Bells Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey | Page 3

to the west as the fourth bay of the present nave, that its crossing lay immediately to the west of the present transept, and that the apsidal choir was as wide as the present nave, and extended eastward as far as the screen now dividing the choir from the transept. Thus the total interior length of the church was about 90 ft. instead of about 220 ft., the length of the present building. Although the church was comparatively small, Eadgar made provision in the domestic buildings for one hundred nuns, a number rarely exceeded in after days. Peter de Langtoft, a canon of Bridlington who died early in the fourteenth century, writing of Eadgar says:
Mikille he wirschiped God, and served our Lady; The Abbey of Romege he feffed richely With rentes full gode and kirkes of pris, He did ther in of Nunnes a hundreth ladies.
Eadgar's church, however, was not destined to last long. Early in the year 1003, according to one of the few legends connected with the abbey, the form of St. ?lfl?d appeared during mass to the Abbess Elwina, and warned her that the Danes were at hand, and would plunder and destroy the abbey; whereupon she, not disobedient to the heavenly vision, gathered her nuns together, and, collecting all the treasures that could be carried away, sought safety at Winchester, and there they abode until the danger was past; on their return they found the abbey in ruins. The inroad of the Danes in this year, led by Swegen, was undertaken as a retribution on the English for the cowardly and barbarous massacre on St. Brice's Day, November 13th of the previous year, in which Swegen's sister, in spite of the fact that she had embraced Christianity, had been condemned to death by ?thelred.[2]
There is no record of the rebuilding of the abbey after this destruction, but it could not have been long delayed, since we hear that in 1012 ?thelred's wife ?lfgyfu (who afterwards married Knut, and is known under the name Emma) gave lands to the abbey, and shortly after Knut came to the throne, we learn from a still existing list that, including two who are marked as abbesses, there were fifty-four nuns at Romsey.[3]
[2] According to some accounts, the raid in which the abbey was destroyed took place in 994, but the later date is more probable since it is said that Swegen's son, Knut, who was born in 994, took part in it.
[3] This list shows us what were the names most in favour at the time. Eight nuns bore the name of ?lfgyfu, six of ?lfl?d, four of Eadgyth (Edith), four of Eadgyfu, three of Wulfl?d; besides these there were two, each bearing the names of ?thelgyfu, ?lfgyth, ?lfhild, Byrhfl?d, Wulfthryth, Wulfrun. It is worthy of note that none of these, and only one of the remaining seventeen nuns, namely, Godgyfu, had a scriptural or Christian name. The old names common among their heathen ancestors still survived, no less than ten being compounded of the word ?lf, the modern Elf, or mountain spirit.
The church restored after the raid mentioned above probably remained untouched until after the Conquest, when possibly the apsidal east end was built. It would seem that about 1120 the present church was begun, as usual from the east. As this church is so much larger than the earlier one, it is quite possible that its outer walls were built without in any way disturbing the eleventh century church within them, so that the services could be conducted without interruption. The general character of the work is late Norman. At this time a double eastern chapel measuring about 21 ft. from east to west and 25 ft. from north to south, as we know from excavations made by the late vicar, the Rev. Edward Lyon Berthon, was built to the east of the choir. This was entered by two arches, which may still be seen leading out of the ambulatory. Traces of the position of two altars were found; the floor was lower than that of the rest of the church.
[Illustration: THE NAVE, LOOKING WEST]
The three western bays were added in the thirteenth century, and at the end of the same, or the beginning of the fourteenth, two windows with plate tracery were inserted in the east wall, and two chapels measuring forty feet from east to west took the place of the double Norman chapels mentioned above.
It will be seen, then, that the church shows specimens of Norman, Early English, and Decorated work, all of the best periods of the style, and therefore it is a splendid example for the student of architecture. We may be thankful that, with the exception of a few windows on the north side there is no Perpendicular work. When we remember