The New Guide to Peterborough Cathedral

d. 655, to its destruction by fire in the reign o

ounded at a very early period-the churches of Canterbury, Rochester, London, Westminster, York, and Winchester, being the only large sacred edifices that preceded it. The date of the first building is stated to have been a.d. 655-fifty-eight years after the introduction of Christianity into England by St. Augustine; and s

elapsed 5,850 winters, when Peada the son of Penda assumed the government of the Mercians. In his time came together himself and Osway, brother of King Oswald, and said they would rear a minster to the glory of Christ and honour of Saint Peter; and they did so, and gave it t

rove him from the kingdom, and chose Wolfere for their king. It was in his reign that "Medeshamstede waxed rich," for Wolfere not only caused the monastery to be built, but he endowed it with a great number of lands, and

for his learning, piety, and humility, and was chiefly instrumental in bringing Christianity into the kingdom of Mercia. Both Saxulf and Cuthbaldus who succeed

hose who could not afford to go to Rome to offer up vows and get absolved from their sins were allowed both indulgences at this monastery, and could likewise receive "the a

of royalty for the rough garments of a monk, and became abbot

ere is a blank in the history of the monastery. During his rule on

edeshamstede. The monks of this abbey had, however, gained intelligence of their intentions, and having closed the gates, resolved to act on the defensive. Hubba and his desperadoes soon surrounded them, and demanded that the gates should be opened; and when he was told that he should not enter, he commenced to batter the walls. In the course of the attack, one of the monks hurled a great stone from the top of the building upon the besiegers, and Tulba, the brother of Hubba,

he monks of that monastery who had been murdered by the Danish invaders in one vast tomb. Godric likewise had their effigies cut out in stone (a representation of whi

to give protection and security to his subjects. The Danes who had committed so many depredations before his accession to the throne were now beaten back and finally checked by the powerful fleet which he built to protect the kingdom from invasion. King Edgar, who succeeded Alfred, followed his

Bishop of Winchester. King Edgar assisted in the re-construction of the monastery; and so important did he consider religion to be in t

ntal Stone in

in 972, he ratified all the former charters wh

llor; but having accidentally been the cause of the death of his only son, he could no longer live happi

ry and to encourage agriculture, had all the surrounding forests cut down and the lands cultivated. He was afterwards made Archbishop of York, [992,] and the eloquent Kenulfus succeeded him in the reign of Ethelred. Kenulfus built a high wall round the monastery, part of which i

came to Peterburgh to witness the miracles which it is said to have performed. During the abbacy of Elsinus, England was invaded by the Danes under King Sweyn, in revenge of a massacre of his subjects by the order of King Ethelred. They landed in the north, and, h

phew to Earl Leofric, of Mercia, whose Countess, according to the chroniclers

in the English army, but in consequence of ill health, was obliged "to return to his monastery, where he died on the third o

was considered by William, on account of his soldier-like qualities, to be a fit person to transfer to the rebelliou

h they captured; and, as it puts us in possession of much curious information concerning those times, we will give the extract entire:-"They took the golden crown from the head of the crucifix, the cross with the precious stones, and the footstool under; duo aurea feretra (two golden or gilded biers whereon they carried the saints' reliques, and other such like things, in procession), a

ncluded a treaty of peace with the Danish sovereign, he was unwilling to do anything that should cause a breach of peace between them, especially as they were such troublesome and dangerous enemies. The greater part of the treasure was by some means once more restored to the monks,[5] and, according to the Saxon chronic

k, until he had paid three thousand marks. After his liberation, he returned to the monastery, and made himself more odious to the monks than before. He was depraved and dissolute, and, to satisfy his licentious desires, he is said to have made free with the treasury. He introduced two monks likewise into the monastery, who were foreigners, and qu

he chapter-house, which had been left in an unfinished state for several years. He likewise enriched the convent by making an arrangement with all who held in rent the abbey lands to pay tithes to him, and, when they died, that they should give th

cidentally, and such was the violence of the flames, that they reached the village and consumed most of the cottage