42 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



one Modwen, a virgin in Ireland, was greatly renowned in the 

 world, unto whorae King Ethelwolfe sent his sonrie Alfred to be 

 cured of a disease that was thought incurable ; but by hir meanes 

 he recovered health, and therefore when hir monasterie was de- 

 stroied in Ireland, Modwen came over into England, unto whom 

 King Ethelwolfe gave land to build two abbies, and also delivered 

 unto hir his sister Edith to be professed a nun. Modwen hereupon 

 built two monasteries, one at Poulsworth joining to the bounds of Ar- 

 derne, wherein she placed the foresaid Edith with Osith and Athea ; 

 the other, whether it was a monasterie or cell, she founded in Strens- 

 hall, or Trentsall, where she hirselfe remained solitarie a certain 

 time in praier and other vertuous exercises. And (as it is reported] 

 she went thrice to Rome, and finallie died, being 130 yeeres of age. 

 Hir bodie was first buried in an iland compassed about with the river 

 of Trent, called Andresey, taking the name of a church or chappelle 

 of Saint Andrew, which she had built in the same iland, and 

 dwelled therein for the space of seven yeeres. Manie monasteries 

 she builded both in England, and also in Scotland, as at Striveling, 

 Edenbrough; and in Ireland at Celestline, and elsewhere."* 



In the year 1002, and the twenty-third year of the reign of 

 Ethelred, the Abbey of Burton was founded by Wulfric, Ulfric, or 

 Alfric, Earl of Mercia. The book of Abingdon asserts that Wulfric 

 gave his whole estate, then valued at .700. to endow this Abbey. 

 In the year 1004 this donation was ratified by King Ethelred, and 

 in 1010 Wulfric was slain in an engagement with the Danes. 



When Burton Abbey was in its most flourishing state, it pos- 

 sessed very extensive domains, consisting of manors, townships, 

 and lands in this county, and in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and 

 Warwickshire. In the year 1260, the Abbey was inhabited by 

 thirty monks. There were thirty-five Abbots in succession from 

 the year 1004 to the 4th of November, 1540, when King Henry 

 VIII. after the dissolution of monastic institutions, made the Abbey 

 of Burton a Collegiate Church, dedicated to Christ and St. Mary ; 

 to consist of a Dean and four Prebends, and endowed it with the 

 manor of Burton and other possessions. It continued to enjoy this 

 distinction only four years. The seal of the college is beautiful : 

 it is a representation of Our Saviour and his disciples at the Last 

 Supper ; the arms of Wulfric, the founder of the Abbey, are en- 

 graved at the bottom ; and the words in the margin, in Latin, sig- 

 nify " The common seal of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate 

 * Holingshed, b. vi- c. ii. p. 142. 



