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TheOld Minsterwas theAnglo-Saxoncathedralfor the Englishdiocese of Wessexand thenWinchesterfrom 660 to 1093. It stood on a site immediately north of and partially beneath its successor,Winchester Cathedral.
Some sources say that the minster was constructed in 648 for KingCenwalh of Wessexas the church of St Peter and St Paul, though such sources are late and unreliable.[1]More likely it was builtc. 660to be the cathedral for the first bishop of Winchester, the Saxon BishopWine,[2]when the West Saxon bishopric was transferred fromDorchester-on-Thames.[3]It was enlarged and redecorated over the years andSaint Swithunwas buried outside it in 862. By the 10th century, the Minster was the priory church ofSt. Swithun's Priory,a community of monks living under the rule of StBenedict.[4]
In 901, theNew Minsterwas built next to it, so close that the singing of the monks inside each is said to have become hopelessly intermingled with the other. SaintÆthelwold of Winchesterand his successor SaintAlphegealmost completely rebuilt the minster on a vast scale during theirmonastic reformsof the 970s. The new church, which was dedicated in 980 and again in 993, had a central tower, north and south aisles, a crypt in an eastern apse, and a forecourt at the west.[5]Saint Swithun's body was taken into an indoorshrinein what had become the largest church in Europe. However, after theNorman conquest of England,BishopWalkelinbuilt a new cathedral alongside and the Old Minster was demolished in 1093.[6]Many of thekings of Wessexandof England(includingEgbert,king of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839), as well bishops, had been buried in the Old Minster,[7]so their bodies were exhumed and re-interred in the new building.
The Old Minster was excavated in the 1960s. The outline of the building is now laid out in brickwork in the churchyard adjoining Winchester Cathedral, and Saint Swithun's first grave is clearly marked. Finds from the site may be seen in theWinchester City Museum.The bones of the monarchs removed to the cathedral are housed in mortuary chests around thechoir.
Notable events
edit- Signing of theRegularis Concordiaby KingEdgar the Peaceable(973)
- Coronation ofEdward the Confessor(1043)
- Marriage of Edward the Confessor and Edith (1045)
- Coronation ofMatilda of Flandersas queen consort (1068)
Burials
edit- Æthelstan Ætheling
- Ælfgifu (wife of Eadwig)
- Cnut the Great,King of England, Denmark, and Norway[8]
- Harthacnut,King of England and Denmark[8]
- Emma of Normandy,wife ofÆthelred the Unreadyand Cnut the Great, Queen Consort of England, Denmark, and Norway[8]
- Godwin, Earl of Wessex(died 1053)[9]
References
edit- ^Yorke, B. A. E. (1982)The Foundation of the Old Minster and the Status of Winchester in the Seventh and Eighth Centuriesin "Proc. Hampsh. Field Club Archaeol. Soc.38, 1982, p.75
- ^though, as a Roman civitas it is possible that the city had earlier bishops; see Hill, Geoffrey (1900)The English DiocesesLondon: Elliot Stock p.20
- ^Crook, John (2014). "Winchester". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.).The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England(Second ed.). Chichester, UK: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 501–02.ISBN978-0-470-65632-7.
- ^""Our History", Winchester Cathedral ".Archived fromthe originalon 24 November 2014.Retrieved4 December2013.
- ^"Winchester: The cathedral."A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5.Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1912. 50-59.British History OnlineRetrieved 19 April 2020.
- ^"Winchester Cathedral", City of Winchester
- ^"Some Notes on the Religious Foundations in Winchester", Church Monuments Society
- ^abcMorris, Marc(2012).The Norman Conquest.Random House. p. 100.ISBN978-1-4481-3602-5.
- ^Walker, Ian W. 1997:Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King.Page 53.