The New Guide to Peterborough Cathedral | Page 4

likewise into the monastery, who were foreigners, and quite as unscrupulous as himself, in purloining the wealth of the abbey. He was afterwards made a bishop in France, but owing to his utter recklessness of conduct and morality, he was sent back to England four days after: was again admitted abbot of the monastery of Peterburgh, where he died in 1098, after an odious government of twenty-eight years.
During the reign of Henry I., the son of the Conqueror, Ernulphus became Abbot of Peterburgh. This event took place in the year 1107, and he made several important improvements in the monastery; built a new dormitory and refectory, and completed the chapter-house, which had been left in an unfinished state for several years. He likewise enriched the convent by making an arrangement with all who held in rent the abbey lands to pay tithes to him, and, when they died, that they should give the third part of their estates to be buried in the church. Thus it was that the monastery continued to grow in wealth, and when Ernulphus was made Bishop of Rochester, which happened in 1114, the abbey was entitled to a tithe of 40,800 acres of land.
During the rule of his successor, John de Sais, the monastery was burned down. The fire is said to have occurred accidentally, and such was the violence of the flames, that they reached the village and consumed most of the cottagers' houses. The additions which Ernulphus had made to the abbey, however, are said to have escaped the general ruin.
[1] The most probable etymology of this word is that which is given by Britton in his History of Peterborough Cathedral, viz.--"Mede or Mead, a meadow; ham, a sheltered habitation; and sted, stead, or stad, a bank, station, or place of rest."
[2] In cleaning out the river, a little below the bridge, in June, 1820, a dagger was found, which is supposed to have belonged to these Danes. It is in the possession of the present Bishop.
[3] At a meeting of the Arch?ological Society at Peterborough, in 1861, Mr. Bloxam read a paper in which he denied the authenticity of this monument, which had previously been regarded as one of the oldest monumental stones extant. Mr. Bloxam regards it as a Norman, and not a Saxon work, and some centuries later in date than the massacre of the monks. He considers that the figures are not martyred monks with their abbot, but Christ and his eleven disciples. It has been further conjectured by Canon Westcott that it is part of the shrine erected over the relics of St. Kyneburgha, which were removed from Castor to Peterborough during the Abbacy of Elsinus, A.D. 1005-1055. A fragment of sculpture in the same style is built into the west wall of the South Transept.
[4] A Saxon King of Northumbria and the second Christian monarch of that province. An interesting account of this prince, and of the extraordinary miracles said to have been performed by his remains after death, will be found in a larger edition of the Guide to the Cathedral, by Thos. Craddock, Esq. Price 2.6 & 15.
[5] Britton says, on the authority of Gunton, that they sent the secretary of the monastery over to Denmark, on purpose to obtain it. It is, however, more probable that Hereward, knowing the disposition of the Norman abbot would lead him to enrich himself at the expense of the monastery, took this means of removing temptation out of the way of Thorold, and subsequently restored the treasure to the monastery, when there was no longer any danger of its being appropriated by the abbot.
[6] Toot is an old Saxon word, signifying to stand out, or be prominent.
CHAPTER II.
From the Foundation of the New Church, in 1117, to its dissolution as an Abbey by Henry the Eighth, in 1541;--embracing a period of 425 years.
In the first chapter of our history, we traced the rise and progress of the monastery of Peterburgh through a period of 462 years, at the expiration of which time we saw it burned to the ground, with all the treasures which it had accumulated. We have now to witness its restoration, and to follow it until we come to the nineteenth century, through all the ravages which it has survived.
At the time of the eventful destruction which we have mentioned [1116], John de Sais was abbot of the monastery, and had regained for it several of the lands which had been forfeited by his predecessors. He was, according to Gunton, a very learned man, and possessed great strength of mind and decision of character. He showed his energy by the prompt measures which he took to rebuild the abbey after its destruction, and to get all those lands, manors, and fees confirmed to it which