A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



of unreclaimed and swampy land for such a pur- 

 pose did a great service to the district ; for its 

 Christian tenants deemed it an essential part of 

 their duty to wage a relentless war with adverse 

 nature in gradually redeeming the marshes by 

 assiduous drainage and cultivation. In another 

 respect the site was advantageous, for the quarries 

 of that admirable building stone, the Barnack rag, 

 were not far distant. Hugh White or Candidus, 

 the early chronicler of Peterborough, tells us that 

 some of the stones laid in the foundation were so 

 huge {immaniiiimi lapides) that eight yoke of 



The Chronkon Angliae Petriburgense, from 654 to 

 1368, covers the first forty-five folios of Cott. MS. 

 Claud. A.v. It is supposed to have been written by 

 Abbot John of Caux up to his death in I 262, and after- 

 wards continued for another century by Robert Bos- 

 ton, a monk of Spalding, This, too, was printed by 

 Mr. Sparke in 1723, and forms the first division of 

 his volume, and was again printed by Dr. Giles in 

 1845. 



Folios 132 to 258 of the invaluable Peterborough 

 MS. in the library of the Soc. of Antiq. are a chronicle 

 extending from 1122 to 1294. Its author, as con- 

 clusively shown by Mr. Poole {Diocesan Hist, of Peter- 

 borough, p. 80), was Abbot William Woodford. From 

 1273 to the time when Woodford became abbot, this 

 chronicle is full of detail as to the abbey. The chron- 

 icle was printed by the Camden Society in 1 849. 



Simon Gunton's Hist, of Peterborough, together with 

 the long supplement supplied by Dr. Patrick, is in 

 the main drawn from old chronicles and registers, but 

 there are occasional details in Prebendary Gunton's 

 accounts, the sources of which cannot now be traced. 



The following are the more important MSS. re- 

 lating to Peterborough Abbey which have not been 

 printed : — 



[A] Number Ix of the manuscripts of the 

 Soc. of Antiq. is a chartulary of the abbey 

 known as the Black Book. 



[B] The British Museum purchased in 1 889 

 a diminutive chartulary of the abbey (Egerton 

 MS. 2733). 



[C] Cott. MS. Vesp. E. 21 is a register of 

 the abbey, formerly belonging to Sir Christopher 

 Hatton, compiled in I 3 24. It is clearly written 

 and covers 1 06 vellum folios. 



[D] Cott. MS. Vesp. E. 22 is an older re- 

 gister or chartulary of the same abbey, which 

 also belonged to Sir Christopher Hatton. 



[E] No. xxxviii. of the MSS. of the Soc. of 

 Antiq. is a well-written and well-preserved 

 chartulary of Peterborough. 



[F] The British Museum purchased in 1S63 

 the fine large quarto register of this abbey 

 (Add. MS. 25,288), containing documents 

 during the abbacies of William Genge and John 

 Deeping (I 396-1438). 



[G] Cott. MS. Nero C. vii. contains a long 

 well-written rental of Peterborough. 



[H] Cott. MS. Vesp. A. xxiv. consists of 94 

 small paper folios, lettered Computus Ecclesiae 

 Sancti Petri de Burgo. It is a rough book of 

 eleemosynary accounts, beginning in 1448 and 

 extending for eighteen years. 



[I] Three volumes of Bishop Kennett's Col- 

 lections (58-60) among the Lansdovvne MSS. 



oxen could scarcely draw one of them.i Bede, 

 as well as the Saxon Chronicle under the years 

 655-6, is emphatic as to Saxulf being the builder 

 of the monastery.- At Peada's death, his brother 

 Wulfere, who had at one time professed himself 

 a Christian and married Ermenild, daughter of 

 the Christian king of Kent, succeeded to the 

 throne. The story of his two sons Wulfade and 

 Rufine being slain by their father, after their 

 conversion to Christianity by St. Chad (whose 

 acquaintance they made when stag-hunting), and 

 of VVulfere's subsequent attempt at expiation of 

 the crime, was not only accepted in all its details 

 by the monks of Peterborough, but they per- 

 suaded themselves that their monastery stood on 

 the scene of part of the tragedy. In the midst of 

 the cloister stood a well ' which common tradi- 

 tion would have to be that wherein St. Chad 

 concealed Prince Wulfade's heart.' * The nine 

 windows of the west walk of the cloister, each 

 of four compartments, were filled with glass 

 illustrative of this story, and carried the narrative 

 down to the revival of the abbey after its de- 

 struction by the Danes. Beneath each light of 

 these windows was a rhymed couplet descriptive 

 of the picture. These windows were destroyed 

 in the Great Rebellion, but Gunton was able 

 to give an account of the subjects and inscrip- 

 tions.* 



Saxulf presided over the monastery for twenty 

 years; in 675 he was consecrated bishop of 

 Mercia. During his rule the progress of the 

 church was greatly aided by Ethelred, brother of 

 Wulfere, and by Kyneburg and Kyneswyth their 

 sisters.5 Cuthbald, a monk of Medeshamstede, 

 succeeded Saxulf as abbot. He is described as 

 being so singularly pious and prudent that the 

 monks of monastic cells that had already sprung 

 from Medeshamstede, such as Thorney, Lincoln- 

 shire, and Brixworth, Northamptonshire, desired 

 that he would appoint their superiors.^ The date 

 of Cuthbald's death and of his successor Egbald's 

 appointment is not known ; but it was before 

 716, for in that year Egbald was one of the 

 witnesses to a royal charter granted to Crowland, 

 if Ingulf in this instance may be trusted.'' Of 



contain transcripts from several of the old char- 

 tularies and registers of the abbey. All these 

 transcripts have been printed in the Hist. Anglic. 

 Scriptor. of Sparke, 1723. 



[K] In the library of Lambeth Palace are two 

 volumes of a MS. Consuctudinarium or Cus- 

 tomary of Peterborough Abbey (Lambeth MSS. 

 cxcviii, and cxcviii^) of great interest. 



1 Sparke, Hist. Anglicanae Scriptores Varii, p. 4. 



2 Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. iv, cap. 6. 

 8 Gunton, Hist. ofPeterb. p. 3. 



* Ibid. 104-1 12. 



s Sparke, op. cit. 7, 8 ; see also the early charters, 

 Soc. of Antiq. MS. Ix. and Egerton MS. 2,733 for 

 the times of the Saxon abbots. 



s Sparke, op. cit. 8-13. 



' Ingulf, Rerum Anglic. Script, p. 4. 



84 



