76 REPTON PRIORY. 
Mercians, and its ecclesiastical importance actually dates almost 
from the introduction of Christianity into this country. 
Shortly before his accession as king of the Mercians, in 655, 
Penda wished to marry a daughter of Oswy, king of Northumbria, 
but his suit was refused on the grounds of his being a pagan. 
He therefore embraced the Christian Faith, and was baptized by 
Finan, bishop of Lindisfarne. His attachment to the new reli- 
gion appears, however, to have been more sincere than mere form 
for a wife’s sake, for on his return from the north he brought back 
with him four priests to preach the Faith to his people. One of 
these priests, Diuma by name, was consecrated as first bishop of 
the Mercians in 656, and at his death, two years later, was buried 
at Repton. The seat of the bishopric remained here until the 
consecration of S. Chad in 664. when it was removed to Lich- 
field. 
About this same period we have evidence of the existence at 
Repton of a monastery for men and women, under the rule of an 
abbess,* but whether founded by Penda or not is uncertain. 
What became of it is unknown. According to Ingulf, it was 
destroyed when Repton was despoiled by the Danes in 874, but 
he seems to be the only chronicler of the fact. We do not yet 
know where the Old-English town stood, so it would be in vain to 
attempt to localise the site of the first monastery. If it was 
destroyed in 874, it is useless to attempt to identify the earliest 
remains of the present parish church with it, as they pertain toa 
much later period. 
When affairs had become more tranquil, after the confusion and 
turmoil of the Danish inroad, a parish church seems to have been 
built at Repton and dedicated to S. Wystan, a pious Mercian 
prince, who was murdered in 849, and buried in the monastery at 
Repton by the side of his mother A£lfleda. Mr. Irvine has stated 
his opiniont that this church was originally a wooden edifice, but 
in the time of Edward the Confessor the present chancel was 
rebuilt of stone, while the pillars and vaulting of the crypt are 
*Tanner’s Wolitia Monastica. 
+ Journal of the D. A. and N. H. Society, Vol. v. 
