RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the three next abbots, Pusa, Beonna, and Ceolver, 

 nothing is known save the order of their succes- 

 sion.! The date of Hedda's succession to Ceolver 

 is also uncertain, Ingulfs charters of this period 

 being far too doubtful in authenticity. The one 

 certain fact about him is that he was abbot in 

 870 when the Danes so ruthlessly destroyed this 

 great centre of Christianity, which had been for 

 two centuries one of the chief, if not the most 

 important, evangelizing agency of Southern 

 Mercia. After sacking and firing the abbey of 

 Crowland, the Danes marched on Medesham- 

 stede. Abbot Hedda was slain with all his monks 

 save one, the altars were broken down, monu- 

 ments demolished, the library and charters de- 

 stroyed, and the church and buildings fired. The 

 fire, which lasted for fifteen days, completely 

 blotted out the monastery. Ingulfs story of 

 Abbot Godric of Crowland collecting the bodies 

 of eighty-four monks and burying them in a 

 common grave, which he visited year by year, 

 saying mass in a tent erected on the site, is prob- 

 ably unreliable. 3 



The monastery lay absolutely desolate for 

 nearly a century, but in the time of King Edgar, 

 area 966, its restoration was undertaken by 

 iEthelwold, bishop of Winchester. The story 

 of his dream, of his first seeking to establish a 

 house at Oundle, and of the queen overhearing 

 his prayers and becoming a great supporter of his 

 scheme, is told with picturesque fullness by Hugh 

 the chronicler. Eventually a church and con- 

 ventual buildings were completed on the old site, 

 and handed over to Adulf as abbot, by King 

 Edgar, in the year 972. It may be well to cite 

 Gunton's quaint version of Hugh's account of 

 the events that led Adulf to become a monk : 

 * He being Chancellor to King Edgar, changed 

 his Court life for a Monastical in this place ; the 

 reason of which change was this : He had one 

 only son, whom he and his wife dearly loved, 

 and they used to have him lie in bed betwixt 

 them, but the parents having over-night drunk 

 more wine than was convenient, their son 

 betwixt them was smothered to death. Adulphus 

 the father being sadly affected with this horrid 

 mischance was resolved to visit St. Peter at 

 Rome, after the manner of a penitent for 

 absolution, imparting his intent to Bishop Athel- 

 woldus, who dissuaded him from it, telling him 

 it would be better if he would labour in the 

 restoration of St. Peter's church in this place, 

 and here visit him. Adulphus, approving this 

 advice, came with King Edgar to Burgh, where 

 in the presence of the King and the rest of that 

 Convention, he offered all his wealth, put off his 

 Courtly Robes, and put on the habit of a monk, 



1 Even Hugh can only give their names (Sparke, 

 op. cit. p. 1 3), a fact which tends to make his 

 earlier statements the more trustworthy. 



2 Sparke, op. cit. 14—16; Gunton, Hisl. of Peterb. 



7-9- 



and ascended to the degree of Abbot in the year 

 972.' 3 



Adulf ruled here until 992, when he was con- 

 secrated archbishop of York. The whole soke 

 of Peterborough in his days was a mere woody 

 solitary swamp, but by degrees the abbot cleared 

 it, built manor-houses and granges, and let the 

 lands for certain rents. As yet there were no 

 churches, and the people came to Peterborough 

 for the sacraments and to pay their church dues. 

 Gunton says that in the days of Abbot Thorold 

 churches and chapels began to be built, but that 

 it was not until the time of Abbot Ernulf, 

 1107—1114, that certain revenues were set aside 

 for these parochial minsters.* 



Kenulf, the ninth abbot, ruled for thirteen 

 years, being consecrated bishop of Winchester in 

 1005.' In his time the monastic precinct was 

 surrounded by a wall, and as a result the name 

 of the abbey was changed from Medeshamstede 

 to Burgh,^ the walled or fortified place : after- 

 wards to Goldenburgh, and finally Peterburgh. 

 His successor, Elsin, was a most diligent 

 collector of the relics of the saints, the most 

 celebrated of which, the arm of St. Oswald, was 

 brought to the monastery by one Wynegot from 

 Bamburgh, Yorkshire. Hugh gives a most 

 elaborate list of the various relics then obtained, 

 as well as many details concerning the incorrup- 

 tible arm of St. Oswald and its healing proper- 

 ties.'' In 1013 there was another Danish 

 irruption under Sweyn, when the monastery and 

 many of its manors suffered severely.^ 



Elsin ruled for longer than any other abbot of 

 the house ; he died in 1055, having been superior 

 for half a century.^ He was succeeded by 

 Ernwin, a monk of Peterborough, who resigned 

 in the second year of his rule.^" Leofric at once 

 succeeded, and held ofBce until the Norman in- 

 vasion, dying on 30 October, 1066. Leofric 

 had been with the English army, but sickening 

 he returned to Peterborough, and there died 

 amid the greatest regret of both monks and laity, 

 for he was much beloved. ^^ Brand,a monkof Peter- 

 borough, was thereupon elected abbot. Accord- 

 ing to the Saxon Chronicle he applied to Edgar 

 Clito to confirm the election, which greatly 



' Ibid. 10; Sparke, op. cit. p. 18. Edgar's charter 

 (Sparke, op. cit. p. 20 and 22; Soc. of Antiq. Ix. f. 6z) 

 granted on the occasion of the dedication of the 

 revived monastery is printed in Dugdale, Mon. i. 



382-3. 



* Gunton, History of Peterb. 1 1. 

 ^ Sparke, op. cit. p. 31. 



6 Will, of Malmesburj-, Gesta Pontif (Rolls Ser.), 



317- 



7 Sparke, op. cit. pp. 34-6. 



* Ingulf, Rerum Anglic. Script. 56. 



9 Abbot John's Chron. 43. 1" Ibid. 44. 



11 Sparke, op. cit. p. 46. Gunton makes the singu- 

 lar mistake of giving only 3 years to this abbot's rule ; 

 but it is dear from Abbot John's Chron. that he suc- 

 ceeded in 1057. 



