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Monastery information | |
---|---|
Order | Benedictine [3] |
Established | c. 681 |
Disestablished | c. 1075 community moved to Chichester [2] |
Dedicated to | St Peter? [b] |
People | |
Founder(s) | St Wilfrid |
Site | |
Location | Church Norton Selsey West Sussex England |
Coordinates | 50°45′17″N00°45′54″W / 50.75472°N 0.76500°W |
Selsey Abbey was founded by St Wilfrid in AD 681 on land donated at Selsey by the local Anglo-Saxon ruler, King Æðelwealh of Sussex. According to the Venerable Bede the Kingdom of Sussex was the last area of mainland England to be evangelised.
The abbey became the seat of the Sussex bishopric, until it was moved to Chichester, after 1075 when the Council of London decreed that sees should be centred in cities not in villages. The location of the abbey was probably at the site of, what became, the old parish church at Church Norton just north of modern-day Selsey.
The traditional founder [c] of Selsey Abbey is given as St Wilfrid of Northumbria. [6] Wilfrid had spent most of his career in exile having quarrelled with various kings and bishops. [2] The exiled Wilfrid arrived in the kingdom of the South Saxons in 681 and remained there for five years evangelising and baptising the people. [6] The account given by Wilfrid's biographer Stephen of Ripon in his Vita Sancti Wilfrithi ("Life of Saint Wilfrid") infers that all of the South Saxons were pagan. The historian David Peter Kirby suggests that Stephen's "Life of Wilfrid" was extremely partisan, as its purpose was to magnify Wilfrid as well as vindicate him. [7] Bede's "Ecclesiastical History" takes a more nuanced view than "Life". Modern academics have suggested that this ambiguity is because Bede did not approve of Wilfrid and did not simply copy Stephen's "Life". [8] Henry Mayr-Harting writes that it would have been easy for Bede just to copy from Stephen's "Life" into his own "Ecclesiastical History", but experience equipped him to deal with the "difficulty of sources". [9]
The "Ecclesiastical History" says that the local king Æðelwealh and his wife Eafe plus the leading thegns and soldiers had already been baptised in Mercia; he then goes on to say that only Queen Eafe was baptised. [d] [6] Also when Wilfrid arrived in Sussex, there was a small community of five or six Irish monks [e] led by Dicul in Bosham; however according to Bede they had made little headway in evangelising the local people. [2] [6]
Kirby writes that Æðelwealh's bride Eafe was the daughter of Wulfhere, the Christian king of Mercia, and that Æðelwealh and his nobles would have been baptised at the Mercian court. On their return to Sussex, Wulfhere will have sent a number of priests with them, to baptise the ordinary people. [14] Kirby further speculates that Christianity may have secured a foothold in early Sussex via one of its sons, the South Saxon Damian, bishop of Rochester c. 660. [14] [15] A more recent hypothesis, posited by the historian Michael Shapland, suggests that "there were likely several British [f] churches in the area that predate the possibly biased historical accounts of Wilfred's successful Christianisation of Sussex". [17]
Shapland also says that the choice of Selsey over the Roman city of Chichester seems illogical and that Wilfred chose an existing church in Selsey and claimed it as his Cathedral as part of a political maneuver. [17]
King Æðelwealh gave Wilfrid a royal vill and 87 hides to build a monastery at Selsey. [6] Bede says that one of Wilfrid's first acts was to free 250 slaves, who came with the estate, and baptise them. [6] Wilfrid then went on to perform the "deeds of Bishop" [g] in the area. [6]
A 10th-century forged [h] foundation charter credits Cædwalla with confirming the grant of land to Wilfrid. [2] [24]
Cædwalla was a West Saxon prince who had apparently been banished by Centwine, king of Wessex. [25] [26] Cædwalla had spent his exile in the forests of the Chiltern and the Weald, and at some point had befriended Wilfrid. [25] [26] Cædwalla vowed that if Wilfrid would be his spiritual father then he would be his obedient son. [26] After entering into this compact, they faithfully fulfilled it, with Wilfrid providing the exile with all kinds of aid. [26]
Eventually, Cædwalla invaded the kingdom of the South Saxons and slew King Æðelwealh. [13] Æðelwealh's successors, Berthun and Andhun, drove Cædwalla out, but after the death of Centwine, Cædwalla was able to become King of the West Saxons. He then conquered the South Saxons, killing Berthun in the process. [23] Cædwalla immediately summoned Wilfrid and made him supreme counsellor over his whole kingdom. [26]
In about 686 Archbishop Theodore resolved to arbitrate between the various parties to end Wilfrid's exile. He was successful in his efforts and Wilfrid returned north. [27] With Wilfrid gone, Selsey was absorbed by the Diocese of the West Saxons, [g] at Winchester. [23] In temporal matters Sussex was subject to the West Saxon kings, and in ecclesiastical matters it was subject to the bishops of Winchester. [2] By AD 705 the West Saxon Diocese had grown to such a size that it became unwieldy to manage, so King Ine, Cædwalla's successor, resolved with his witan to divide the great diocese. [28] Accordingly, a new see was created at Sherborne and four years later the See of Selsey was created. [19] [28] Wilfrid had been in charge of the religious community at Selsey. When he left he probably would have nominated a president, and any subsequent vacancy would have been filled by election. [20] Abbot Eadberht of Selsey would have been president of the brotherhood in 709 and according to Bede was consecrated the first Bishop of the South Saxons Diocese by synodal decree. [g] [29]
From the time of Wilfrid till after the Norman Conquest, when the See was transferred to Chichester, there were about twenty-two Bishops over a period of 370 years. [20] By the time of the Domesday Book, the See of Sussex was probably the poorest bishopric in the country. [30]
The See was transferred, to Chichester, after the Council of London of 1075 decreed that Sees should be centred in cities. [2] Some sources claim that Stigand, who was bishop at the time of the transfer, continued to use the title Bishop of Selsey until 1082, before adopting the new title of Bishop of Chichester, indicating that the move took several years to complete, with work on the new cathedral not being commenced until the 1090s. [31] [32]
There is a dearth of documents for the early church in Sussex, with gaps in the lists. [33] Most of the documents that do survive are later copies or forgeries, which has made it impossible to reconstruct a detailed history before the Norman Conquest. [33]
The location of the old Selsey Abbey and cathedral church is not known for sure, although some local legends suggest that it is under the sea, and that the bell can be heard tolling during rough weather. [35] This is thought not to be true and probably was due to Camden's reference to:
....some obscure remains of that ancient little city, in which those Bishops resided, covered at high water, but plainly visible at low water.
— Camden 2009, Chapter 18.2
The area that Camden refers to is the reef known as "The Mixon", although undersea now it was habitable during the 11th century. This added to the narrative, that the old cathedral was drowned. Another hypothesis suggests that the site of the submerged cathedral is an area of sea off Selsey known as "The Park", a former deer park that was the possession of the Bishops of Chichester. [36] [37]
Wilfrid's church, in reality, was more likely to have been at the site of, what became, the old 13th century parish church at Church Norton. [36] [38] [39]
There is some supporting evidence for this. An excavation, in 1911, of the 'mound' that adjoins the current St Wilfrid's chapel yielded a 10th-century bronze belt tab of a type found in ecclesiastical contexts. [40] [38] [41] Also various stone artefacts have been found in the area including remnants of Wilfrid's palm cross, that would have stood outside his cathedral. [42] The design on the remains of the cross are similar to those on the Bewcastle Cross and it is thought that the Selsey cross would have been identical to the one at Bewcastle. [43] Bishop William Reade, in his will dated 1382, requested that he should be buried before the high altar of the church at "Selsey ... once the cathedral church of my diocese". [38] [44]
In another will dated 1545, Geoffrey Thomson, a Rector of Selsey, asked to be buried next to the palm cross in the churchyard. [42]
On the top left of the painting that hangs in the south transept of Chichester Cathedral, created by the early Tudor painter Lambert Barnard, is a representation of the old church and bell tower at Church Norton as it appeared in the 16th century. [2] The 1911 excavation of the mound revealed some strong stone foundations for a square tower and the remains of a ringwork. It is probable that the foundations were for the bell tower, shown separate from the church on the Barnard painting. The tower would have been constructed in the 11th century or earlier as a fortification and not actually part of the church. A churchwarden's presentment from 1662 stated that:
...there was never any steeple belonging to the church [at Selsey], but a tower formerly belonging to a ruined castle, somewhat remote from the church where the bells hung...
Another significant piece of evidence is a 13th century Chichester cathedral capitulary seal [a] . The picture on it is thought to represent the old Selsey Cathedral. It depicts a typical Saxon church with a separate tower. The old tower next to the church lasted till 1602 when it blew down. A replacement tower was constructed, this time attached to the church, in 1662. The ringwork was possibly established soon after 1066 and as the bishopric was not moved to Chichester till after 1075, it is likely that it was constructed to protect Wilfrid's 7th-century church. [45] [46]
In 681, while Eappa was Abbot at the Monastery, the country was ravaged by a plague. [47] As the monastery was also badly afflicted by this disease, the monks set apart three days of fasting and prayer to try to placate the Divine Wrath. [47]
A young boy, in his prayers, appealed to Saint Oswald. [47] Then Saint Peter and Saint Paul were said to have appeared to the boy, at Oswalds request. [47] They told him that all in the Monastery would be cured of the plague apart from the boy. [47]
According to Bede:
In the monastery at this time lived a Saxon boy, who had recently been converted to the Faith; this child had caught the disease, and for a long time had been confined to bed. About the second hour on the second day of prayer and fasting, he was alone in the place where he lay sick, when, under divine providence, the most blessed Princes of the Apostles deigned to appear to him; for he was a boy of innocent and gentle disposition, who sincerely believed the truths of the Faith that had been accepted. The Apostles greeted him very lovingly, and said: 'Son, put aside the fear of death that is troubling you; for today we are going to take you with us to the kingdom of heaven. But first of all you must wait until the Masses are said, and you have received the Viaticum of the Body and Blood of our Lord. Then you shall be set free from sickness and death, and carried up to the endless joys of heaven. So call the priest Eappa and tell him that our Lord has heard the prayers of the brethren and regarded their fasting and devotion with favour. No one else in this monastery and its possessions is to die of this disease, and all who are now suffering from it will recover and be restored to their former health. You alone are to be set free by death today, and shall be taken to heaven to see the Lord Christ whom you have served so faithfully. God in his mercy has granted you this favour at the intercession of the devout King Oswald, so beloved by God, who once ruled the people of the Northumbrians.
— Bede 1910, IV.14
Rudyard Kipling wrote about St Wilfrid and Selsey and in this poem where he refers to a service at Manhood End (Selsey) that was conducted by Wilfrid's chaplain and biographer Stephen of Ripon, referred to as Eddi in the poem:
Eddi's Service (AD 687)
Eddi, priest of St. Wilfrid
In his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service
For such as cared to attend.
But the Saxons were keeping Christmas,
And the night was stormy as well.
Nobody came to service,
Though Eddi rang the bell.
"'Wicked weather for walking,"
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
"But I must go on with the service
For such as care to attend."
The altar-lamps were lighted, –
An old marsh-donkey came,
Bold as a guest invited,
And stared at the guttering flame.
The storm beat on at the windows,
The water splashed on the floor,
And a wet, yoke-weary bullock
Pushed in through the open door.
"How do I know what is greatest,
How do I know what is least?
That is My Father's business,"
Said Eddi, Wilfrid's priest.
"But – three are gathered together –
Listen to me and attend.
I bring good news, my brethren!"
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
And he told the Ox of a Manger
And a Stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a Rider,
That rode to Jerusalem.
They steamed and dripped in the chancel,
They listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were Bishops,
Eddi preached them The World,
Till the gale blew off on the marshes
And the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together
Wheeled and clattered away.
And when the Saxons mocked him,
Said Eddi of Manhood End,
"I dare not shut His chapel
On such as care to attend."
Rudyard Kipling Rewards and Fairies . p 179.
The Kingdom of the South Saxons, today referred to as the Kingdom of Sussex, was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England. On the south coast of the island of Great Britain, it was originally a sixth-century Saxon colony and later an independent kingdom. The kingdom remains one of the least known of the Anglo-Saxon polities, with no surviving king-list, several local rulers and less centralisation than other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The South Saxons were ruled by the kings of Sussex until the country was annexed by Wessex, probably in 827, in the aftermath of the Battle of Ellendun. In 860 Sussex was ruled by the kings of Wessex, and by 927 all remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were ruled by them as part of the new kingdom of England.
Wilfrid was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon. In 664 Wilfrid acted as spokesman for the Roman position at the Synod of Whitby, and became famous for his speech advocating that the Roman method for calculating the date of Easter should be adopted. His success prompted the king's son, Alhfrith, to appoint him Bishop of Northumbria. Wilfrid chose to be consecrated in Gaul because of the lack of what he considered to be validly consecrated bishops in England at that time. During Wilfrid's absence Alhfrith seems to have led an unsuccessful revolt against his father, Oswiu, leaving a question mark over Wilfrid's appointment as bishop. Before Wilfrid's return Oswiu had appointed Ceadda in his place, resulting in Wilfrid's retirement to Ripon for a few years following his arrival back in Northumbria.
Æthelred was king of Mercia from 675 until 704. He was the son of Penda of Mercia and came to the throne in 675, when his brother, Wulfhere of Mercia, died from an illness. Within a year of his accession he invaded Kent, where his armies destroyed the city of Rochester. In 679 he defeated his brother-in-law, Ecgfrith of Northumbria, at the Battle of the Trent: the battle was a major setback for the Northumbrians, and effectively ended their military involvement in English affairs south of the Humber. It also permanently returned the Kingdom of Lindsey to Mercia's possession. However, Æthelred was unable to re-establish his predecessors' domination of southern Britain.
Ine or Ini was King of Wessex from 689 to 726. At Ine's accession, his kingdom dominated much of what is now southern England. However, he was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecessor, Cædwalla of Wessex, who had expanded West Saxon territory substantially. By the end of Ine's reign, the kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, and Essex were no longer under West Saxon sway; however, Ine maintained control of what is now Hampshire, and consolidated and extended Wessex's territory in the western peninsula.
Cædwalla was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the Welsh Cadwallon. He was exiled from Wessex as a youth and during this period gathered forces and attacked the South Saxons, killing their king, Æthelwealh, in what is now Sussex. Cædwalla was unable to hold the South Saxon territory, however, and was driven out by Æthelwealh's ealdormen. In either 685 or 686, he became King of Wessex. He may have been involved in suppressing rival dynasties at this time, as an early source records that Wessex was ruled by underkings until Cædwalla.
Selsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about eight miles (12 km) south of Chichester, in the Chichester district, in West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea. It is bounded to the west by Bracklesham Bay, to the north by Broad Rife, to the east by Pagham Harbour and terminates in the south at Selsey Bill. There are significant rock formations beneath the sea off both of its coasts, named the Owers rocks and Mixon rocks. Coastal erosion has been an ever-present problem for Selsey. In 2011 the parish had a population of 10,737.
Berhtwald was the ninth Archbishop of Canterbury in England. His predecessor had been Theodore of Tarsus. Berhtwald begins the first continuous series of native-born Archbishops of Canterbury, although there had been previous Anglo-Saxon archbishops, they did not succeed each other until Berhtwald's successor Tatwine.
Æthelwealh was ruler of the ancient South Saxon kingdom from before 674 till his death between 680 and 685. According to the Venerable Bede, Æthelwealh was baptised in Mercia, becoming the first Christian king of Sussex. He was killed by a West Saxon prince, Cædwalla, who eventually became king of Wessex.
Eadberht of Selsey was an abbot of Selsey Abbey, later promoted to become the first Bishop of Selsey. He was consecrated sometime between 709 and 716, and died between 716 and 731. Wilfrid has occasionally been regarded as a previous bishop of the South Saxons, but this is an insertion of his name into the episcopal lists by later medieval writers, and Wilfrid was not considered the bishop during his lifetime or Bede's.
Brihthelm or Beorhthelm was a Bishop of Selsey.
Stigand was the last Bishop of Selsey, and first Bishop of Chichester.
Bosa was an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of York during the 7th and early 8th centuries. He was educated at Whitby Abbey, where he became a monk. Following Wilfrid's removal from York in 678 the diocese was divided into three, leaving a greatly reduced see of York, to which Bosa was appointed bishop. He was himself removed in 687 and replaced by Wilfrid, but in 691 Wilfrid was once more ejected and Bosa returned to the see. He died in about 705, and subsequently appears as a saint in an 8th-century liturgical calendar.
Selsey Bill is a headland into the English Channel on the south coast of England in the county of West Sussex.
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. On 3 May 2012 the appointment was announced of Martin Warner, Bishop of Whitby, as the next Bishop of Chichester. His enthronement took place on 25 November 2012 in Chichester Cathedral.
The Haestingas, Heastingas or Hæstingas were one of the tribes of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Not very much is known about them. They settled in what became East Sussex sometime before the end of the 8th century. A 12th-century source suggested that they were conquered by Offa of Mercia, in 771. They were also recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC) as being an autonomous grouping as late as the 11th century.
Arwald was the last heathen Anglo-Saxon king and the last king of the Wihtwara, a people group that inhabited the Isle of Wight. He was killed by Cædwalla of Wessex during an invasion of his kingdom, at which point the island was Christianised. During the invasion, his two brothers were baptised before also being killed and are now venerated as saints.
Cymenshore was a place in Southern England where, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ælle of Sussex landed in AD 477 and battled the Britons with his three sons Cymen, Wlencing and Cissa, after the first of whom Cymenshore was held to have been named. The spelling Cymenshore is a scholarly modernisation of the Old English Cȳmenes ōra, which is now lost. Its location is unclear but was probably near Selsey.
St Peter's Church is the parish church of Selsey, West Sussex, and dates from the 13th century. The church building was originally situated at the location of St Wilfrid's first monastery and cathedral at Church Norton some 2 miles north of the present centre of population. The church is a Grade II listed building, and there has been extensive renovation work on and inside the building.
The Manhood Peninsula is in the southwest of West Sussex in England. It has the English Channel to its south and Chichester to the north. It is bordered to its west by Chichester Harbour and to its east by Pagham Harbour, its southern headland being Selsey Bill.
St Wilfrid's Chapel, also known as St Wilfrid's Church and originally as St Peter's Church, is a former Anglican church at Church Norton, a rural location near the village of Selsey in West Sussex, England. In its original, larger form, the church served as Selsey's parish church from the 13th century until the mid 1860s; when half of it was dismantled, moved to the centre of the village and rebuilt along with modern additions. Only the chancel of the old church survived in its harbourside location of "sequestered leafiness", resembling a cemetery chapel in the middle of its graveyard. It was rededicated to St Wilfrid—7th-century founder of a now vanished cathedral at Selsey—and served as a chapel of ease until the Diocese of Chichester declared it redundant in 1990. Since then it has been in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust charity. The tiny chapel, which may occupy the site of an ancient monastery built by St Wilfrid, is protected as a Grade I Listed building.