OTWITHSTANDING the differences which occur in the several histories of this Priory, NOT brief as they are, the authors seem yet to agree in accepting as accurate, and as the groundwork of their descriptions, William of Malmesbury's1 account of it, together with the assumption that it was originally founded by Saint Milburga A.D. 680.2 In a diligent search into the writings on the subject, I have, however, failed to discover that it has been so assumed and stated earlier than the fourteenth century: Bede, a contemporary, does not refer to it; William of Malmesbury, who wrote nearly four hundred and fifty years after the supposed foundation, and must have taken his information from manuscripts now lost to us, or have acquired it by tradition, does not name any year, nor further than that St. Milburg lived and died there; Dugdale says she erected a Nunnery there,3 giving Malmesbury as his authority, who in fact says nothing of the kind: and another account is that she procured the foundation.5 She appears to have become its abbess and to have been such at the time of her death, which happened on or about February 20th,7 or 23rd, 722,9 according to some later writers, and she was buried there. The place is said to have been anciently called Wimnicas,10 that being the Saxon name, but it became known only as "Moche Wenlocke"; the Latin names being Wenlochium, Winlocium, or Ventolochium;11 the British, Llan Meilien, or Saint Milburg's Church ; and undoubtedly there was in very early times some kind of religious house here, and the probability is that Saint Milburga in some way added to its wealth, or assisted in the rebuilding12 or increasing some portion of the structure; and this, together with her royal descent, would have induced her election to the office of abbess. It is worth remember7 Brit. Sanct., i, 124. 1 De gestis Regum, lib. ii, cap. 13. Pontificum, fo. 164. 2 Dugdale's Monasticon, v, 72. De gestis 3 Ib. • Malmesbury's words are, "Milburga apud Wenlock requiescit, olim ab accolis nota sed post adventum Normannorum dum nescitur locus Sepulchri," etc. Tanner repeats Dugdale's error. 5 Brit. Sancta, i, 129. 8 Acta Sanct., iii, 388, et seq. 10 Monasticon, v, 73. Tanner's Notitia Monastica, p. 444. 11 Acta Sanct., vol. iii, 388. On the seals it is written Wenlok. 12 Her father (Merewald) and her uncle (Wul • Tanner's Notitia Monastica, p. 444 (quoting phere) liberally contributed." Brit. Sanct., i, p. 129. Capgrave). Leland. Collect., vol. iii, p. 170. Edit. 1774. A A ing that at the time when she lived there were few places of the kind, and the noble daughters of our land were sent abroad for their education. The references to the position and acts of Milburga would incline me to think that she really added the nun's department to the already existing monastery. Connected with these subjects is the interesting inquiry into the motives of benefactors; for in the majority, if not in all cases, of retirement to the cloister and grants to the Church, the occurrence of a crime, then too frequent, or an event having influence on the passions, was the immediate cause. I think I have sufficient grounds for stating that murder was the occasion of the taking of the first steps towards the advancement of that church and abbey which eventually became the most beautiful, most powerful, and the wealthiest in Shropshire. Except by comparing writers, it would be difficult to ascertain, even approximately, the degrees of relationship of the several personages (not historically of much importance) named as being connected with Milburga, and this arises as much from the habitual carelessness of the mediæval scribes, as from ignorance of the exact consanguinity and the indiscriminate use of similar terms for various degrees. It is, however, necessary, in order to assign a motive for Milburga's pious acts, that I should endeavour to state some of her family ties and the deeds antecedent to her retirement from the world. Her parents were Merewald (brother of Wulphere King of Mercia, who commenced his reign about A.D. 657) and Ermenburga1 (daughter of Ermeurod and niece of Earconbert King of Kent, who began his reign A.D. 640). Her sisters were Mildritha and Milgitha.2 Egbert was son of Earconbert, and succeeded him as King of Kent A.D. 664. Within a years after the commencement of his reign he was accessory to the murder of his two infant nephews, Elbert and Egelbright, uncles to Milburga. Egbert is said to have repented of the murder; and as the only modes of exhibiting contrition were by gifts for holy purposes or by entering the Church, he acted in accordance with the custom of the age and granted as compensation a part of the Isle of Thanet at Minster, for the purpose of building a monastery, and Milburga's mother founded a monastery there. Mildred dedicated herself to celibacy and became abbess of that Nunnery—for the name of Monastery was applied to houses for both sexes; and although we get no direct statement, Also called Domneva, or Dompneva. Bollandus falls into an error in saying "Mater ejus non S. Ermenburga sed Domneva." Acta Sanct., iii, 388. Brit. Sanct., i, pp. 124, 129. De Gestis Regum, lib. i, cap. 4. Probably prior to 669, when Egbert "gave Reculver to Bass, the mass-priest, that he might build a minster there." Bede, Anglo-Sax. Chron. Almost all the medieval writers mention this murder with more or less minuteness. • Brit. Sanct., i, 124. |