. The greater abbeys of England. a hermi-tage on this spot about the year 662. It was then and for200 years afterwards called Ancarig, and it is suggested,though the suggestion comes indeed from Ingulphs sus-pected chronicle, that the name was derived from the ex-istence of several anchorites, who apparently lived thereunder the rule of a prior. Whatever may have been itsearly history Ancarig, like other monasteries, was de-stroyed by the Danes, and it was not until 972 that, beingre-established by St. Ethelwold of Winchester with thehelp and authority of King Edgar, Benedictine monkswere plac
. The greater abbeys of England. a hermi-tage on this spot about the year 662. It was then and for200 years afterwards called Ancarig, and it is suggested,though the suggestion comes indeed from Ingulphs sus-pected chronicle, that the name was derived from the ex-istence of several anchorites, who apparently lived thereunder the rule of a prior. Whatever may have been itsearly history Ancarig, like other monasteries, was de-stroyed by the Danes, and it was not until 972 that, beingre-established by St. Ethelwold of Winchester with thehelp and authority of King Edgar, Benedictine monkswere placed there as at Peterborough and place then became known as Thorney—or the islandof thorns—from the trees that grew luxuriantly upon it,an island by reason of the waters that surrounded it. Itwas considered a specially sacred island, and except tooffer their devotions in the church, no women were al-lowed to set foot on the island, and the nearest placewhere they were permitted to stay was nine miles away. [292]. / u i THORNEY St. Ethelwold brought to Thorney, possibly on accountof its secluded position, the body of St. Botulph and manyother relics of English Saints, which had been saved fromdestruction during the Danish wars. Amongst others heis said to have obtained the body of St. Benet Bishopfrom the destroyed monastery of Weremouth. Edgar inhis charter of foundations declares the monastery dedi-cated to Our Saviour and His Blessed Mother. He hadchosen the spot, he says, because here two brothers, Tan-cred and Tortred, had lived the life of anchorites, the onebeing martyred, the other giving to the world a gloriousconfession of the Faith. Their sister Tova also had fol-lowed them in her manner of life and in the holiness ofher death. Then devastation and entire destruction hadalmost obliterated the memory of what had been, until apious woman, Ethelfled, bought the site and built upon ita monastery and church. This was now dedicated to theHoly Trinity: the ea
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