Folkestone Priory

Last updated

Folkestone Priory was a pre-Reformation Benedictine monastery at Folkestone in the English county of Kent. The priory church survives as the present parish church. It was the successor to Folkestone Abbey, an Anglo-Saxon nunnery on a different site.

English Reformation 16th-century separation of the Church of England from the Pope of Rome

The English Reformation was a series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. These events were, in part, associated with the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity across western and central Europe. Causes included the decline of feudalism and the rise of nationalism, the rise of the common law, the invention of the printing press and increased circulation of the Bible, and the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars, the upper and middle classes and readers in general. However, the various phases of the English Reformation, which also covered Wales and Ireland, were largely driven by changes in government policy, to which public opinion gradually accommodated itself.

Monastery complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplace(s) of monks or nuns

A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds. A monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary. Depending on the location, the monastic order and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may also include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and service to the community. These may include a hospice, a school, and a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such as a barn, a forge, or a brewery.

Folkestone town in the Shepway District of Kent, England

Folkestone is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Contents

First foundation

It was probably the first nunnery built in England, having been traditionally founded in 630 [1] by Saint Eanswith, the daughter of King Eadbald of Kent, who was the son of Saint Æthelberht, the first Christian king among the English. The abbey was dedicated to Saint Peter. Like many other similar foundations, it was destroyed by the Danes and the ruins subsequently fell into the sea.

England Country in north-west Europe, part of the United Kingdom

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

Saint Eanswith, also spelled Eanswythe or Eanswide, was an Anglo Saxon princess, who founded Folkestone Priory, the first Christian monastic community for women in Britain.

Eadbald of Kent King of Kent

Eadbald was King of Kent from 616 until his death in 640. He was the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, a daughter of the Merovingian king Charibert. Æthelberht made Kent the dominant force in England during his reign and became the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity from Anglo-Saxon paganism. Eadbald's accession was a significant setback for the growth of the church, since he retained his people's paganism and did not convert to Christianity for at least a year, and perhaps for as much as eight years. He was ultimately converted by either Laurentius or Justus, and separated from his first wife, who had been his stepmother, at the insistence of the church. Eadbald's second wife was Emma, who may have been a Frankish princess. She bore him two sons, Eormenred and Eorcenberht, and a daughter, Eanswith.

Second foundation

In 1095, another monastery for Benedictine monks was erected on a different site by Nigel de Mundeville, Lord of Folkestone. This was an alien priory, a cell belonging to the Abbey of Lonley or Lolley in Normandy, dedicated to St Mary and St Eanswith, whose relics were deposited in the church. As with its predecessor, the cliff on which the monastery was built was gradually undermined by the sea, and William de Abrincis, in 1137, gave the monks a new site, that of the present parish church of Folkestone.

St Mary and St Eanswythes Church, Folkestone Church in Folkestone, United Kingdom

St Mary and St Eanswythe’s Church is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in Folkestone, Kent, situated not far from cliffs overlooking the English Channel. Parts of the building date from the 13th century, but it was largely rebuilt in the 19th century. It is unusual in having a central tower.

The conventual buildings were erected between the church and the sea coast. Being an alien priory it was occasionally seized by the king, when England was at war with France, but after a time it was made denizen and independent of the mother-house in Normandy and thus escaped the fate which befell most of the alien priories in the reign of Henry V. [2] It continued to the time of the dissolution and was surrendered to the king on 15 November 1535. The names of twelve priors are known, the last being Thomas Barrett or Bassett. The net income at the dissolution was about £50. It was bestowed by Henry VIII on Edmund, Lord Clinton and Saye. [3]

France Republic in Europe with several non-European regions

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.02 million. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Denization is an obsolete or defunct process in England and Ireland and the later Kingdom of Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and the British Empire, dating back to the 13th century, by which an alien (foreigner), through letters patent, became a denizen, thereby obtaining certain rights otherwise normally enjoyed only by the King's subjects, including the right to hold land. The denizen was neither a subject nor an alien, but had a status akin to permanent residency today. While one could become a subject via naturalisation, this required a private act of Parliament ; in contrast, denization was cheaper, quicker, and simpler. Denization fell into obsolescence when the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 simplified the naturalisation process.

Normandy Administrative region of France

Normandy is the northwesternmost of the 18 regions of France, roughly referring to the historical Duchy of Normandy.

Remains

The Chancel of the current church is partially that of the 1138 church.

Related Research Articles

Benedictines Roman Catholic monastic order

The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict, are a monastic Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. They are also sometimes called the Black Monks, in reference to the colour of the members' religious habits.

Wymondham Abbey Church in Norfolk, England

Wymondham Abbey is the Anglican parish church for the town of Wymondham in Norfolk, England.

Boxgrove Priory church in Chichester, UK

Boxgrove Priory is a ruined priory in the village of Boxgrove in Sussex. It was founded in the 12th century.

St Neots Priory was a Benedictine monastery beside the town of St Neots in the historic county of Huntingdonshire, now a non-metropolitan district in the English county of Cambridgeshire.

Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as a monastery or convent, which were under the control of another religious house outside England. Usually the mother-house was in France.

The English Benedictine Congregation unites autonomous Roman Catholic Benedictine communities of monks and nuns and is technically the oldest of the 18 congregations that are affiliated in the Benedictine Confederation.

St Mary's Abbey, also known as Malling Abbey, is an abbey of Anglican Benedictine nuns located in West Malling, Kent, England.

Ligugé Abbey Benedictine monastery in Ligugé, France

Ligugé Abbey, formally called the Abbey of St. Martin of Ligugé, is a French Benedictine monastery in the Commune of Ligugé, located in the Department of Vienne. Dating to the 4th century, it is the site of one of the earliest monastic foundations in France. The original abbey having been destroyed during the French Revolution, the current monastic community dates from 1853, and belongs to the Solesmes Congregation.

Saint Louis Abbey

The Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Louis is an abbey of the Catholic English Benedictine Congregation (EBC) located in Creve Coeur, in St. Louis County, Missouri in the United States. The Abbey is an important presence in the spiritual life of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The monks of the Abbey live their faith according to the Benedictine discipline of 'prayer and work', praying the Divine Office five times daily, celebrating daily Masses in English and Latin, and working in the two parishes under their pastoral care and in the Saint Louis Priory School, which the Abbey runs as an apostolate. The Abbey and its school sit on a 150-acre (0.61 km2) campus in west St. Louis County, in the city of Creve Coeur.

Amesbury Abbey was a Benedictine abbey of women at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, founded by Queen Ælfthryth in about the year 979 on what may have been the site of an earlier monastery. That foundation was dissolved in 1177 by Henry II, who founded in its place a house of the Order of Fontevraud, known as Amesbury Priory.

Ampleforth Abbey Church in North Yorkshire, England

Ampleforth Abbey is a monastery of Benedictine Monks a mile to the east of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England, part of the English Benedictine Congregation. It claims descent from the pre-Reformation community at Westminster Abbey through the last surviving monk from Westminster Sigebert Buckley.

Hatfield Regis Priory

Hatfield Broad Oak Priory, or Hatfield Regis Priory, is a former Benedictine priory in Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, England. Founded by 1139, it was dissolved in 1536 as part of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.

Andover Priory was an alien priory of Benedictine monks in Andover, Hampshire, England.

Dunster Priory

Dunster Priory was established as a Benedictine monastery around 1100 in Dunster, Somerset, England.

Goldcliff Priory

Goldcliff Priory was a Benedictine monastery in Goldcliff, Newport, South Wales, founded in 1113 by Robert de Chandos and subject to the Abbey of Bec in Normandy. The priory was situated on the site now occupied by Hill Farm, to the south of the current farmhouse, on the prominent knoll of high ground next to the sea. As late as the 1950s Hando remarked that outlines of buildings which were probably part of the priory could still be seen in grass patterns or crop marks at certain times of the year. By the 1970s the only remaining physical remnant of the priory was to be found as part of a cellar in the farm house.

Exeter monastery

Exeter monastery is a collection of diverse and in many cases unrelated monastic establishments that existed at various times during the Middle Ages in the city of Exeter, Devon, England. The monastic buildings included:

Wootton Wawen Priory was an alien priory in Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire, England.

St Eanswiths Church, Brenzett Church in Brenzett, United Kingdom

St Eanswith's Church is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in the village of Brenzett, Kent, about 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Rye, East Sussex. A church was originally built on this site in the 7th century; the present building dates from the 12th century and has later modifications.

References

  1. ↑ "Catholic Encyclopedia - The Benedictine Order - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon". www.heiligenlexikon.de. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  2. ↑ Harper-Bill, Christopher. (1977). "The priory and parish of Folkestone in the fifteenth century". www.theeuropeanlibrary.org. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  3. ↑ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Folkestone Abbey". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 30 June 2018.

PD-icon.svg  G. E. Hind (1913). "Folkestone Abbey". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 30 June 2018.

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies British writer

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies was a British expert on heraldry. His Complete Guide to Heraldry, published in 1909, has become a standard work on heraldry in England. A barrister by profession, Fox-Davies worked on several notable cases involving the peerage, and also worked as a journalist and novelist.

<i>Catholic Encyclopedia</i> English-language encyclopedia

The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States and designed to serve the Roman Catholic Church. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index volume in 1914 and later supplementary volumes. It was designed "to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine".

Coordinates: 51°4′46″N1°10′54″E / 51.07944°N 1.18167°E / 51.07944; 1.18167

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.