Leominster abbey was an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

monastery established at Leominster in the county of

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, England. The name of the town refers to its minster, a settlement of clergy living a communal life. The monastery, perhaps founded in the seventh century, was originally a male house. After being destroyed by Danes, it was rebuilt as a Benedictine abbey for nuns (see

Leominster nunnery Leominster nunnery was an Anglo-Saxon nunnery at Leominster, Herefordshire, England. Founded in the ninth century, the nunnery is known to have been active in the eleventh century. The exact location of the nunnery is not known, but it may have ...

). In 1046 the abbess, Eadgifu, was abducted by Sweyn Godwinson. Knowles, David; Brooke C. N. L.; and London, Vera C. M. ''The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 940-1216'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1972 p. 214 Eadgifu is only abbess known by name. The convent was probably dissolved or suppressed not long after this incident.` ReadingAbbey

In the 12th century Henry I incorporated land at Leominster into the foundation of Reading Abbey. Catholic Encyclopedia Online accessed 12 December 2007 Reading Abbey in turn founded a Benedictine priory in Leominster of which the

Priory Church A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

survives at . Whether the priory was built on the site of the original Anglo-Saxon monastery is not clear. However, archaeological evidence of Saxon activity has been uncovered at the priory. The Galba Prayer Books, used at Leominster Abbey during the early 11th century, were probably mostly copied by a female scribe after 1016, whom medieval scholar and historian Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis calls "one of the most prolific contributors to the compilation" and most likely worked at the request of her abbess. This scribe wrote in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

and Latin. Bugyis speculates that the female scribe, like

Edith of Wilton Edith of Wilton ( – 16 September 984) was an English nun, saint, and the only daughter of Edgar, King of England (r. 959–975), and Saint Wulfthryth, who later became abbess of Wilton Abbey. Edgar most likely abducted Wulfthryth from Wilto ...

, created the Galba book for her own use, but that her fellow nuns later made their own contributions to it, either in direct collaboration with her or after her death, and that eventually it became a way to train those who used it in their own prayer practices.

References

External links

"Saxon Rule", ''Herefordshire Through Time''

Leominster Priory (official website)
Benedictine nunneries in England Monasteries in Herefordshire Christian monasteries established in the 7th century {{Herefordshire-struct-stub

References

Further reading

External links