Master of Pershore. [41]
Thomas de Upton1379Elected 1379. [20]
William de Newenton1413 [20]
Edmund Hert1456–1479 [20]
Robert Stanwey1479 [20]
John Pibleton1497 [20]
William Compton1504–1526 [20]
John Stonywell1526–1539 x 40Surrendered the abbey [20]

Organ

The earliest record of an organ in Pershore abbey is from the parish magazine for June 1825 which stated that the parishioners had started a voluntary subscription fund for the erection of an organ. [42] This organ was built by Mr. Russell of London and opened by the organist Charles Clarke of Worcester Cathedral on 1 November 1826. [43] This organ is thought to have functioned for 47 years when it was sold to Sedgley Parish Church. In 1864 it is recorded that during a restoration of the church, it was reconstructed by Nicholson of Malvern and moved to the north-east chapel. [44]

A new three manual organ was built by Nicholson of Malvern and opened on 18 April 1873. [45] The Nicholson was restored twice by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd, in 1940 [46] and 1971. [47] This was replaced by a Bradford electronic organ.

A new pipe organ, costing around £850,000, was commissioned from the Fratelli Ruffatti workshop in Italy and installed in 2023. [48]

Past organists and masters of music include Charles Tovey (1832-1868 [49] ), William Hancox (1868 [50] -1869), Charles Henry Ogle (1869-1896), Edred Martin Chaundy (1898–1899, formerly of Enniskillen Parish Church, afterwards Holy Trinity Church, Stroud and Armagh Cathedral), Frank Alfred Charles Mason (1900–1949 [51] ), Peter Bruce Waddington (1949-1951), Rodney Clifford Baldwyn (1951 [52] –1981), Ian Gerrard (1993–2003), Sheila Joynes (2003–2004), Mike Pegg (2004–2005), David Barclay (2005–2007) and Alex Crawford (2007–2008). In 2009, Mike Pegg resumed his former duties.

Grounds

The buried foundations of the other monastic buildings, which lie to the southwest of the church, were identified in an archaeological excavation in 1929. [53]

At the Dissolution, these buildings and the abbey grounds were acquired by John Richardson. The buildings were demolished and the grounds passed through various owners. Abbey House was later built on the site, [54] sometime in the 1830s. In 1910 its owner, Henry Wise, donated the house to the Anglican Benedictine monks of Caldey Abbey, Pembrokeshire. When these monks converted to Roman Catholicism in 1913, they returned Abbey House to Wise who then provided it for the use of the small remnant of monks from Caldey who had remained Anglican. [55] In 1922 the monks bought the house. [56] They left Pershore for Nashdom Abbey, Buckinghamshire, in 1926, [57] but only sold Abbey House in 1947 when it was demolished and the grounds became housing and parkland. [58]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A tradition at Tewkesbury Abbey, only 10 miles from Pershore, also remembers a royal kinsman called Æthelweard (Haylwardus) as its patron as well as that of Cranborne Abbey (Dorset), of which Tewkesbury was a dependency. [16] [17] The account, which places his floruit in the time of King Æthelred and Dunstan, is recorded in a late chronicle of that house, written in the 15th century, but may very well be based on older sources. [16] [17] This Æthelweard is to be identified with the Æthelweard Mæw whose activities, including the foundation of Cranborne, are attested in sources closer to his day. [16] Historian Jayakumar suggests that he may be the chronicler Æthelweard, ealdorman of the western shires, as both were royal kinsmen and in the Tewkesbury Chronicle, Cranborne is said to have been founded in suo dominio. [17] Ann Williams, however, prefers to see them as separate persons. [16]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Sims-Williams, Religion and literature, pp. 94-6.
  2. ↑ S 70
  3. ↑ S 209
  4. 1 2 S 1782 [ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ Finberg, Early charters, pp. 153-66.
  6. ↑ John Leland, Collectanea, ed. Hearne, pp. 240-1.
  7. 1 2 S 786
  8. ↑ Byrhtferth, Life of Oswald, p. 494 (ch. 8).
  9. ↑ Byrhtferth, Life of Oswald, pp. 494-5 (ch. 9).
  10. ↑ Hudson, Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis, p. cciii.
  11. ↑ Keynes, The diplomas of King Æthelred 'the Unready' 978-1016, pp. 98-100
  12. ↑ Hudson, Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis, pp. cxcix-cciv
  13. 1 2 Stokes, "King Edgar's charter for Pershore, 972", pp. 72-3.
  14. 1 2 William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum IV, ch. 162, ed. and tr, Winterbottom and Thomson
  15. 1 2 Ridyard, The royal saints of Anglo-Saxon England
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Williams, World before Domesday, pp. 11-3.
  17. 1 2 3 Jayakumar, "Reform and retribution", p. 347.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Williams, "Princeps Merciorum gentis", pp. 167-8
  19. 1 2 "Oswaldus primum instituit Canonicos seculares apud Persore.
    Postea fuit ibidem chorus monachorum.
    Rursus Canonici inducti.
    Postea monachi per Edgarum.
    Elferus abstulit prædia monachis.
    Odda comes ejus filius restituit.
    Monasterium conflagravit & à monachis desertum est.
    Monachi Westmonasterienses prædia usurpabant.
    Wada comes attulit reliqias S. Eadburgae, & per Oswaldum episcopum Fulbrightus abbas inductus.
    Olney, alias Alney, about Deorhirst in Glocester-shire. Deorhurst yet remainith in Glocestre-shire as a Celle to Twekesbiri." John Leland, Itinerarium, ed. Hearne, vol. 5, p. 2.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Willis-Bund and Page, The Victoria History of the County of Worcester, vol. 2, pp. 127-136.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Williams, "Odda, earl (d. 1056)"
  22. ↑ S 932.
  23. ↑ Wright, Thomas, ed. (September 1843). "LX. Richard Beerly to Cromwell". Three Chapters of Letters Relating to the Suppression of Monasteries. Camden Society Old Series: Volume XXVI. Vol. 26. p. 133. doi:10.1017/S2042169900009135. This is an 1843 edition of original MSS in the British Museum (see also Front cover). See also "Mouse, n. 2". Oxford English Dictionary. Vol. X (online 2nd ed.). 1989. Retrieved 7 March 2019., which cites this passage as Lett. Suppress. Monast. (Camden) 133.
  24. ↑ Lit. 'Conferences with the fathers of Scetis in the desert'), written in around 420, usually translated as Conferences with the Desert Fathers .)
  25. ↑ St. Benedict; Verheyen,Boniface (trans) (1949) [c540]. "Chapter XLII: That No One Speak after Compline". The Holy Rule of St. Benedict. Retrieved 8 March 2019.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  26. ↑ Addis, William E.; Press, Aeterna (1961). A Catholic Dictionary. Aeterna Press. p. 699. St. Benedict in his rule requires his religious to assemble after supper and before Compline and listen to the 'Collations'—i.e. the Conferences (of Cassian), the Lives of the Fathers, or other edifying books which were then read aloud by one of their number.
  27. ↑ "Lent", Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 March 2019
  28. ↑ The term 'collation' in this context refers to the practice in Benedictine monasteries, such as Pershore, of reading extracts from John Cassian's Collationes patrum in Scetica eremo [24] in the hours between the evening meal following Vespers, and before Compline. This was according to Chapter 42 of the Rule of Saint Benedict written in the 6th century. All meals were to be eaten in daylight. [25] [26] By the 9th century the strict rules about fasting had become more relaxed, and the term 'collation' became more generally associated with the indulgence of a light meal, especially on fast days. [27]
  29. ↑ Since collation took place in the evening before Compline, and Matins finished at dawn (see Canonical hours), it appears the monks were drinking all night long.
  30. ↑ "Geograph:: Pershore Abbey (C) Philip Halling". www.geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  31. ↑ Wilson, Dr. M. and Crawford, Rev. K., Pershore Abbey, Official Abbey Guide, 2008, ISBN   1-872-665-22-5, pp.11-13
  32. ↑ Historic England. "Abbey Church of Holy Cross with Saint Edburgha (1387027)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  33. ↑ "Mr. James Barwell – Obituary Notice". Birmingham Weekly Mercury. Hosted at Jewellery Quarter Heritage. 2 April 1892. Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  34. ↑ Barwell advertisement from 1897
  35. ↑ Andrews, Francis Baugh (1901). The Benedictine abbey of SS. Mary, Peter, and Paul at Pershore, Worcestershire. Birmingham and Pershore: Midland Educational Co. : Fearnside & Martin. p. 18n.
  36. 1 2 "Pershore Bells and the Pershore Abbey Society of Bell Ringers". Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  37. 1 2 Andrews 1901, p. 18.
  38. ↑ The original inscription read simply "Prosperity to the Church of England" [37]
  39. ↑ Wilson, Dr. M. and Crawford, Rev. K., Pershore Abbey, Official Abbey Guide, 2008, ISBN   1-872-665-22-5, p16
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Knowles, Brooke and London (2001), The heads of religious houses: England & Wales, I. 940–1216, pp. 58-9.
  41. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Smith and London (2001), The heads of religious houses: England & Wales, II. 1216–1377, pp. 56-7.
  42. ↑ "The Earliest Record" . Evesham Standard & West Midland Observer. England. 4 May 1940. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  43. ↑ "The organ recently erected in Pershore Abbey Church…" . John Bull. England. 5 November 1826. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  44. ↑ "Restoration of Pershore Abbey Church" . Worcestershire Chronicle. England. 8 June 1864. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  45. ↑ "Pershore. New Organ" . Worcester Journal. England. 19 April 1873. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  46. ↑ "Pershore Abbey's New Organ" . Gloucestershire Echo. England. 17 May 1940. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  47. ↑ A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register .
  48. ↑ "Pershore Abbey is Open Again". Pershore Abbey. 12 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  49. ↑ "Deaths" . Worcester Journal. England. 18 January 1868. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  50. ↑ "Pershore" . Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger. England. 6 October 1951. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  51. ↑ "Forty-Eight Years Organist" . Tewkesbury Register. England. 27 November 1948. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  52. ↑ "Pershore. New Organist" . Tewkesbury Register. England. 6 October 1951. Retrieved 24 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  53. ↑ Historic England. "Pershore Abbey (site of) (1005303)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  54. ↑ Willis-Bund and Page, The Victoria History of the County of Worcester, vol. 4, pp. 155–163.
  55. ↑ Dunstan (2009), p. 22.
  56. ↑ Dunstan (2009), p. 49.
  57. ↑ Dunstan (2009), p. 73.
  58. ↑ Dunstan (2009), p. 69.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunstan</span> 10th-century Archbishop of Canterbury and saint

Saint Dunstan, OSB was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised. His work restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church. His 11th-century biographer Osbern, himself an artist and scribe, states that Dunstan was skilled in "making a picture and forming letters", as were other clergy of his age who reached senior rank. Dunstan served as an important minister of state to several English kings. He was the most popular saint in England for nearly two centuries, having gained fame for the many stories of his greatness, not least among which were those concerning his famed cunning in defeating the Devil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eadwig</span> King of England from 955 to 959

Eadwig was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were young children when their father was killed trying to rescue his seneschal from attack by an outlawed thief on 26 May 946. As Edmund's sons were too young to rule he was succeeded by his brother Eadred, who suffered from ill health and died unmarried in his early 30s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward the Martyr</span> King of the English (975–978)

Edward, often called the Martyr, was King of the English from 975 until he was murdered in 978. Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar, but was not his father's acknowledged heir. On Edgar's death, the leadership of England was contested, with some supporting Edward's claim to be king and others supporting his younger half-brother Æthelred, recognised as a legitimate son of Edgar. Edward was chosen as king and was crowned by his main clerical supporters, the archbishops Dunstan of Canterbury and Oswald of York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar, King of England</span> Anglo-Saxon king from 959 to 975

Edgar was King of England from 959 until his death. He became king of all England on his brother's death. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu. A detailed account of Edgar's reign is not possible, because only a few events were recorded by chroniclers and monastic writers were more interested in recording the activities of the leaders of the church.

Æthelweard was an ealdorman and the author of a Latin version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle known as the Chronicon Æthelweardi. He was a kinsman of the royal family, being a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred I of Wessex, the elder brother of Alfred the Great.

Ælfthryth was Queen of the English from her marriage to King Edgar in 964 or 965 until Edgar's death in 975. She was a leading figure in the regency during the minority of her son King Æthelred the Unready between 978 and 984.

Ælfgifu was Queen of the English as wife of King Eadwig of England for a brief period of time until 957 or 958. What little is known of her comes primarily by way of Anglo-Saxon charters, possibly including a will, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and hostile anecdotes in works of hagiography. Her union with the king, annulled within a few years of Eadwig's reign, seems to have been a target for factional rivalries which surrounded the throne in the late 950s. By c. 1000, when the careers of the Benedictine reformers Dunstan and Oswald became the subject of hagiography, its memory had suffered heavy degradation. In the mid-960s, however, she appears to have become a well-to-do landowner on good terms with King Edgar and, through her will, a generous benefactress of ecclesiastical houses associated with the royal family, notably the Old Minster and New Minster at Winchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Æthelwold of Winchester</span> Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984

Æthelwold of Winchester was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth-century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oswald of Worcester</span> Archbishop of York (died 992)

Oswald of Worcester was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry, but brought up by his uncle, Oda, who sent him to France to the abbey of Fleury to become a monk. After a number of years at Fleury, Oswald returned to England at the request of his uncle, who died before Oswald returned. With his uncle's death, Oswald needed a patron and turned to another kinsman, Oskytel, who had recently become Archbishop of York. His activity for Oskytel attracted the notice of Archbishop Dunstan who had Oswald consecrated as Bishop of Worcester in 961. In 972, Oswald was promoted to the see of York, although he continued to hold Worcester also.

Ælfric Cild was a wealthy Anglo-Saxon nobleman from the east Midlands, Ealdorman of Mercia between 983 and 985, and possibly brother-in-law to his predecessor Ælfhere. He was also associated with the monastic reformer Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, he is also notable for being involved in a number of land transactions for the refounding and endowment of Peterborough Abbey, as well as with Thorney Abbey during the 970s and early 980s.

Æthelstan Half-King was an important and influential Ealdorman of East Anglia who interacted with five kings of England, including his adopted son King Edgar the Peaceful. Many of Æthelstan's close relatives were also involved in important affairs, but soon after the death of King Eadred in 955, he left his position and became a monk at Glastonbury Abbey.

Sideman was Bishop of Crediton. He attested charters of King Edgar as abbot of Exeter from 969, and was appointed to the see of Crediton in 973. According to Byrhtferth of Ramsey, King Edward the Martyr "had been instructed in holy scripture under the tutelage of Bishop Sideman". The historian Cyril Hart describes him as a protégé of Ælfhere, ealdorman of Mercia. Sideman died on 30 April 977 at a meeting of a royal council at Kirtlington in Oxfordshire. He had expressed a wish to be buried at Crediton, but King Edward and Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, ordered that he should be conveyed to Abingdon Abbey, where he was buried on the north side of St Paul's chapel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eadnoth the Younger</span> 11th-century Bishop of Dorchester and Abbot of Ramsey

Eadnoth the Younger or Eadnoth I was a medieval monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Ramsey and Bishop of Dorchester. From a prominent family of priests in the Fens, he was related to Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, Archbishop of York and founder of Ramsey Abbey. Following in the footsteps of his illustrious kinsman, he initially became a monk at Worcester. He is found at Ramsey supervising construction works in the 980s, and around 992 actually became Abbot of Ramsey. As abbot, he founded two daughter houses in what is now Cambridgeshire, namely, a monastery at St Ives and a nunnery at Chatteris. At some point between 1007 and 1009, he became Bishop of Dorchester, a see that encompassed much of the eastern Danelaw. He died at the Battle of Assandun in 1016, fighting Cnut the Great.

Ælfhere was Ealdorman of Mercia. His family, along with those of Æthelstan Half-King and Æthelstan Rota, rose to greatness in the middle third of the 10th century. In the reign of Edward the Martyr, Ælfhere was a leader of the anti-monastic reaction and an ally of Edward's stepmother Queen Dowager Ælfthryth. After the killing of Edward by Ælfthryth's servants in 978, Ælfhere supported the new king, Ælfthryth's son Æthelred the Unready, and was the leading nobleman in the Kingdom of England until his death in 983.

Æthelwine was ealdorman of East Anglia and one of the leading noblemen in the kingdom of England in the later 10th century. As with his kinsmen, the principal source for his life is Byrhtferth's life of Oswald of Worcester. Æthelwine founded Ramsey Abbey in 969, and Byrhtferth and Ramsey Abbey remembered him as Dei amicus, but the monks of nearby Ely saw him as an enemy who had seized their lands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odda of Deerhurst</span> Anglo-Saxon nobleman

Odda of Deerhurst was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman active in the period from 1013 onwards. He became a leading magnate in 1051, following the exile of Godwin, Earl of Wessex and his sons and the confiscation of their property and earldoms, when King Edward the Confessor appointed Odda as earl over a portion of the vacated territory. Earl Godwin was later restored to royal favour, and his lands returned, while Odda received a new earldom in the west midlands in compensation. Odda became a monk late in life. He was buried at Pershore Abbey.

Events from the 10th century in the Kingdom of England.

Æthelmær the Stout or Æthelmær the Fat a leading thegn from the 980s, discðegn to King Æthelred the Unready, and briefly ealdorman of the Western Provinces in 1013. He was the founder of Cerne Abbey and Eynsham Abbey, and a patron of the leading scholar, Ælfric of Eynsham. He was the son of Æthelweard the historian, and descended from King Æthelred I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Benedictine Reform</span> Religious reform movement in the late Anglo-Saxon period

The English Benedictine Reform or Monastic Reform of the English church in the late tenth century was a religious and intellectual movement in the later Anglo-Saxon period. In the mid-tenth century almost all monasteries were staffed by secular clergy, who were often married. The reformers sought to replace them with celibate contemplative monks following the Rule of Saint Benedict. The movement was inspired by Continental monastic reforms, and the leading figures were Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, and Oswald, Archbishop of York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ælfwynn, wife of Æthelstan Half-King</span> Member of a wealthy Anglo-Saxon family in Huntingdonshire, spouse of Æthelstan Half-King, died 983

Ælfwynn or Ælfwyn was a member of a wealthy Anglo-Saxon family in Huntingdonshire who married Æthelstan Half-King, the powerful ealdorman of East Anglia, in about 932. She is chiefly known for having been foster-mother to the future King Edgar the Peaceful following his mother's death in 944, when he was an infant. She had four sons, and the youngest, Æthelwine, became the chief secular magnate and leading supporter of the monastic reform movement. Ælfwynn donated her estates for his foundation of Ramsey Abbey in 966 and was probably buried there.

References

Secondary sources

Primary sources

52°06′38″N02°04′40″W / 52.11056°N 2.07778°W / 52.11056; -2.07778

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.