By the Rev. J. E. Jackson. 19 



and, at last, one of the reasons for the breaking up of the monasteries 

 altogether. For when Henry VIII. wished to put an end to the 

 supremacy of the Pope in this country, he found it impossible to 

 tolerate any longer a legion of spiritual men who were the staunch 

 upholders of that supremacy. 



This explains the meaning of a curious sentence or two in the 

 Deed, by which (as just now mentioned) Eleutherius, Bishop of 

 Wessex granted the ground, to found an Abbey of monks at 

 Malmesbury. He knew well enough that the first thing they 

 would do, would be to shake off, if they could, his authority, at any 

 rate that of his successors. So, foreseeing mischief, he seems to be 

 very doubtful whether he is doing a wise thing : for he says to this 

 effect more than once, " I do this, because I am earnestly requested : 

 but if any trouble arise to my successors, I hope they will not 

 blame me." He was evidently prevailed upon by Aldhelm's 

 influence with the King of Wessex. It came to pass as he 

 expected. In after times when the Abbots of Malmesbury became, 

 in North Wilts, powerful rivals to the Bishops of Sarum in South 

 Wilts, the Bishops of Sarum did their best to put an end to the 

 rivalry, by uniting the Abbacy with the Bishoprick. As the 

 matter is commonly put in books, it is merely stated that the 

 Bishops wished to transfer the See to Malmesbury, but if more 

 closely examined, the fact really was that not liking this rival 

 power in the North which set their authority at defiance, they 

 wished to have the Abbacy of Malmesbury merged in the Bishop- 

 rick of Sarum. 



Now to go back to the founding of Malmesbury Abbey in A;D. 

 680. 1 Having obtained their site for a Monastery, the next step 

 was maintenance. Among the first estates bestowed were Newnton 

 and Somerford Keynes, and these were given by the King, not of 

 Wessex, but of Mercia. At that time the country between Malmes- 

 bury, Cricklade, and Cirencester seems to have been in Mercia, not 

 in Wessex. The river Avon is said to have been the boundary. 



1 In an ancient chronicle written by an uncertain author, and examined by 

 Leland in Malmesbury Monastery, the foundation is assigned to an earlier 

 year. "A.D. 637 Mahometus pseudo-propheta obiit. Eodem anno fundatum 

 est Monasterium Malmesbir." " Leland' s Collect.," L, 301. 



c 2 



