From Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales, Their Legendary Lore and Popular History, by John Timbs, re-edited, revised, and enlarged by Alexander Gunn, Volume II.; Frederick Warne and Co.; London; pp. 51-53.
In Berkshire, during the prevalence of the Roman Catholic faith, thirty-five religious houses were built and endowed, three of which were numbered at the Reformation among the “greater monasteries.” the most important of these were the Benedictine Abbeys of Abingdon and Reading.
Abingdon Abbey appears to have been originally founded upon a hill called Abendune, about ten miles from the present town, nearer Oxford, by Cissa, King of Wessex, and his nephew, Heane, Viceroy of Wiltshire, in 605, begun at Bagley Wood, now Chilswell Farm. Five years after, its foundation was removed to a place then called Sevekisham, and since then Abbendon, or Abingdon, and enriched by the munificence of Ceadwalla and Ina, Kings of Wessex, and other benefactors. This Abbey was destroyed by the Danes, and the monks were deprived of their possessions by Alfred the Great, but their property was restored and the rebuilding of the Abbey commenced at least by Edred, grandson and one of the successors of Alfred. It became richly endowed, and the Abbot was mitred. At the Suppression the revenues of this Monastery amounted to nearly 2000l. per annum; a gateway is nearly all that remains. At the Abbey was educated Henry I., and with such fidelity as to procure him the name of Beauclerc. Here was buried Cissa, the founder; St. Edward, king and martyr; Robert D’Oyley, builder of Oxford Castle, tutor ot Henry I.; and the Abbot, the historian Geoffrey of Monmouth. Here, in 1107, Egelwinus, Bishop of Durham, was imprisoned and starved to death.
The Chronicle of Abingdon gives a trustworthy record of this great Benedictine establishment during a period of 500 years. It was written at a time when the monks were still secure of the affections of the people, and when, therefore, there was no temptation either to suppress or pervert the truth; the Chronicle is an unvarnished narrative, strung together by an honest compiler of materials, and truthful recorder of events. It may be useful as well as interesting here to quote from an able review of a translation of the Chronicle of Abingdon, by Mr. Stevenson, inasmuch as it will show the interest and value attached to the sketches of Abbeys in the present work.
“The history of an establishment like that of Abingdon is not merely the narrative of a brotherhood, isolated from the outer world by their 52 peculiar aims and occupations, as might be the case with the description of a modern religious fraternity; it is the narrative of the social condition of the whole English people. Most persons who have bestowed any attention to our early annals will admit, however strong may be their Protestant prejudices, that the best features of our modern civilization are due to the social organization introduced by the monks. Agriculture, for example, the parent of all the other arts, was despised and neglected by the pagan tribes of German origin, whereas the rule of St. Benedict, which was of primary authority with every monastic establishment, proclaimed the ‘nobility of labour’ as a religious duty, inferior in its responsibility only to prayer and study.
“Benedict thought it good that men should be daily reminded that in the sweat of their face they should eat bread, and day by day they toiled in the field as well as prayed in the church. After having been present at the service of Prime, the monks assembled in the Chapter-house, each individual received his allotted share of work, a brief prayer was offered up, tools were served out, and the brethren marched two and two, and in silence, to their task in the field. From Easter until the beginning of October they were thus occupied from 6 o’clock in the morning until 10, sometimes until noon. The more widely the system was diffused the more extensive were its benefits. Besides the monks lay brethren and servants were engaged, who received payment in coin, and as by degrees more land was brought into tillage than the monastery needed, the surplus was leased out to lay occupiers. Thus, each monastery became a centre of civilization, and while the rude chieftain, intent on war or the chase, cared little for the comfort either of himself or his retainers, the monks became the source, not only of intellectual and spiritual light, but of physical warmth and comfort, and household blessings.
“The boundaries, which are incorporated with the Saxon charters, supply us with many characteristics of Anglo-Saxon social life, and throw considerable light on the topographical history of Berkshire and the adjoining portion of Oxfordshire. The absence of any remark about the earlier Celtic population is noteworthy. Not only do they seem to have been exterminated, but every trace of their occupancy, exempt in the names of brooks and rivers, had vanished. Our ancestors at that period were chiefly occupied with the breeding of sheep, swine, horses, and horned cattle. They had make little progress in agriculture; wheat and oats are not mentioned; barley and beans rarely. The indigenous trees were the oak, the hazel, the ash, the birch, and the beech. The willow, alder, maple, apple, and linden are also occasionally 53 named. The Berkshire hills and woods abounded with wolves, wild cats, stags, foxes, and badgers; beavers and wild boars were also numerous, while in the marshes were to be found geese, snipe, and swans.”