Abbot of Abingdon

The Abbot of Abingdon was the head (or abbot) of Anglo-Saxon and eventually Benedictine house of Abingdon Abbey at Abingdon-on-Thames in northern Berkshire (present-day Oxfordshire), England.

The following is a list of abbots of Abingdon:

Fictional abbots

Historian Susan E. Kelly regards the traditional first six abbots as fictional: "There is good reason to think that in most cases their names were simply plucked from early charters available in the abbey's archive, the majority of which would seem to have had no connection with an early minister at Abingdon; there is no very convincing evidence that the historians had access to independent, reliable sources of information. The 'history' of the pre-Æthelwoldian minister seems to a very large extent to represent a fictional reconstruction". ^[1]

Probably fictional abbots:

Name	Comments
Hæha, also Hean	The legendary first abbot of Abingdon, but, according to Kelly, more probably an abbot of Bradfield, his name having been plucked from a charter dated 704, [2] with others, in order to replace the lost early history of Abingdon Abbey. [1]
Cumma	Cumma is mentioned in a forged charter of King Æthelbald, [3] but "no Abbot Cumma is known from other sources". [1] It is, however, generally considered that the village of Cumnor is named after him.
Hræthhun	A Hræthhun was styled abbot of Abingdon in a charter dated 811, [4] but the charter was forged, probably using the name of Hræthhun (d. 839/40), bishop of Leicester. Kelly therefore excludes him from the list of Abingdon abbots. [1]
Alhhard	Kelly suggests that the name was plucked from the witness list of a charter, [5] with others, in order to reconstruct the lost early history of the Abbey of Abingdon. [1]
Cynath	A Cynath, abbot of Evesham, mistakenly listed by the compiler of the De Abbatibus Abbendoniae as an abbot of Abingdon. [1]
Godescealc	Godescealc's name occurs in three charters, all of them forgeries, and was later extracted from these documents and used in the construction of a spurious early history of the Abbey of Abingdon. [1]

Abbots

Abbey seal

Another abbey seal, belonging to John Sante

The historic abbots, right up to the dissolution of the abbey in 1538, are as follows:

Name	In office	Comments
Saint Æthelwold of Winchester	c. 955 – c. 964	later Bishop of Winchester [1]
Osgar	c. 964 – 984	[1]
Eadwine	985 – 990	[1]
Wulfgar	990 – 1016	[1]
Æthelsige	1016 – 1018	[1]
Æthelwine	1018 – 1030	[1]
Siward	1030 – 1044	[1]
Æthelstan	c. 1044 – 1047/1048	[1]
Spearhafoc	c. 1047/1048 – 1051	a famous goldsmith, later Bishop-Elect of London, who absconded with a large treasure
Rodulf	1051 – 1052	[1]
Ordric	1052 – 1066	[1]
Ealdred	1066 – 1071	[1]
Adelelm	1071 – 1083	Norman abbot [1]
Rainald	1084 – 1097	Norman abbot [1]
Faritius	1100 – 1117	Norman abbot [1]
vacant	1117 – 1121	[6]
Vincent	1121 – 1130	[6]
Ingulph	1130 – 1159	[6]
Walkelin	1159 – 1164	[6]
vacant	1164 – 1165	held by the king [6]
none	1165 – 1175	held in commendam by Godfrey, bishop of St Asaph [6]
vacant	1175	[6]
Roger	1175 – 1185	[6]
vacant	1185 – 1186	vacant for half a year [6]
Alvred	1186 – 1189	[6]
Hugh	1189/1190 – c. 1221	[6] [7]
Robert of Hendred (Henreth)	1221 – 1234	[7]
Luke	1234 – 1241?	[7]
John de Blosmeville	1241 – 1256	[7]
William of Newbury	1256 – 1260	[7]
Henry of Frilford (Frilleford)	1260 – 1261	[7]
Robert of Hendred	1261 – 1289	[7]
Nicholas of Culham	1289 – 1306	[7]
Richard of Bishops Cleeve	1306 – 1315	[7]
John of Sutton	1315 – 1322	[7]
John de Canyng (Canynges)	1322 – 1328	[7]
Robert of Garford	1328 – 1332	[7]
William (of Cumnor (Comenor(e))	1332 – 1335	[7]
Roger of Thame (Tame)	1335 – 1361	[7]
Peter of Hanney	1361 – 1399	[7]
Richard de Salford	1401	[8]
John Dorset	1415	[8]
Richard Boxore	1421/2 – 1427	[8]
Thomas Salford	1427	[8]
Ralph Hamme	1428 – 1435	[8]
William Ashendon	1435	[8]
John Sante	1468	[8]
Thomas Rowland	1496	[8]
Alexander Shottisbrook	1504	[8]
John Coventry	1508	[8]
Thomas Pentecost (= Rowland)	1511/1512 – 1538	[8]

Notes

1. Kelly, Charters of Abingdon, part 1
2. S 245
3. S 93
4. S 166
5. S 1201
6. Knowles, Brooke and London (2001), The heads of religious houses: England & Wales, I. 940–1216, pp. 24-5.
7. Smith and London (2001), The heads of religious houses: England & Wales, II. 1216–1377, pp. 16-8.
8. Ditchfield and Page, ed, Victoria History of Berkshire, pp. 57-62.

References

• Ditchfield, P. H.; William Page, eds. (1907). Victoria History of Berkshire. Vol. 2. London: Constable & Co.
• Kelly, Susan E. (2000). Charters of Abingdon, part 1. Anglo-Saxon Charters 7. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Knowles, David; C. N. L. Brooke; Vera C. M. London, eds. (2001). The Heads of Religious Houses: England & Wales, I. 940–1216 (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Smith, David M.; Vera C. M. London, eds. (2001). The Heads of Religious Houses: England & Wales, II. 1216–1377. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.