A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



remote portion of the kingdom, the province of the Hwiccas, 1 but within a 

 few years they became Christians, and in 680 Bede records that Ebba, queen 

 of the South Saxons, had been baptized among her own people the Hwiccas : 2 

 ' She was the daughter of Eanfrid, the brother of Eanher, who were both 

 Christians with all their people.' The first religious settlement in Glouces- 

 tershire of which any record exists was at Tetbury, and in 680 it was already 

 well known as a monastery. 8 The organization of the church among the 

 Hwiccas was promoted by two ealdormen, Osric and his brother Oshere. 

 In 676 Osric founded a monastery at Bath, and in the charter of endowment 

 proclaimed his purpose of founding a bishop's seat, and monasteries for men 

 and women.* In or about 680 the Mercian diocese was divided into five 

 sees, and the bishop's seat for the province of the Hwiccas was set at 

 Worcester. 5 The bounds of the diocese were those of the province, and thus 

 it came about that Gloucestershire west of the Severn and the Leadon was 

 not included in the diocese of Worcester, but became a part of the diocese of 

 Hereford, which was founded about the same time. In or about 68 1 Osric 

 founded a monastery at Gloucester, 6 choosing, as at Bath, a Roman city 

 which was again occupied, on account of its position on the great roads of 

 the district. Cirencester probably still lay waste. 7 It is impossible to trace 

 the gradual growth of the church in Gloucestershire, but at the beginning of 

 the ninth century there were monasteries which were virtually mission 

 stations at Beckford, 8 Berkeley, 9 Cheltenham, 10 Cleeve, 11 Deerhurst, 12 Twyning," 

 Westbury, 1 * Winchcombe, 16 Withington 16 and Yate. 17 Several of these, like 

 Whitby, were no doubt double houses in which an abbess bore rule over 

 both men and women. Some were family monasteries, and grave abuses 

 crept into them. 18 As the work of the mission stations extended, the 

 parochial system gradually developed, but its history is very obscure. The 

 monasteries seem to have supplied a sufficient number of clergy for the 

 diocese, and in 824 two hundred and ten priests gathered at Westbury-on- 

 Trym to witness the final settlement of the dispute between the churches of 

 Worcester and Berkeley. 19 Churches were built on the estates of the great 

 minsters, and enjoyed the same privileges. 80 A record has by chance 

 preserved the name of Wulfhun, the villagers' priest of Woodchester in 896," 

 and it is probable that at that time priests were already settled in other 

 villages, 83 but no evidence has as yet come to light to show when or how the 

 bounds of the parishes were determined in Gloucestershire. 83 



In the middle of the tenth century monasticism scarcely existed in 

 England: 24 King Alfred's attempts to revive the regular life had failed; some 

 of the minsters were homes of married priests, and others were ruinous and 



1 Brut, and Glouc. Arch, Sue. Trans, xv, 126. * Bede, Hist. Eccl. (ed. Plummer), i, 230. 



8 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 93. 4 Tvio chartularies of the Priory of St. Peter at Bath (Somerset Rec. Soc.), i, 7. 

 * Stubbs, Reg. Sacr. Angl. 232, 233. 6 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 95. 



7 Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, xv, 135. 8 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 429. 



9 Ibid, i, 438, 519. 10 Ibid, i, 429. " Ibid, i, 340. 

 "Ibid, i, 438. " Ibid, i, 489. "Ibid, i, 379. 

 15 Ibid, i, 470. I6 Ibid, i, 225, 305. 



17 Ibid, i, 322. Beckford, Cheltenham, Cleeve, Tetbury, Westbury-on-Trym, Withington and Yate were 

 afterwards absorbed by the cathedral monastery of Worcester ; cf. Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, xx, 294. 



18 Ibid, xx, 296-8. 19 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Eccl. Doc. iii, 594. 

 10 Ibid, iii, 653. " Birch, Cart. Sax. ii, 217. 



31 Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, xv, 137. * Ibid, xx, 298. 



" Chron. Mart, de Abingdon (Rolls Ser.), ii, 259. 



