File:The greater abbeys of England (1908) (14784761012).jpg

Title: The greater abbeys of England
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Gasquet, Francis Aidan, 1846-1929
Subjects: Abbeys
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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Avon, andTewkesbury on the junction of the two rivers.Pershore stands in the garden-like county of Worcester-shire midway between Evesham and Worcester. Thefoundation of Pershore as a monastery is somewhat un-certain. It would seem, however, that about the year682, Oswald, a nephew of Ethelred, King of Mercia, es-tablished there a house of monks. During the dark timesof the Danish invasions nothing is known about Pershore;but some time before 975, St. Oswald, with the help ofKing Edgar, evidently re-established the monks in theirold place, which, according to some, here as elsewhere,was occupied by seculars. Edgars charter, issued apparently about 972, dedicatesthe church and monastery of Pershore to the Motherof our Lord, Mary ever a Virgin, to St. Peter, chief ofthe Apostles, and his fellow-apostle, Paul. The monksdwelling there were to have the right of electing theirabbot after the death of the then Abbot Fulbert, whohad been appointed to begin the monastery; and, as far as [210]
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PERSHORE possible, Edgar restored to them the lands which hadbeen taken from them in the past troubles. The churchand domestic buildings were at this time made of woodand were more than once destroyed by fire. An entryin an old manuscript states that in 976 a consul nequis-simus, named iElfer, wickedly destroyed the churchof Pershore and many other churches which King Edgarand Ethelwold had built in England. It was againburnt down in about the year 1000, and after two yearsoccupied in rebuilding, it was, according to the chronicle,once more used for monastic divine services in 1002. In this early period, before the Conquest, and probablyabout the time of Edgar, Pershore had another bene-factor called Alwald, Earl Wada, who in honour of theMother of God restored the monastery of Pershore whichhad been destroyed by wicked and unbelieving men.Having given £100 to Ailgira—probably Eadgyfa—Ab-bess of Winchester, she presented him with relics of theHoly Virgin Eadburga and he translate

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