A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



A seal of the fifteenth century represents 

 three heavily canopied niches ; in the centre the 

 Assumption of the Virgin, standing with hands 

 uplifted in prayer, within an oval vesica of 

 clouds, upheld by an angel above it ; on the left 

 St. Peter with nimbus, book and keys ; on the 

 right St. Paul with nimbus, sword and book, 

 each saint slightly turned to the virgin ; over 

 the central canopy a smaller niche containing the 

 Trinity ; in base an angel holding in front a 

 shield of arms, a cross engrailed supported by 

 two lions couchant guardant addorsed. 1 



The legend is 



SIGILLVM . COMMVNE .EC ... IE ... 

 NCTE . MARIE . DE . TEVKESBVRY 



3. THE ABBEY OF WINCHCOMBE 



In 798 Cenwulf, king of the Mercians, began 

 to build a great monastery at Winchcombe. 8 

 The church was dedicated in 8 1 1 with much 

 splendour by Wulfred, archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, in the presence of Sired king of East 

 Anglia, Cuthred king of Kent, thirteen bishops, 

 ten ealdormen, and a great concourse of people. 8 

 When at the end of the fifteenth century, Abbot 

 Richard Kidderminster began to write the history 

 of the monastery, he could not gather any 

 certain information as to the endowment pro- 

 vided by Cenwulf. 4 He believed that it con- 

 sisted of lands at Sherborne, Bledington, Enstone, 

 Honeybourne, Adelmington, Alne, Twyning, 

 Charlton Abbots, Stanton, Snowshill, and 

 Newton. 6 



In 821 Cenwulf died. Soon afterwards, 

 according to the legend, his little son and 

 successor, Kenelm, was murdered in a wood at 

 Clent in Worcestershire, at the instigation of 

 his ambitious sister, Cwenthryth. 6 In after ages 

 it was said that a dove flew into St. Peter's at 

 Rome and laid a letter written in English on the 

 high altar. An Englishman took it, and read 

 how the little king was slain, and his body lay 

 hidden in the wood. The pope sent letters to 

 the English kings to tell them of the deed. 

 The body was found and taken to Winchcombe 

 for burial. Thus St. Kenelm became the patron 

 saint of the monastery. 



During the next 150 years monasticism de- 

 cayed greatly throughout England, and at Winch- 

 combe, as in many other religious foundations, 

 monks gave place to secular clerks. 



In 969, during the Benedictine revival, 

 Oswald, bishop of Worcester, compelled the 

 secular clerks who were then dwelling at Winch- 

 combe to withdraw. 7 In their place he put 



1 Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the B.M. i, 768. 



* Dugdale, Man. ii, 300. 



' Ibid. 301. 4 Ibid. 302. 6 Ibid. 300. 



'Hist, of the Ch. of York (Rolls Scr.), i, 435. 

 Chronicon abbatiae Rameseiensis (Rolls Ser.), 42. 



7 Ibid. 72, 73. Hist, of the Ch. of York (Rolls 

 Ser.), i, 443. Flor. Wigorn (Engl. Hist. Soc.), i, 144. 



monks who should keep the strict rule of St. 

 Benedict, as it was then observed at Fleury, and 

 appointed Germanus, dean of Ramsey, as their 

 abbot. On the death of King Edgar there was 

 a revulsion of feeling in Mercia in favour of the 

 secular priests who had been ousted, and in 975 

 the monks of Winchcombe were expelled, and 

 returned to the monastery at Ramsey from 

 which they had come. 8 It is probable that the 

 monks were reinstated before many years had 

 passed, 9 as in the reign of Edward the Confessor 

 (1042-66) it had become one of the foremost 

 Benedictine houses. On the death of Abbot 

 Godwine in 1053, Aldred, bishop of Worcester, 

 undertook to rule the monastery, 10 and it was in 

 his hands until 17 July, 1054, when Edward 

 the Confessor appointed one of his chaplains, by 

 name Godric. 10 Winchcombe was within Harold's 

 own earldom of Wessex, and William the Con- 

 queror had reason to think that the monks 

 were hostile to him. In or about 1068 he de- 

 posed Godric, and sent him as a prisoner to 

 Gloucester, and afterwards put him under the 

 charge of Athelwig, abbot of Evesham, a 

 staunch supporter of the Norman rule. 11 William 

 entrusted the monastery to the custody of 

 Athelwig for the space of three years until he 

 appointed Galandus, a Norman monk. 12 



The rule of Galandus was marked by a 

 quickening of monastic life which everywhere 

 attended the efforts of the vigorous Norman 

 abbots, and at Winchcombe manifested itself 

 more especially in a notable mission to North- 

 umbria. Accompanied by two deacons from 

 Evesham, Prior Aldwyn set out on foot, with 

 an ass to carry his books, altar plate, and vest- 

 ments. 13 With the aid of Walcher, bishop of 

 Durham, they rebuilt the monasteries of Jarrow 

 and Wearmouth, and gave a strong impulse to 

 monastic revival in the north. 



In 1087 the possessions of Winchcombe 

 included, in addition to the endowment attributed 

 to Cenwulf, 14 lands at Alderton, Frampton, 

 Hidcote, and Windrush, making in all 109 hides, 

 which were valued at 82. n 



On 15 October, 1091, the church of Winch- 

 combe was struck by lightning, and the tower 

 rent in twain. 18 In 1151 the church and monas- 

 tic buildings again suffered serious damage by fire, 17 

 books and charters being then destroyed. 



* Ealdorman Elf here died in 983 ; under his son 

 Elfric the persecution ceased. Brist. and Glouc. Arch. 

 Soc. Trans, xviii, 222. 



9 Flor. Wigorn. (Engl. Hist. Soc.), i, 21 1. 



10 Ibid. 



11 Freeman, Norman Conquest, iv, 177. 

 18 Ibid. ; Dugdale, op. cit. ii, 302. 



13 Simeon of Durham, Opera omnia (Rolls Ser.), i, 

 108 ; ii, 201. 



" Cf. supra. 



16 Dam. Bk. (Rec. Com.), 157, 165^, 239. 



16 MS. Cotton. Tiberius, E. 14, fol. 2OP. 



" Royce, Landboc sive Registrum Monasterii dt 

 Wincbekumba, i, 83. 



66 



