DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0118
60
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
%\)t Wwv Ctntrrfh antr Criangular 3Brtoge,
CROYLAND, LINCOLNSHIRE.
The admirable history of this Abbey, by Ingulph,* and the more copious descrip-
tions of it contained in the writings of succeeding authors, afford little opportunity for
any additional attempt to illustrate its history, or to describe its remains. The same
desire which actuated the abbot to ascertain its founders and benefactors,f also
suggested the following essay ; and, if any interest be excited by the perusal, it
must be considered as derived rather from the materials collected by its early
historian, and from the authorities of later authors, than from any novelty, or
additional observations of which the description itself can boast.
The history of the origin of this splendid establishment possesses more probability
than is usually found in the marvellous chronicles of similar foundations. In the
eighth century a disputed right of succession to the throne had divided the kingdom
of Mercia in warfare against itself. Harassed by the defeats to which a doubtful
title to the crown had subjected him, its monarch, Ethelbald, retired to a desolate
district of his kingdom, which was intersected by islands and streams, and constituted
the southern boundary of his dominion. In return for the spiritual comfort, and
promises of success, repeated to him in this solitude by his confessor Guthlac, he
founded, on his subsequent elevation to the throne, a Benedictine Abbey in the
island of Croyland, to the honour of the Virgin, St. Bartholomew, and Guthlac, and
confirmed its possessions by a charter, dated A.D. 716, which was signed in the
presence of such bishops and nobles of his kingdom as were associated with him in
benefactions to the foundation. The oratory of the hermit Guthlac was now suc-
ceeded, says Ingulph, by buildings of stone ;| and in these the religious assembled
under the government of Kenulph, a monk of Evesham, who was appointed by the
founder their first abbot.
The buildings erected at this early period, whatever their nature or extent, can
only now be estimated by tradition or analogy. Were the information on this sub-
* Rerura Anglicanarum Scriptorum Veterum, torn. 1, folio, 1684. Ingulphi Croylandensis Historia.
\ Piimo fore videtur opportunism, qui sunt nostri monasterii fundatores scire, et benefactores; quo tempore
fundatum, ut et hie manifestum fiat tarn vobis, quam posteris nostris, p. 1.
% Ingulph. Hist. p. 4.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
%\)t Wwv Ctntrrfh antr Criangular 3Brtoge,
CROYLAND, LINCOLNSHIRE.
The admirable history of this Abbey, by Ingulph,* and the more copious descrip-
tions of it contained in the writings of succeeding authors, afford little opportunity for
any additional attempt to illustrate its history, or to describe its remains. The same
desire which actuated the abbot to ascertain its founders and benefactors,f also
suggested the following essay ; and, if any interest be excited by the perusal, it
must be considered as derived rather from the materials collected by its early
historian, and from the authorities of later authors, than from any novelty, or
additional observations of which the description itself can boast.
The history of the origin of this splendid establishment possesses more probability
than is usually found in the marvellous chronicles of similar foundations. In the
eighth century a disputed right of succession to the throne had divided the kingdom
of Mercia in warfare against itself. Harassed by the defeats to which a doubtful
title to the crown had subjected him, its monarch, Ethelbald, retired to a desolate
district of his kingdom, which was intersected by islands and streams, and constituted
the southern boundary of his dominion. In return for the spiritual comfort, and
promises of success, repeated to him in this solitude by his confessor Guthlac, he
founded, on his subsequent elevation to the throne, a Benedictine Abbey in the
island of Croyland, to the honour of the Virgin, St. Bartholomew, and Guthlac, and
confirmed its possessions by a charter, dated A.D. 716, which was signed in the
presence of such bishops and nobles of his kingdom as were associated with him in
benefactions to the foundation. The oratory of the hermit Guthlac was now suc-
ceeded, says Ingulph, by buildings of stone ;| and in these the religious assembled
under the government of Kenulph, a monk of Evesham, who was appointed by the
founder their first abbot.
The buildings erected at this early period, whatever their nature or extent, can
only now be estimated by tradition or analogy. Were the information on this sub-
* Rerura Anglicanarum Scriptorum Veterum, torn. 1, folio, 1684. Ingulphi Croylandensis Historia.
\ Piimo fore videtur opportunism, qui sunt nostri monasterii fundatores scire, et benefactores; quo tempore
fundatum, ut et hie manifestum fiat tarn vobis, quam posteris nostris, p. 1.
% Ingulph. Hist. p. 4.