Part 2

A contemporary of Hild's was Aebbe, a princess of the rival dynasty of Bernicia, and sister of the royal saint, King Oswald, and of Oswy, the reigning king. Her brother intended to give her in marriage to the king of the Scots, but she herself was opposed to the alliance. Her family had embraced the Christian religion in exile, and she determined to follow the monastic life.

Accordingly, she built a double monastery, apparently in imitation of Whitby, at Coldingham on the promontory still called S. Abb's Head. She does not seem, however, to have maintained, like Hild, the discipline and fervour of which she herself gave an example; for Bede notes here a rare example of those disorders of which there were certainly far fewer in England at this time than anywhere else.[25] Aebbe was apparently in ignorance of the relaxation of discipline in her monastery until she was warned of it by an Irish monk of her community, named Adamnan.

As he was walking with the abbess through the great and beautiful house which she had built, he lamented with tears, "All that you see here so beautiful and so grand will soon be laid in ashes!" The astonished abbess begged an explanation. "I have seen in a dream," said the monk, "an unknown one who has revealed to me all the evil done in this house and the punishment prepared for it."

And what, one naturally asks, are these crimes for which nothing short of total destruction of the splendid house is a severe enough visitation from Heaven? Adamnan continues "The unknown one has told me that he visited each cell and each bed, and found the monks, either wrapt in slothful sleep, or awake, eating irregular meals and engaged in senseless gossip; while the nuns employ their leisure in wearing garments of excessive fineness, either to attire themselves, as if they were the brides of men, or to bestow them on people outside." One must admit that here and there in the writings of the period, there are references to this worldliness in some monasteries; but whatever may have been the state of things at a later date, there does not seem to be evidence of graver misdeeds in these early years of monasticism in England. Bede uses perhaps unnecessary severity in speaking of renegade monks and nuns so-called, since he is admittedly speaking from hearsay and not about disorders which came under his own observation. Whatever the sins of Coldingham may have been, the community at a later date atoned for them, for in the C9, when the Danes invaded Northumbria, and killed the men of this monastery, among others, the nuns are said to have mutilated their faces in order to escape the marauders. The Danes, in fury at the loss of their prey, burned the monastery to the ground, and all that remains to mark the site is a small ruined chapel.

At Ely there was also a double monastery founded by Aethelthryth,[26] later known as S. Awdrey. She was the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, and therefore a niece of the great abbess Hild. She was married, for the second time, probably for political reasons, when over thirty years old to King Egfrith of Northumbria, then a boy of fifteen. After living with him for twelve years, she left him and went to Coldingham, where she received the veil. Whether Egfrith agreed to this or not, it is impossible to say. There are reasons for believing that he was, at any rate, unwilling; for Bede says that she had long requested the king to permit her to lay aside worldly cares and serve God in a monastery and that she at length, with great difficulty, prevailed.

She remained at Coldingham for a year and then went to Ely, the island in the fens given to her by her first husband; and there she built a monastery, of which she became abbess.

She renounced all the splendours and even ordinary comforts of her former royal life. Bede says that from the time that she entered the monastery, she wore no linen, but only woollen garments, rarely washed in a hot bath, unless just before any of the great festivals, such as Easter, Whitsuntide, and the Epiphany; and then she did it last of all, after having, with the assistance of those about her, first washed the other nuns.

After presiding over the monastery six or seven years, she died of a tumour in her throat, which she used to say was sent as a punishment for her excessive love of wearing necklaces in her youth. Hence the "tawdrey lace" of "The Winter's Tale" and elsewhere, which was a necklace bought at S. Awdrey's Fair, held on the day of her festival, October 17th. She was succeeded by her sister, Seaxburh, the widow of Erconberht, King of Kent, who had founded a double monastery at Sheppey, of which she was the first abbess. There is no mention of monks as well as nuns before her reign. Her daughter, Ermengild, succeeded her as Abbess of Sheppey, and at her mother's death, of Ely. Ermengild's daughter, Werburh (the famous S. Werburh of Chester), also became abbess of Sheppey and Ely in succession.

In the same way, Minster in Thanet remained in the family of its foundress, Eormenburg or Domneva, as she is sometimes called, the wife of the Mercian prince Merewald. According to tradition she received the land from Egbert of Kent, as wergild for the murder of her two brothers. She asked for as much land as her tame deer could cover in one course, and she thus obtained about ten thousand acres, on which she built her monastery. Her daughter, Mildred, who succeeded her as abbess, acquired greater fame. She was educated at Chelles, and was there cruelly ill-treated by the abbess, who was inappropriately named Wilcona, or Welcome. She wished to marry Mildred to one of her relatives, and when the girl refused, she put her into a furnace. When that punishment failed, she pulled her hair out. Mildred adorned her psalter with the ravished hair and sent it to her mother. Finally she escaped and returned home. Her name is among the five abbesses who signed a charter granting church privileges at a Kentish Witanagemot.[27] Her successor, Eadburg, or Bugga, built a splendid new church in the monastery, which is described in a poem attributed to Aldhelm.[28] The high altar was hung with tapestries of cloth of gold, and ornamented with silver and precious stones. The chalice, too, was of gold, and set with jewels; there were glass windows, and from the roof there hung a silver censer. Mention is made of the united singing of the monks and nuns in the church.

Eadburg and her mother, a certain Abbess Eangyth, were both friends of Boniface, the great English missionary bishop of Mainz, the "Apostle of Germany." Eangyth writes to him of her troubles as abbess of a double monastery, of the quarrels among the monks, the poverty of the house, and the excessive dues which had to be paid to the king and his officials. In one letter Boniface thanks Eadburg for books and clothes, and asks if she will write out for him in gold letters the Epistles of S. Peter, that he may have the words of the Apostle before his eyes when he preaches.

Repton was another double monastery under an abbess, though nothing is known of its foundation. Some information about it is gained from the Life of S. Guthlac by Felix. Guthlac was a noble of Mercia, and in his youth a great warrior; but at the age of twenty-four, he went to Repton and received the tonsure under the abbess Aelfthryth. Her rule was apparently very strict, for we find Guthlac getting into trouble for breaking a rule by _not_ drinking wine.

Several chapters in Bede's Ecclesiastical History are devoted to stories of the double monastery at Barking, which was one of the most famous. It was founded by Erconwald, who afterwards became bishop of London. He built one for himself at Chertsey, and one for his sister Aethelburg at Barking, and, as Bede says, "established them both in regular discipline of the best kind." This monastery included both a hospital and a school, under the energetic rule of its first abbess.

Hildelith succeeded Aethelburg, and it was for her and her companions that the scholar Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, wrote his work, "De Laudibus Virginitatis."[29] He speaks of the nunnery as a hive where the nuns work like little bees, for they collect everywhere material for study. Their industry is not confined to the study of Holy Scripture. He speaks of them as searching carefully into the writers of history, as having a knowledge of ancient law and chronography, and in writing, of the rules of grammar and orthography, punctuation, metre, together with the use of allegory and tropology; all of which goes to prove that the field of secular knowledge was not particularly limited for nuns in those days. Aldhelm enlarges on the charms of their peaceful life in the nunnery, and the opportunities for thought and study it affords them. He recommends the works of Cassian and Gregory for their reading, and warns them against pride, a special temptation to those who have adopted the religious life.

Again there comes the warning against worldliness in both monk and nun. Some of the men, he says, contrary to the rule of the regular life, wear gay clothing. "The appearance of the other sex, too, corresponds: a vest of fine linen of hyacinth blue is worn, and above it a scarlet tunic with hood and sleeves of striped silk; on the feet are little shoes of red leather; the locks on the forehead and temples are waved with a curling-iron; the dark grey head-veil has given place to white and coloured head-dresses, the folds of which are kept in place by fillets and reach right down to the feet; the nails are pared to resemble the talons of a falcon." Aldhelm condemns all this, but hastens to add that of course he is addressing no one in particular. The work closes with an affectionate greeting to those whom he calls the Flowers of the Church, Pearls of Christ, his monastic sisters and scholarly pupils, whose prayers he always desires.

In Wessex the double monastery of Wimborne was the most important of its time, and most famed for its literary activity. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,[30] it was founded by Cuthburg, sister of Ine, king of Wessex. Most of our knowledge of the community comes from the Life of S. Lioba[31] ('the beloved'), who was educated there during the reign of the Abbess Tetta, another sister of the royal founder. The author of S. Lioba's Life describes the arrangement at Wimborne. He says that there were two monasteries there, one for clerks and the other for women. The two houses were surrounded by high walls and the monastery was well endowed. No nun could obtain permission to go to the monks' house, and no man might enter the nuns' convent, except the priests who came to celebrate in their church. One gathers from this that there was not a common church for both sides of the community, as was often the case. The abbess gave any necessary orders to the monks through a window. No woman was admitted to the community unless she undertook not to attempt to leave it except for very urgent reasons and by permission of the abbess.

Some idea of its size may be gathered from the fact that there were five hundred nuns at Wimborne. That strength and tact were needed to rule them is shown by one amusing if lamentable episode.

A very religious virgin was placed in authority over the novices, and she was so hated by them on account of her severity that even after her death the young nuns could not forget; and rushing out, they trampled upon her grave, with curses, until the mound became a hole half a foot deep. The abbess Tetta rebuked them for their unchristian behaviour, and ordered a three days' fast and penance, after which the culprits apparently recovered their senses.

Lioba herself seems to have had an attractive personality, and to have gained the affection both of the abbess and the other nuns. A little letter of hers is extant, wherein she writes to Boniface recalling herself to his mind and claiming relationship with him through her mother. She also encloses some Latin verse for his criticism. She says, "This too, I ask, that you will correct the mistakes of this letter, and send me a few words as a proof of your goodwill. I have composed the little verses written below, according to the rules of prosody, not from pride, but from a desire to cultivate the beginnings of a slender genius, and because I wanted your help. I learnt the art from Eadburga, my mistress, who devotes herself unceasingly to searching Divine Law."

When Boniface was establishing religious houses in Germany he sent to Abbess Tetta, asking that Lioba might be allowed to come over and help him. She went, and Boniface put the monastery of Bischofsheim on the Tauber, a tributary of the Main, under her care. Here she carried on the traditions of Wimborne, for she taught and encouraged learning in every way. Her rule was sane and wise. Her biographer says of her, "She was careful always not to teach others what she herself did not practise. Neither conceit nor overbearing found any place in her disposition; but she was gentle and kind to everyone without exception. She was beautiful as an angel and her conversation was charming. Her intellect was renowned, and she was able in counsel. She was catholic in faith, most patient in hope, and of widespread charity. Though her face was always cheerful, she never broke into hilarious laughter. No one ever heard an ill-natured remark fall from her lips, and the sun never went down upon her wrath. Though she provided food and drink with the greatest liberality for others, she was very moderate herself; and the cup from which she used to drink was called by the sisters, on account of its size, 'darling's little mug.'"

She knew that a heedful mind is necessary for both prayer and study, and so she insisted upon moderation in holding vigils. She allowed herself, and the sisters under her, a short rest after dinner, especially in the summer time; and would never willingly allow people to stay up late; for she maintained that loss of sleep meant loss of intelligence, especially in reading. Her methods were undoubtedly successful, for Rudolf says that among the other convents for women in Germany, there was scarcely one which had not teachers trained under Lioba, so eagerly sought after were her pupils.

Here this account of some early double monasteries must end. In England they probably existed right up to the Danish invasions of 870, and disappeared in the general devastation of the country during the succeeding years. The organisation, however, appears again in this country in the C12, and even as late as the C15. The order of S. Gilbert of Sempringham in the C12 was a double one, and the only order which actually had birth in England. It was, however, entirely lacking in that intellectual activity which was a special feature of the earlier double monasteries, among both men and women, and which, from the secular point of view, gave to the Anglo-Saxon nunneries a place not incomparable with the women's colleges of the present day. The latest double monastery in England was that of S. Bridget of Sion, near Isleworth, on the Thames.

Reference has been made only to the more important early double monasteries in England; but there are others which may or may not come under this category. Of these some are Whitern in Galloway, Carlisle, Caistor in Northamptonshire, Gloucester, Strenshall in Staffordshire, and Lyminge in Kent.

It is uncertain whether Bischofsheim, in Germany, under the abbess Lioba, was a double monastery, but the arrangement is known to have existed in Germany in the C8 and later. There are also traces of them in Italy, and considerable evidence for the same sort of system in Spain, but time does not allow of dealing with them here.

Finally, the double monastery did not flourish or find much favour in the more sophisticated ages of Christianity, but generally followed an outburst of religious enthusiasm in the earlier centuries of the Faith. "It was," says Montalembert, "a peculiarity belonging to the youth of the church, which, like youth in all circumstances, went through all the difficulties, dangers, and storms of that age, and which in maturer times gave way before a more practical, if less ideal, outlook on life."[32]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Monasteria duplicia ut appellantur." Corp. Jur. Civ. (Krueger) Codex I. iii., 43.

[2] Vita Pachom. Migne, Pat. Lat., tom. 73, cap. 28, col. 248. Paris, 1849.

[3] Regula S. Pachomii. Gallandius Bib. Vet. Pat., tom. 4, p. 718. Venice, 1765.

[4] Vita Pachom. Migne, Pat. Lat., tom. 73, cap. 28, col. 248. Paris, 1849.

[5] Lives of Women Saints. Translated by an early author (unknown) probably 1610-1615. Edited by C. Horstmann (E.E.T.S.), 1886.

[6] Migne, Pat. Lat., tom. 67, col. 1001.

[7] Bateson, Mary, "Origin and Early History of Double Monasteries." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. XIII., p. 141.

[8] Bateson, Mary, op. cit., p. 143.

[9] Gregorius Turon, Hist. Franc., Lib. 3, cap. 7.

[10] Nisard, Vie de Fortunat, chap. 52. Paris, 1887.

[11] Eckenstein, Lina, Woman under Monasticism. Page 54. Cambridge, 1896.

[12]

Tempora si solito mihi candida lilia ferrent Aut speciosa foret suave rubore rosa, Haec ego rure legens aut caespite pauperis horti Misissem magnis munera parva libens; Sed quia prima mihi desunt, vel solvo secunda, Profert qui violas, fert et amore rosas. Inter odoriferas tamen has quas misimus herbas Purpureae violae nobile germen habent, Respirant pariter regali murice tinctae Et saturat foliis hinc odor, inde decor. Hae quod utrumque gerunt pariter habeatis utraque Et sit mercis odor flore perenne decus. (Nisard, Poésies de Fortunat, Lib. 8, vi. Paris, 1887.)

[13] Gregorius Turon, De Gloria Confessorum, cap. 106.

[14] Moines d'Occident. Tom. V., cap. 4. Paris, 1867.

[15] Bede, Hist. Eccles., Lib. III., cap. 8. Ed. C. Plummer. Oxford, 1896.

[16] This applies to the Germanic peoples generally.

[17] Line 1942. Ed. F. Holthausen. Heidelberg, 1906.

[18] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under 672. Ed. C. Plummer. 1892.

[19] Moines d'Occident. Tom. 5, page 241. Paris, 1860.

[20] Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii., 238. Abbesses Mildrith, Aetheldrith, Aette, Wilnoth, Hereswyth, sign the privilege granted to the churches and monasteries of Kent, by King Wihtred, 696/716.

[21] Bede, Hist. Eccles., Lib. IV., cap. 23. (Cp. II. 14.) Ed. C. Plummer. Oxford, 1896.

[22] Lib. IV., cap. 24. Ed. C. Plummer. Oxford, 1896.

[23] Bede, Hist. Eccles., Lib. IV., cap. 25.

[24] Bede, Vita S. Cuthberhti, cap. 23. Ed. C. Plummer. Oxford, 1896.

[25] Bede, Hist. Eccles., Lib. IV., cap. 25. Ed. C. Plummer. Oxford, 1896.

[26] Bede, Hist. Eccles., Lib. IV., cap. 19. Ed. C. Plummer. Oxford, 1896.

[27] Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii., 238.

[28] S. Aldhelmi opera. Migne, Pat. Lat. Tom. 89, col. 289.

[29] S. Aldhelmi opera. Migne, Pat. Lat. Tom. 89, cols. 103-162.

[30] Under 718.

[31] By Rudolf of Fulda, a monk. He wrote about 836. A. SS. Boll., Sept. 28.

[32] Moines d'Occident. Tom. 5, page 320. Paris, 1860.

Transcriber's Note:

Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note. Punctuation has been normalised.

End of Project Gutenberg's Early Double Monasteries, by Constance Stoney