A
monastery was built at Glastonbury in the seventh century. In 1125
William
of Malmesbury visited
the area while researching a book on the history of England. He afterwards
argued that as well as Edgar
Atheling
and Edmund
Ironside,
several other important people were buried at Glastonbury including
King Arthur, St. Patrick and St. David. He also claimed that the relics
of Benedict
Biscop, St.
Aiden, St. Dunston and St. Paulinus were also at the monastery. This
claim was rejected by the monks of Canterbury
who claimed they had most of these remains at their shrine.
On
25th May, 1184, everything at Glastonbury, except for the Bell Tower,
was destroyed by fire. Henry
II immediately
arranged for rebuilding the abbey and the old church at Glastonbury.
Soon afterwards the monks at Glastonbury claimed they found King Arthur's
tomb. This was reported by Gerald
of Wales and
Glastonbury soon became an important place for pilgrims
to visit. By the end of the 13th century the religious shrine brought
in about £120 a year.
In September 1539 Henry
VIII gave instructions
for Glastonbury to be closed down. As well as the confiscation of
the shrine's wealth, Richard Whyting, the 80 year-old abbot of Glastonbury
was hung, drawn and quartered. The four parts of his body was divided
between Wells, Bath, Ilchester and Bridgwater.
14th
century kitchen at Glastonbury
(1)
Sidney Heath, Pilgrim Life in the Middle Ages (1911)
From very early days Glastonbury
was considered a sacred spot, for here King Arthur was buried. The
first church is said to have been a little wattled building erected
by St. Joseph, but the early ecclesiastical history of the place is
very obscure, although two early charters mention the little wooden
church, the forerunner of the famous monastery.
In the sixth century St.
David is reputed to have built a new church near the old one, and
still later King Ina built and endowed a monastery. After the Danish
invasions the foundation declined, but was brought into prominence
again by St. Dunstan, who caused Glastonbury to become famous throughout
Europe for its culture and learning, and whose spurious shrine in
later days attracted thousands of pilgrims.
(2)
D.
J. Hall, English Medieval Pilgrimage (1965)
With Glastonbury alone
remaining in Somerset, and the sight of desecration, dismantling and
homeless monks in all the
country round, Whyting knew the end was near. By an act of April 1539
the king was empowered to take over any monastery by reason of attainder
of treason. This was needed to give legal colour, for, in the case
of a great abbey such as Glastonbury refusing to surrender, no law
empowered its seizure. Already, though, the abbey had been relieved
of its 'superfluous plate', including the great sapphire of Glastonbury,
a superaltar garnished with silver and part gold. That year the abbot
did not attend parliament, awaiting the inevitable at home.
In September the visitors
returned, this time with no pretence but that of confirming the abbot's
'cankered and traitorous mind'. This done, the eighty-year-old abbot,
'a very weak man and sickly', was sent forthwith to the Tower. Nothing
shows more clearly the king's and Cromwell's preoccupation than the
letters sent by the Visitors which speak of little but the items of
money, gold and plate which they are collecting. Soon Cromwell could
list 'The plate of Glastonbury, 11,000 ounces and
over, besides golden'.
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