Minster Abbey is the name of two abbeys in

Minster-in-Thanet Minster, also known as Minster-in-Thanet, 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 Cant ...

, Kent, England. The first was a 7th-century foundation which lasted until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Beside its ruins is St Mildred's Priory, a Benedictine community of women founded in 1937.

History

According to the

Kentish Royal Legend 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 ge ...

, Minster Abbey was a

double monastery A double monastery (also dual monastery or double house) is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East a ...

founded AD 670 by

Domne Eafe Domne Eafe (; floruit late 7th century), also ''Domneva'', ''Domne Éue'', ''Æbbe'', ''Ebba'', was, according to the Kentish royal legend, a granddaughter of King Eadbald of Kent and the foundress of the double monastery of Minster in Thanet Pr ...

or Domneva; Eormenburg or Ermenburga is either her original name or that of her sister. Domne Eafe was a Kentish princess who accepted land for a house of prayer as

Weregild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price (blood money), was a precept in some archaic legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, to b ...

for the killing of her brothers

Æthelred and Æthelberht Saints Æthelred and Æthelberht (also ''Ethelred'', ''Ethelbert'') according to the Kentish royal legend (attested in the 11th century) were princes of the Kingdom of Kent who were murdered in around AD 669, and later commemorated as saints an ...

. The story is that she was granted as much land as her pet deer could run around in a day, whence the deer used to symbolise Minster-in-Thanet. Domne Eafe was succeeded as abbess in about 700 by her daughter

Mildrith Saint Mildrith, also Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred, ( ang, Mildþrȳð) (born c. 660, died after 732), was a 7th and 8th-century Anglo-Saxon abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, Kent. She was declared a saint after her death, and later he ...

(Mildred), who was succeeded by Edburga, daughter of King Centwine of the West Saxons. At the end of the eighth century the abbess was Selethryth, sister of King

Offa of Mercia Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was List of monarchs of Mercia, King of Mercia, a kingdom of History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa of Mercia, Eowa, Offa came to ...

, and she was remembered for recovering estates of the abbey which had been seized by Archbishop

Wulfred Wulfred (died 24 March 832) was an Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury in medieval England. Nothing is known of his life prior to 803, when he attended a church council, but he was probably a nobleman from Middlesex. He was elected archbishop ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. She was succeeded by Abbess Cwoenthryth. According to late traditions the abbey was sacked by the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

in about 855, but at the end of the ninth century

Asser Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for his c ...

wrote in the present tense that "an excellent minster is established on the island". The boundary of the community is mentioned in Charter S 535 of 948. At the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

the abbeys were dissolved and Minster Abbey became Crown property. It became a private house until in 1937 it was bought by Benedictine nuns from St Walburga's Abbey in

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese ...

, Bavaria as a refuge from persecution and became a dependent Priory. In 1953 a small relic of St Mildred was returned to Minster from

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

in the Netherlands.

Holy Days

* 13 July, St Mildred's feast day * 19 November, St Ermenburga's feast day * 12 December, St Edburga's feast day

Visiting

Most of the grounds of the abbey are closed to the public, although it is possible to view the outside of the Saxon and Norman wings on guided tours. The abbey's chapel is accessible for private prayer as is the nearby parish church, St Mary the Virgin. There is a train station ( Minster railway station) about 350 yards from the abbey.

References

External links

The Website of Minster Abbey
{{Archdiocese of Southwark Monasteries in Kent