The Cathedral Church of Peterborough

the north part of Northamptonshire, and the greater part of Cambridgeshire. The southern Gyrvii were a province of East Anglia; the Gyrvii of the north appear to

a very few years saw it the best governed and best organised province of the Church. In less than thirty years it was divided into five dioceses, amongst which the place of the Fen country is more clearly definable. The bishopric of Lindsey occupied the north of Lincolnshire, reaching to the Witham: a line drawn from the south point of Nottinghamshire to th

of Medeshamstede. Penda had been succeeded on the throne of Mercia by his eldest son, Peada; and he, in conjunction

f. Another account represents him as having been a thane of great wealth and renown, and that this abbey was dedicated by him "as the first fruits

y the same, was ruling the monastery at Oundle in 709, when S. Wilfrid died there. Nothing furth

s proved that Bothwin was Abbot from 758 to 789; and concludes that the

afterwards. "Possibly this Beonna is the same who w

es in 870. A graphic account of the circumstances attending this attack is given by Ingulf; but as authentic historians like Orderic and Malmesbury have no reference whatever to the occurrences described by Ingulf, Bishop Stubbs unwillingly is obliged to consider his version to be a pure romance. But of the fact itself, the utter destruction of the monastery, there is no question; nor of the fact that all the inmates, or nearly all, perished. We

ranquillity restored to the kingdom. Security being assured, the people began again to improve their public buildings and the religious houses. Crowland was the first in the neighbourhood to be restored. This restoration was effected by Thurketyl. Instigated probably by

monastery with all his possessions, and was appointed to govern it. Gunton declares that the prosperous and wealthy condition of the abbey under the rule of Aldulf caused its name to be improved into Gildenburgh, the Golden Borough. At this time most of the neighbouring woods wer

as having governed his abbey "most admirably and sweetly." In 1005 he was made Bishop of Winchester, not

this was acquired is not certainly known, some thinking that this period is too early a date to assign to its acquisition. Bede relates[30] "that this Oswald, King of Northumberland, was very free and liberal in giving of alms to the poor; and one day whilst he sate at meat, one of his servants told him of a great number of poor people come to his gate for relief; whereupon King Oswald sent them meat from his own table, and there not being enough to serve them all, he caused one of his silver dishes to be cut in pieces, and to be distributed amongst the rest; which Aydanus, a Bishop (who came out of Scotland to convert, and instruct those Northern parts of England), beholding, took the King by the right hand, saying, nunquam inveterascat haec manus, let this hand never wax old, or be corrupted; which came to pass. This arm was first deposited at Bamburgh, a relig

scent. He was nephew to Leofric, Earl of Coventry. In the time of this abbot, William of Normandy invaded England, and Leofric was for some time with the English army. But in consequence

has been already described. Some account for Hereward's share in the attack and in the carrying off of the treasures by supposing that he meant to restore them when the rule of the Norman Abbot came to an end. When Turold arrived at Peterborough he brought with him a force of 160 well-armed Normans. Joining the forces of Ivo Taillebois he attacked the Camp of Refuge near Ely. The attacking party was repulsed by Hereward, and Turold taken prisoner

the king the right to elect their own abbot; and Godric, being considered by this transaction to have committed simony,

te Ship, when Prince William, the King's son, was lost. After the death of Matthias there was a vacancy of thr

. It began in the bakehouse of the monastery and completely destroyed the church and most of the abbey buildings, the Chapter House, Refectory and Dormitory alone escaping. In March 1118

f the King. He had numerous preferments abroad; and after five

om the Isle of Wight, Vectis; Dean Patrick thinks he derived his name from Bec, in Normandy. He

monastery, and to acquiring new ones; but his business capacity seems to have brought him into some disrepute and to have raised some enemies, who accused him to the King; and by the King's order he was deposed in the Chapter-house, as Dean Patrick relates[

ich are mentioned his shirt and surplice, a great quantity of his blood in two crystal vessels, and two altars of the stone on which he fell when he was murdered. He was, as might be expected, very zealous in completing the chapel at the monastery gate which his predecessor had begun to raise in honour of the martyred Archbishop. Dean Stanley[33] speaks of Benedict's acquisition of the relics as "one of two memorable acts of plunder ... curiously illustrative of the prevalent passion for such objects." He says Benedict was probably the most distinguished monk of Christ Church, and after his appointment to Peterborough, "finding th

endeavour to plant and establish peace and tranquillity in his flock." Several fresh

ice, managing the affairs of the monastery with the greatest care and judgement. He left behind him a reputation for "order, ho

ich would be materially lessened by the mere fact of there being no Abbot. Robert had been Sacrist here, and when he was advanced to the highest office he effected many improvements in the furniture and ornaments of the church, and in the buildings, not only of the monastery itself, but also of the manors and farms belonging to it. One alteration he effected is worth special mention; many of t

sistance for ever. They were so linkt together, as to account themselves one and the same convent: so that if one of the abbots died, the survivor being desired was immediately to go to his convent; and there before him they were to make a canonical election; or if already made, they were to declare it in his presence.

occasion he was summoned in consequence of some irregularity in an appointment to the living of Castor; but he seems to have managed his case very adroitly, and to have escaped all censure by assigning an annuity of ￡10 a year to the Pope's nephew. Another account, however, represents the abbot as being so distressed at the indignities he

one at Oxney, a few miles only from Peterborough. It is said that his resignation was caused by complaints being made of his enriching his own kinsfolk, "whereof he had great multitudes swarming about him," at

s he went on circuit. But he seems to have taken the side of the Barons in the civil war, and is said to have held the office of treasurer to them for

self and church, but was forced to pay for his delinquency, to the king 300 marks, to the queen ￡20, to Prince Edward ￡60, to the Lord Souch ￡6, 13s. 4d." When the fortune of war changed and the Barons were victorious at Lewes, "then did the other side fleece the Abbot of Peterburgh for his contribution to the king." After Evesham again the king repeated his exactions, and the unfortunate ab

ation was carried on in his time, and he and the abbey were fortunate in having in one of the monks, William of Woodford, a man of great skill and judgement, to conduct the different cases before the

arius of the monastery. He is very highly praised in the chronicles for the various services he rendered to the abbey. More than once

ing's expenses and in royal entertainments; and his energies devoted to divers legal difficulties connected with manors, wardships, repairs of bridges

ded. And the same may be said of all the remaining abbots, but the historians do not say so until

ruled for eight years, and no

to the assistance of the monastery with a strong power, forced the villains to desist from their enterprise: nay, dispersed them, and took some of them, and killed others; the rest, taking the chu

able is told of them. The name of the last and the names of the next two are really the names of places; but the prefix "de" seems

regulation of the services in the church, and drew u

g the territorial privileges of the house. If the epitaph formerly to be seen on a brass on his tomb is to b

initial of his Christian name, is to be seen in the New Building, which he completed, on the Deanery gateway, and on the graceful oriel window in the Bishop's Palace. The chamber to whic

n the brass placed on his tomb he was called "Johannes Burgh, Burgo natus." A monumental effigy was also erected to him, "made of white chalkstone"; and this is almost certainly the figure now placed (temporarily) at the back of the apse. This abbot was B.D. of Cambridge and one of the king's chaplains. It was during his time that Queen Katherine of Arragon was interred in the minster. The well-known story that the building was spared by the king out of regard to the memory of his first wife is told by Dean Patrick in these words:-[34]"There is this traditional story goes concerning the preservation of this church at the dissolution of abbeys: that a little after Queen Katherine's interment here (which Mr G. mentions), some courtiers suggesting to the king how well it would become his greatness to erect a fair monume

e other. Queen Katherine's daughter, Queen Mary, left directions in her will that "the body of the virtuous Lady and my most dere and well-beloved mother of happy memory, Queen Kateryn, which lyeth now buried at