29-438: The Kentish Royal Legend is a diverse group of Medieval texts which describe a wide circle of members of the royal family of Kent from the 7th to 8th centuries AD. Key elements include the descendants of Æthelberht of Kent over the next four generations; the establishment of various monasteries, most notably Minster-in-Thanet ; and the lives of a number of Anglo-Saxon saints and the subsequent travels of their relics. Although it
58-652: A good source document, and it would seem likely that a Thanet-based text had come from Lyminge with the relics. Goscelin , in a document known as the contra usurpatores , strongly disputed their claim on Mildrith. In doing so he describes two separate documents produced by the Gregorians, and it would appear these are now combined into what is known as the Gotha text. Minster-in-Thanet 51°20′02″N 1°18′54″E / 51.334°N 1.315°E / 51.334; 1.315 Minster , also known as Minster-in-Thanet ,
87-556: A much more detailed genealogy, Abbey foundation story and explanation of the saint's mother than most such hagiographies would expect. In a number of places Goscelin meets the expectations of his own times in claiming the involvement of Archbishop Theodore where other texts suggest Domne Eafe acted on her own authority, such as the dedication of the Minster, and permission for Mildrith to succeed her as Abbess.). Founded at Canterbury in 1084-5, St Gregory's Abbey began to claim, from 1087, to have
116-518: A settlement. In 597 Augustine of Canterbury is said, by the Venerable Bede , to have landed with 40 men at nearby Ebbsfleet , in the parish of Minster-in-Thanet, before founding a monastery in Canterbury ; a cross marks the spot of his landing. Minster itself originally started as a monastic settlement in 670 AD. The buildings are still used as nunneries today. The first abbey in the village
145-576: Is a village and civil parish in the Thanet District of Kent , England. It is the site of Minster in Thanet Priory . The village is west of Ramsgate (which is the post town ) and to the north east of Canterbury ; it lies just south west of Kent International Airport and just north of the River Stour . Minster is also the "ancient capital of Thanet". At the 2011 Census the hamlet of Ebbsfleet
174-413: Is described as a legend, and contains a number of implausible episodes, it is placed in a well attested historical context. Almost all the accounts begin by describing how Æthelberht of Kent was baptised by Augustine . The fullest accounts (such as Bodley 285, see below) then provide a substantial genealogy, involving not only his direct descendants but also the families some of the daughters marry into,
203-462: Is impressive with five bays , and the crossing has an ancient chalk block vaulting . The chancel is Early English with later flying buttresses intended to halt the very obvious spread of the upper walls. There is a fine set of misericords reliably dated around 1400. The tower has a curious turret at its southeast corner that is locally referred to as a Saxon watch tower but is built at least partly from Caen stone; it may be that it dates from
232-441: The brothers of Domne Eafe, and all versions agree that it was their murder, as young innocents, that was the spur to Egbert's giving of the land for a monastery. However, the distinctive features of Byrhtferth's Ramsey account are to emphasise the sanctity and virtue of the princes. The genealogy section makes no mention of the many women that are included in the other texts,. It describes a miraculous rather than 'trained' behaviour of
261-488: The different tellings of the legend vary, the following covers the main elements of that story. Among the genealogies and Thanet narratives are details of the lives and shrines of a large number of Anglo-Saxon saints, particularly those linked with Kent, but also some from (or who went to) Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria. Some of the texts are specifically concerned with other saints. The two princes, St Mildburh and St Werburgh all have their own medieval 'Life', in which
290-418: The earliest surviving documents containing the legend date from the middle of the 11th century, and others are later still. They clearly draw from now lost source material. These texts now exist as passages within larger manuscripts, and often subsequently either copied into, or bound into still larger volumes. The essentials of the legend are remarkably consistent in the broad outline, the cast of characters, and
319-502: The foundation of the Abbey in ways that may be much closer to a mid-8th century account than the other surviving texts. The themes, on that basis, are to chronicle a history of the Abbey, to set out its legal claim to the land, to talk up the Mercian links of the founder (Domne Eafe) and the saint (Mildrith), at a time when Kent was under Mercian rule, and to provide a 'Life of Mildrith' to accompany
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#1732869736878348-507: The hind, which has the effect of reducing the pro-activeness of the abbess. Byrthferth portrays the Abbesses as meek and holy women, rather than scheming and pro-active. He obscures the wergild origin of the gift of land, perhaps because by the 10th century, such a means of acquiring monastic lands was severely disapproved of. Goscelin 's Vita St Mildrithae , written at St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury some time between 1089 and 1099, followed
377-480: The kings of Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia. The family tree below is David Rollason's summary of the individuals thus described. (♂=male, ♀=female). The central subject of several versions of the Kentish Royal Legend is an account of the murder of two young princes, restitution by way of land to found an abbey by Domne Eafe, and the life of its second Abbess, Mildrith. Although the details and emphasis of
406-623: The other events of the legend are woven in with varying amounts of detail. In the texts that form On the Resting-Places of the Saints , a version of the legend ( þa Halgan ) appears to be provided in place of a Kentish list of saints, to complement the much more systematic lists of saints (the Secgan ) from other parts of the country. It seems likely that precursors to the extant texts must have been written down almost as soon as Mildrith had died. However,
435-463: The relics of both St Mildrith and her successor as Abbess, St Eadburg, having translated them from Lyminge Abbey . At the time of the translation, two or three years before, they had translated the relics of St Eadburg and an unknown saint. The production of a full account of the lives of Domne Eafe and Mildrith appears to have been made to further this claim. That they produced a text that is broadly very harmonious with other known texts suggests they had
464-409: The remission of toll on two ships at Sarre and on a third at Fordwich . It has been stated that in gaining these privileges, she may have been taking advantage of Æthelbald's political weakness. Vikings attacked the surrounding area in 850 AD. The parish church of St Mary -the-Virgin is largely Norman but with significant traces of earlier work, the problems of which are unresolved. The nave
493-568: The school. Minster railway station lies to the south of the village, on the line from Canterbury West to Ramsgate and on the junction to the Kent Coast Line . Bus services are provided by Stagecoach . Minster has a war memorial dedicated to those lost in World War I and World War II and this is located in St Mary's church. In 2013, Minster hosted a memorial for Jean de Selys Longchamps ,
522-555: The site was denied in 2010, it was converted into a private residence. Minster Abbey is a house incorporating remains of the Anglo-Saxon abbey and alleged to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in England. It now houses the village's third religious community, a priory of Roman Catholic Benedictine sisters that is a daughter community of St. Walburg, Eichstätt in Bavaria . It
551-553: The story changes substantially to suit the needs of each of these contexts. The earliest telling would appear to be when the story was set out by Eadburg, the third abbess at Thanet. There is no text dating to that time, but Hollis and Rollason both contend that the Caligula A text has a strong claim to representing the 'Thanet' version of the story. Written in Old English, with considerable uncertainty about its author and date, it recounts
580-457: The time of the conquest but is built in an antique style sometimes called Saxo-Norman. A doorway in the turret opens out some two metres above the present roof line. The church was used by both the brethren of the second abbey , a dependency of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury , and as a parish church . Socket holes in the piers of the crossing suggest that, as well as a rood screen , there
609-479: The translation of Mildrith's relics from Thanet to Canterbury in 1030. Thanet had been attacked by Danes on a number of occasions in the 9th and 10th centuries, and the Abbey was finally abandoned in 1011AD. (In 1091 they were translated to the newly built chapel of the Holy Innocents.) Goscelin's account attempts to create a more conventional 'life of the saint' than the earlier texts, but the source material imposes
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#1732869736878638-496: The translation of her remains from St Mary's Church to Eadburg's new church of St Peter and St Paul, Thanet. Two texts (known as The Historia Regum text and Bodley 285 text) were written at Ramsey Abbey, both probably by a monk called Byrhtferth , perhaps in preparation for, and subsequent to, the translation of two martyred princes, saints Æthelred and Æthelberht, from their original burial place at Wakering , south-east Essex, to Ramsey Abbey , Huntingdonshire. The two princes were
667-404: The various events they describe. But they are also diverse in their detail, and appear to have been substantially moulded to suit the needs of different authors and different perspectives. Some of the texts that contain substantial portions of the legend are: There are at least four key moments in the telling of the events surrounding the foundation of Thanet Abbey, and the emphasis and purpose of
696-431: The village, as being unstable, and some areas of Minster, particularly in the south of the village, have suffered from flooding. Land reclamation has had a strong history in Minster and Monkton, where the original reclamation was done by the monks themselves. The Primary School is called "Minster Church of England Primary School", which caters for the village's population. As of 2022, there are 383 pupils attending
725-521: Was St Edburga daughter of King Centwine of the West Saxons . The third known abbess was Sigeburh, who was active around 762 AD and is known from the Secgan hagiography and from Royal charters . In 761AD Offa , king of the Mercians , granted Sigeburh a toll-exemption which king Æthelbald had previously granted to Abbess Mildrith . Again in about 763 AD Eadberht II , king of Kent , granted
754-670: Was a further screen dividing nave and crossing , such as still exists at Dunster in Somerset . This abbey surrendered during the dissolution in 1534. The 1876 Ordnance Survey Great Britain County Series map shows a Methodist (Wesleyan) chapel in St Mildred's Road; on the 1898 OS map it has become Roman Catholic and been renamed "St Mildred's R.C. chapel", also being referred to as "St Mildred's church and presbytery ". It later closed but as permission to demolish it and build houses on
783-435: Was founded by St Domneva , a widowed noblewoman, whose daughter St Mildred , is taken as the first abbess . The tradition is that Domneva was granted as much land as a hind could run over in a day, the hind remains the village emblem, see also Kentish Royal Legend . The boundary defined by the hind was known as Cursus Cerve or St Mildred’s Lynch. The abbey was extinguished by Viking raiding. The next abbess after St Mildred
812-587: Was included. The name ultimately comes from the Medieval Latin monasterium , denoting the historical presence of an abbey or monastery ; such names are common in England and indeed throughout Europe . Archaeology has shown a Bronze Age settlement at Minster-in-Thanet. The area became part of the Roman Empire under the emperor Claudius . Around 450AD, the Jutes arrived in the Minster area and established
841-589: Was settled in 1937 by refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and continues to flourish as an international community. The Priory has the care of a relic of St Mildred that had been in the care of a church in Deventer in the Netherlands since the Reformation . Generally a flat landscape, the area's main features include marshes , farms and rivers . Thanet District Council has, however, assessed Minster Marshes, south of
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