202 SOME SAXON SAINTS OF WIMBORNE. 



is so recorded in the Romsey MS.* alluded to above. Leland | 

 whose Itinerary was commenced in 1538, tells us that she was 

 buried in the north side of the Presbytery, and that King 

 Ethelred was buried by her ; but that afterwards Cuthburga 

 was translated to the east end of the High altar. She was 

 succeeded in the government of the Monastery at Wimborne, 

 by her sister Cwenburga, and afterwards by another sister, 

 Tetta ; unless indeed, as is possible, Tetta and Cwenburga 

 were two names borne by the same person. 



TETTA. 



It was during the time of Tetta 's rule that the Community 

 at Wimborne which had been established on such wise lines 

 by Cuthburga became so justly celebrated, and it was under 

 her training that some number of sisters became so well fitted 

 for the work which they embraced in the helping on of the 

 evangelisation of Germany. 



Wimborne, like, in all probability, all the Saxon monasteries 

 which were established before or in the earlier part of the 

 eighth century, was a J" double monastery." That is, it 

 comprised a community of priests as well as a community 

 of sisters. And, here, as in some number of these double 

 monasteries, it was a lady, the Abbess, who ruled over both 

 sections, over the men (i.e., the priests), as well as over the 

 women. The idea of a double monastery had apparently 

 come to this land from Gaul. Other institutions of a similar 

 character were those at Barking, at Coldingham, at Ely, at 

 Wenlock, and at Whitby. ^ 



We have some information about the monastery at Wim- 

 borne. It is gathered from the Life of St. Lioba, which was 



* EcJcerstein, Woman under Monasticism, p. 116. 

 f John Leland's Itinerary. Oxford, Hearne, 1744, Vol. III., p. 72. 

 J Bateson's Double Monasteries, R.Hist.Soc. Transactions, 1899, pp~ 

 180-181. Hunt, History of English Church, 597-1066, pp. 218-219. 



