File:The greater abbeys of England (1908) (14785076665).jpg

Identifier: greaterabbeysofe01gasq (find matches)
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

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
ed his sister Kyneburgh the first abbess.She was blessed by Bishop Basil, and ruled the conventof St. Peters, Gloucester, for twenty-nine years. To Kyneburgh succeeded Edburga, widow of Wul-phere, the original founder of Gloucester. She resignedher royal state, and in time, becoming second abbess ofSt. Peters and ruling it for twenty-five years, was buriednear her predecessor Kyneburgh in 735. She was fol-lowed in her office by Eva, the wife of Wulfere, son ofPenda, who died and was buried at Gloucester in 767. From this time the abbesses disappear from history.During the wars which now commenced between Eg-bert, King of Wessex, and the Mercians, the nuns aresupposed to have left their convent, and for a period ofmore than fifty years it remained deserted. After thattime, when King Bearnulph of Mercia came to thethrone, seeing the desolate state of the place, he rebuiltthe monastery, but changed it into a house or college forsecular priests. This arrangement continued till 1022, (156)
Text Appearing After Image:
GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL: THE CHOIR GLOUCESTER when King Canute, on the representation of St. Wulstan,Bishop of Worcester, placed Benedictine monks there,and Edric was blessed as the first abbot of Gloucester. At first the foundation did not appear to prosper, andit was not until William the Conqueror in 1072 ap-pointed a Norman monk, Serlo, that the success of thework seems to have been secured. At his accession Serlois said to have found but two monks of full age and eightyouths in the house, and at his death in 1104 to have lefta hundred professed religious. In 1082 William theConqueror passed Christmas time at the monastery, andthree years later the church was burnt, with a consider-able part of the city, by the adherents of Robert of Nor-mandy. Abbot Serlo set himself to repair the loss withcharacteristic energy; on June 29, 1089, the first stone waslaid, and on July 15, iioo, the dedication of the newchurch was celebrated by the bishops of Worcester,Rochester, Hereford, and Bangor.

Note About Images