The New Guide to Peterborough Cathedral | Page 2

now the palace of the bishop, but, excepting for its antiquity, it
possesses no features of interest.
After a reign of thirty years, Ethelred exchanged the insignia of royalty
for the rough garments of a monk, and became abbot of Bardney, in
Lincolnshire, where he died, in the year, 716.
From the death of Cuthbaldus to the accession of Beonna in 775, there
is a blank in the history of the monastery. During his rule one or two
important concessions were made to the monks by King Offa.
The name of the next abbot was Celredus, but of him nothing particular
is recorded. He was succeeded by Hedda, in 833, during whose abbacy
the first destruction of the monastery by the Danes occurred, which
founded an important era in the history of this institution. A band of
savage Danes, headed by Earl Hubba, invaded the territory of the
Mercians, and after committing numerous depredations in the country,
they plundered the monastery of Croyland, and proceeded to attack
Medeshamstede. The monks of this abbey had, however, gained
intelligence of their intentions, and having closed the gates, resolved to

act on the defensive. Hubba and his desperadoes soon surrounded them,
and demanded that the gates should be opened; and when he was told
that he should not enter, he commenced to batter the walls. In the
course of the attack, one of the monks hurled a great stone from the top
of the building upon the besiegers, and Tulba, the brother of Hubba,
was killed by it. This so incensed the earl, that he vowed to put every
monk to death by his own hand; and having forced the gates, proceeded
to put his horrible threat into execution,--robbed the monastery of
everything that was valuable, and then set it on fire. It burned fifteen
days. All the portable valuables were then packed on waggons and
taken away. The plunder, however, is said to have been lost, "either in
the Nen or in the neighbouring marshes."[2] This was in 870.
In a short time a few monks who escaped at Croyland re-assembled at
their abbey there, and after electing Godric their abbot, proceeded to
Medeshamstede, and buried the monks of that monastery who had been
murdered by the Danish invaders in one vast tomb. Godric likewise had
their effigies cut out in stone (a representation of which is here shown,
the original being in the Lady Chapel),[3] and, to honour their memory,
he went every year to weep over the grave in which he had laid his
brethren.
From this time until the reign of Alfred the Great [872] the monastery
of Medeshamstede was frequently invaded, and the lands which
belonged to it were seized by the conquerors. It was left for the wisdom
and courage of Alfred to restore that tranquility to England which it had
so long lost, and to give protection and security to his subjects. The
Danes who had committed so many depredations before his accession
to the throne were now beaten back and finally checked by the
powerful fleet which he built to protect the kingdom from invasion.
King Edgar, who succeeded Alfred, followed his example in this
respect, and kept up the strength of the fleet. By this means increased
security was given to England, and the people, comparatively happy in
their internal government, and freed from the fear of foreign
interruption, began to improve their public buildings and religious
houses.

It was in 966 that the monastery of Medeshamstede was rebuilt after the
old model, at the instigation of Athelwold, who was at that time Bishop
of Winchester. King Edgar assisted in the re-construction of the
monastery; and so important did he consider religion to be in the
amelioration of the morals of his subjects, that he is said to have rebuilt
upwards of forty religious establishments during his reign.
[Illustration: Ancient Monumental Stone in the Cathedral.]
After the abbey of Medeshamstede was finished in 972, he ratified all
the former charters which it possessed, and gave it the name of Burgh.
The first abbot of the monastery, after its destruction, was called
Adulphus, formerly the king's chancellor; but having accidentally been
the cause of the death of his only son, he could no longer live happily
in the world, and he therefore endowed the abbey with all his wealth,
and was elected its first abbot.
The monastery of Burgh was now in a more prosperous and wealthy
condition than ever; all the neighbouring country was subject to it, and
its possessions were so immense that its name was changed to
Gildenburg. Adulphus, wishing to increase the value of the estates of
the monastery and to encourage agriculture, had all the surrounding
forests cut down and the lands cultivated. He was afterwards made
Archbishop of York, [992,] and