Abbot of Abingdon

The Abbot of Abingdon was the head (or abbot) of Anglo-Saxon and eventually Benedictine house of Abingdon Abbey at Abingdon-on-Thames in northern Berkshire (present-day Oxfordshire), England.

The following is a list of abbots of Abingdon:

Fictional abbots

Historian Susan E. Kelly regards the traditional first six abbots as fictional: "There is good reason to think that in most cases their names were simply plucked from early charters available in the abbey's archive, the majority of which would seem to have had no connection with an early minister at Abingdon; there is no very convincing evidence that the historians had access to independent, reliable sources of information. The 'history' of the pre-Æthelwoldian minister seems to a very large extent to represent a fictional reconstruction".[1]

Probably fictional abbots:

Name Comments
Hæha, also Hean The legendary first abbot of Abingdon, but, according to Kelly, more probably an abbot of Bradfield, his name having been plucked from a charter dated 704,[2] with others, in order to replace the lost early history of Abingdon Abbey.[1]
Cumma Cumma is mentioned in a forged charter of King Æthelbald,[3] but "no Abbot Cumma is known from other sources".[1] It is, however, generally considered that the village of Cumnor is named after him.
Hræthhun A Hræthhun was styled abbot of Abingdon in a charter dated 811,[4] but the charter was forged, probably using the name of Hræthhun (d. 839/40), bishop of Leicester. Kelly therefore excludes him from the list of Abingdon abbots.[1]
Alhhard Kelly suggests that the name was plucked from the witness list of a charter,[5] with others, in order to reconstruct the lost early history of the Abbey of Abingdon.[1]
Cynath A Cynath, abbot of Evesham, mistakenly listed by the compiler of the De Abbatibus Abbendoniae as an abbot of Abingdon.[1]
Godescealc Godescealc's name occurs in three charters, all of them forgeries, and was later extracted from these documents and used in the construction of a spurious early history of the Abbey of Abingdon.[1]

Abbots

Abbey seal
Another abbey seal, belonging to John Sante

The historic abbots, right up to the dissolution of the abbey in 1538, are as follows:

Name In office Comments
Saint Æthelwold of Winchester c. 955 – c. 964 later Bishop of Winchester[1]
Osgar c. 964 – 984 [1]
Eadwine 985 – 990 [1]
Wulfgar 990 – 1016 [1]
Æthelsige 1016 – 1018 [1]
Æthelwine 1018 – 1030 [1]
Siward 1030 – 1044 [1]
Æthelstan c. 1044 – 1047/1048 [1]
Spearhafoc c. 1047/1048 – 1051 a famous goldsmith, later Bishop-Elect of London, who absconded with a large treasure
Rodulf 1051 – 1052 [1]
Ordric 1052 – 1066 [1]
Ealdred 1066 – 1071 [1]
Adelelm 1071 – 1083 Norman abbot[1]
Rainald 1084 – 1097 Norman abbot[1]
Faritius 1100 – 1117 Norman abbot[1]
vacant 1117 – 1121 [6]
Vincent 1121 – 1130 [6]
Ingulph 1130 – 1159 [6]
Walkelin 1159 – 1164 [6]
vacant 1164 – 1165 held by the king[6]
none 1165 – 1175 held in commendam by Godfrey, bishop of St Asaph[6]
vacant 1175 [6]
Roger 1175 – 1185 [6]
vacant 1185 – 1186 vacant for half a year[6]
Alvred 1186 – 1189 [6]
Hugh 1189/1190 – c. 1221 [6][7]
Robert of Hendred (Henreth) 1221 – 1234 [7]
Luke 1234 – 1241? [7]
John de Blosmeville 1241 – 1256 [7]
William of Newbury 1256 – 1260 [7]
Henry of Frilford (Frilleford) 1260 – 1261 [7]
Robert of Hendred 1261 – 1289 [7]
Nicholas of Culham 1289 – 1306 [7]
Richard of Bishops Cleeve 1306 – 1315 [7]
John of Sutton 1315 – 1322 [7]
John de Canyng (Canynges) 1322 – 1328 [7]
Robert of Garford 1328 – 1332 [7]
William (of Cumnor (Comenor(e)) 1332 – 1335 [7]
Roger of Thame (Tame) 1335 – 1361 [7]
Peter of Hanney 1361 – 1399 [7]
Richard de Salford 1401 [8]
John Dorset 1415 [8]
Richard Boxore 1421/2 – 1427 [8]
Thomas Salford 1427 [8]
Ralph Hamme 1428 – 1435 [8]
William Ashendon 1435 [8]
John Sante 1468 [8]
Thomas Rowland 1496 [8]
Alexander Shottisbrook 1504 [8]
John Coventry 1508 [8]
Thomas Pentecost (= Rowland) 1511/1512 – 1538 [8]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Kelly, Charters of Abingdon, part 1
  2. ^ S 245
  3. ^ S 93
  4. ^ S 166
  5. ^ S 1201
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Knowles, Brooke and London (2001), The heads of religious houses: England & Wales, I. 940–1216, pp. 24-5.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Smith and London (2001), The heads of religious houses: England & Wales, II. 1216–1377, pp. 16-8.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ditchfield and Page, ed, Victoria History of Berkshire, pp. 57-62.

References

  • Ditchfield, P. H.; William Page, eds. (1907). Victoria History of Berkshire. Vol. 2. London: Constable & Co.
  • Kelly, Susan E. (2000). Charters of Abingdon, part 1. Anglo-Saxon Charters 7. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Knowles, David; C. N. L. Brooke; Vera C. M. London, eds. (2001). The Heads of Religious Houses: England & Wales, I. 940–1216 (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Smith, David M.; Vera C. M. London, eds. (2001). The Heads of Religious Houses: England & Wales, II. 1216–1377. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.