A list of the abbots of the abbey of Peterborough, known until the late 10th century as "Medeshamstede".
Abbot, meaning father, is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The female equivalent is abbess.
An abbey is a complex of buildings used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. It provides a place for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the three high gables of the famous West Front. Although it was founded in the Anglo-Saxon period, its architecture is mainly Norman, following a rebuilding in the 12th century. With Durham and Ely Cathedrals, it is one of the most important 12th-century buildings in England to have remained largely intact, despite extensions and restoration.
Name | Dates | Works | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Sexwulf | c. 654– c. 676 | Founder. Bishop of Mercia c. 676–?x692. | |
Cuthbald | c. 676 | ||
Egbald | before 716 | ||
Pusa | |||
Botwine | ?x765– 779x? | ||
Beonna | ?x789– 805x? | ||
Ceolred | |||
Hedda | 870 | ||
Ealdwulf | 972-992 | Archbishop of York, 995-1002. | |
Cenwulf | 992-1006 | Built wall around the abbey. | Bishop of Winchester, 1006. |
Ælfsige | 1006–1042 | Accompanied Æthelred the Unready and Emma to Normandy in 1013. | |
Earnwig | 1042–1052 | A "very good man and very sincere", he "resigned although still in good health". | |
Leofric | 1057–1066 | Endowed the monastery "so that it became known as 'Golden Borough'". | |
Brand | 1066–1069 | ||
Thorold/Torold de Fécamp | 1069–1098 | Viewed the abbey as a source of personal wealth for himself and his associates with his enfeoffments accounting for 46% of the abbey's property. | |
Godric | 4 days in 1099 | ||
Matthias | 1103–1104 | ||
Ernulf | 1107–1114 | Began a building campaign. | Bishop of Rochester, 1115. He was influential in restoring the abbey's finances. |
John de Séez | 1114–1125 | Continued the building work and, though in 1116 a great fire caused considerable damage, rebuilding began in 1117. | |
Abbey held by King Henry I | 1125–1127 | ||
Henry de Angeli | 1128–1133 | Did nothing towards the rebuilding. | He wasted the goods of the abbey and was banished. |
Martin de Bec | 1133–1155 | Continued construction works. | Formerly a monk of Bec and prior of St Neots. |
William of Waterville | 1155–1175 | Deposed | |
Benedict | 1177–1194 | Chronicler. | |
Andrew | 1194–1199 | West front. | |
Acharius | 1200–1210 | West front. | |
Robert of Lindsey | 1214–1222 | ||
Alexander of Holderness | 1222–1226 | ||
Martin of Ramsey | 1226–1233 | ||
Walter of Bury St. Edmunds | 1233–1245 | Abbot at the time of the building's final completion through the solemn dedication of the church on 6, October 1238. | |
William of Hotoft | 1246–1249 | ||
John de Caux | 1250–1262 | ||
Robert of Sutton | 1262–1273 | ||
Richard of London | 1274–1295 | ||
William of Woodford | 1295–1299 | ||
Godfrey of Crowland | 1299–1321 | A chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury was built between the church and the Lady Chapel. | |
Adam of Boothby | 1321–1338 | ||
Henry of Morcott | 1338–1353 | ||
Robert of Ramsey | 1353–1361 | ||
Henry of Overton | 1361–1391 | ||
Nicholas of Elmstow | 1391–1396 | ||
William Genge | 1397–1408 | ||
John Deeping | 1409–1439 | ||
Richard Ashton | 1439–1471 | ||
William Ramsey | 1471–1496 | ||
Robert Kirton | 1496–1528 | The latest part of the church, and the only ever enlargement of the eastern arm, the square ended building at the east known as "the new building". | |
John Chambers | 1528–1539 | Rewarded for complicity during the Dissolution with being made first bishop of Peterborough - care for the former abbey church, which became the bishop's cathedral, passed to the dean of Peterborough. |
The Peterborough Chronicle, one of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman Conquest. According to philologist J.A.W. Bennett, it is the only prose history in English between the Conquest and the later 14th century.
Sir Frank Merry Stenton was a 20th-century historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society (1937–1945).
Doris Mary Stenton, Lady Stenton, (1894–1971) was an English historian of the Middle Ages.
Bermondsey is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Southwark, England, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, and to the north the City of London and Whitechapel.
Crowland or Croyland is a small town in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland contains two sites of historical interest, Crowland Abbey and Trinity Bridge
Deusdedit was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury, the first native-born holder of the see of Canterbury. By birth an Anglo-Saxon, he became archbishop in 655 and held the office for more than nine years until his death, probably from plague. Deusdedit's successor as archbishop was one of his priests at Canterbury. There is some controversy over the exact date of Deusdedit's death, owing to discrepancies in the medieval written work that records his life. Little is known about his episcopate, but he was considered to be a saint after his demise. A saint's life was written after his relics were moved from their original burial place in 1091.
Durobrivae was a Roman fortified garrison town located at Water Newton in the English county of Cambridgeshire, where Ermine Street crossed the River Nene. More generally, it was in the territory of the Corieltauvi in a region of villas and commercial potteries. The name is a Latinisation of Celtic *Durobrīwās, meaning essentially "fort bridges".
Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as an 11th-century foundation, it had a precursor mentioned in the early eighth century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England.
Allhallows is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England. Situated in the northernmost part of Kent, and covering an area of 23.99 km², the parish is bounded on the north side by the River Thames, and in the east by the course of Yantlet creek, now silted up. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,649.
Ealdwulf was a medieval Abbot of Peterborough, Bishop of Worcester, and Archbishop of York.
Cynesige was a medieval English Archbishop of York between 1051 and 1060. Prior to his appointment to York, he was a royal clerk and perhaps a monk at Peterborough. As archbishop, he built and adorned his cathedral as well as other churches, and was active in consecrating bishops. After his death in 1060, the bequests he had made to a monastery were confiscated by the queen.
Woking means "(settlement belonging to the) followers of Wocc ". Over time, the name has been written variously as, for example, Wochingas, and Wokynge.
Medeshamstede was the name of Peterborough in the Anglo-Saxon period. It was the site of a monastery founded around the middle of the 7th century, which was an important feature in the kingdom of Mercia from the outset. Little is known of its founder and first abbot, Sexwulf, though he was himself an important figure, and later became bishop of Mercia. Medeshamstede soon acquired a string of daughter churches, and was a centre for an Anglo-Saxon sculptural style.
Gyrwe was an Anglo-Saxon name for Jarrow, in North East England.
Hugh Candidus was a monk of the Benedictine monastery at Peterborough, who wrote a Medieval Latin account of its history, from its foundation as Medeshamstede in the mid 7th century up to the mid 12th century.
The Dean of Peterborough is the head of the chapter at Peterborough Cathedral. On the Dissolution of Peterborough Abbey in 1539 and the abbey-church's refoundation as a cathedral for the new bishop and diocese of Peterborough, care for the abbey/cathedral church passed from an abbot to a dean. The current Dean of Peterborough is Chris Dalliston
Seaxwulf was the founding abbot of the Mercian monastery of Medeshamstede, and an early medieval bishop of Mercia. Very little is known of him beyond these details, drawn from sources such as Bede's Ecclesiastical History. Some further information was written down in the 12th century at Peterborough Abbey, as Medeshamstede was known by that time. This suggests that he began his career as a nobleman, and that he may have had royal connections outside Mercia.
Headda was a medieval Bishop of Lichfield.
Gyrwas was the name of an Anglo-Saxon population of the Fens, divided into northern and southern groups and recorded in the Tribal Hidage; related to the name of Jarrow.
Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba were female members of the Mercian royal family in 7th century England who were venerated as saints.
The Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis or History of the Church of Abingdon was a medieval chronicle written at Abingdon Abbey in England in the 12th century. The Abbey was historically in the county of Berkshire, but since 1974 has been in the county of Oxfordshire.
The Northamptonshire Record Society is a text publication society for the English county of Northamptonshire. It was established in 1920 by Joan Wake. The society is based at Wooton Hall Park in Northampton, with the Northamptonshire Record Office. It is a registered charity.