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How do we know Hyde Abbey's history?
How do we know Hyde Abbey's history?
Believed to date from 1031, the New Minster Liber Vitae (the 'Book of Life') survives and is now kept in the British Library in London. It includes early historical accounts of New Minster's foundation and provides records of daily life at New Minster.
In 1110, it transferred with the monks from New Minster to Hyde and subsequently recorded life at Hyde Abbey up to the 1530s, thus providing a continuous record of the monastery's history across its two locations.
"The monks were enabled to leave their crowded site, the cause of many a serious inconvenience, and move to commodious quarters on the north side of Winchester, just beyond the city walls, known as Hyde Mead. Henceforth this important Benedictine house was known as Hyde Abbey.
The old site was surrendered into the king's hands, and was shortly afterwards restored to the cathedral church of St. Swithun. To the monks of Hyde the king granted another charter, whereby, amongst other regulations, it was arranged that a joint procession of the monks of St. Swithun and Hyde was to be made year by year.
Their new home was speedily ready for occupation, and in 1110 the monks of New Minster carried with them to the Abbey of Hyde, in solemn procession, their sacred relics, the great gold cross of Cnut's benefaction, together with the illustrious remains of Alfred, his queen and his son.
Henry I made several grants to the Abbey, among them the churches of Kingsclere and Alton and 5 hides in Alton which William I had given in exchange for land in the city of Winchester. He also confirmed to them the right of soc and sac, thol and theam and other liberties."
Relics and Rebuilding
Relics and Rebuilding
As well as the royal burials, the Abbey also acquired a number of relics from New Minster, including those of St. Josse (also known as St. Judoc) and the head of St. Valentine, gifted in 1041 by Queen Emma, widow of King Cnut.
As a result, Hyde Abbey became a popular pilgrimage destination and stopping off point on the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester to Canterbury.
However, only 30 years after its foundation, conflict in 1141 between supporters of King Stephen and Matilda during the Siege of Winchester led to fire-damage across Winchester and the Abbey had to be substantially rebuilt. Afterwards, the Abbey prospered and acquired considerable land in the area.
Over a century later, though, that rebuild hadn't spared the monks from the discomfort of the cold. Monks were granted fur caps in 1288 when a papal register entry records a "faculty to the abbot and convent of Hyde... to wear caps of sheep or lamb skin in divine offices and processions; the cold in those parts having caused paralysis and other diseases to some of the monks." Calendar of Papal Registers, Vol. 1, p.492 — British History Online
The monks' physical comfort wasn't the only issue. At Southwark on 8 February 1386/7, William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, issued a series of post-visitation injunctions to the Abbot of Hyde Abbey, aimed at improving the Abbey's governance.
These injunctions are recorded in Latin in the Liber Vitae and cover all kinds of misdemeanours, from non-observation of silence and complaints about bad bread, to monks who desire 'forbidden garments' and are 'openly attending hunts'.
Read the injunctions in English or watch them presented in short video-clips, produced in partnership with the University of Winchester.
The dissolution of the monasteries
The dissolution of the monasteries
In 1538, John Salcot, the last Abbot of Hyde, surrendered the Abbey to Henry VIII’s commissioners at the dissolution of the monasteries. Some of the twenty Hyde Abbey monks were pensioned off, others stayed in religious service in the Winchester area. Two monks remained in Hyde as vicar and curate of St Bartholomew’s, another two became curates in City, and one moved to the Cathedral.
Hyde Abbey's treasures were dispersed and the buildings rapidly dismantled for their building materials and anything else of value, yet the cartulary, the late-13th or early-14th century breviary, and the Liber Vitae survive to this day.
In 1542, just four years after the dissolution of the monastery, antiquarian John Leland visited the site - his report suggest that the tombs may have been opened at this time.
“In this suburbe stood the great abbay of Hyde… The bones of Alfred, King of the West Saxons, and of Edward his sone and king, were translated from the Newan Ministre, and laid in a tomb before the high altar at Hyde. In the which tomb there was of late found two little tables of lead, inscribed with their names.”
During the 250 years after the Dissolution, parts of the Abbey precinct were developed, and a grand house built in the southwest corner. The area next to the stream seems to have been rough grazing, perhaps heaped with mounds of rubble. The choir end of Hyde Abbey where Alfred and his family members were buried appears to have been gradually forgotten.
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