2 which is said to have derived its name from this its earliest occupant. Upon that point, however, the tradition of the monastery was uncertain, and therefore suspicious. In all these statements we recognize the homage rendered by national ignorance or local vanity to the splendid fictions of Geoffrey of Monmouth and his imitators. But captivating as the theory might be to the imagination of these uncritical times, it was as deliberately abandoned as it had hastily been caught up. The names of Lucius and Abbennus, Faganus and Duvianus, were speedily forgotten. The tradition of the monastery, when questioned as to its founders, points with a steady hand to Cissa, Ceadwalla, and Ini, the successive kings of Wessex. 5 duced into § 4. Despite its contiguity to Kent, the patrimony Christianof St. Augustine and the scene of his labours, Wessex ity introembraced the Christian religion among the latest of Sussex; the kingdoms of the Heptarchy. While the faith shone with a steady light in distant Northumbria, Wessex was among the dark places of the earth. Beda knew 1 See vol. i. pp. 2, 3. 2 Abingdon derives its name, not, as might perhaps at first sight be supposed, from the abbey there founded,-Abbey-dune, or Abbotsdune. Philology forbids it. The place was so called from Abba, one of the early colonists of Berkshire. He has left traces of his name in the localities following :-Abbancrundle (i. 315), Abban-byorh (i. 333), and Abban-wyl (i. 405). Leland had not observed this when he wrote as follows:-" Abbingdune, id est, Oppidum Abbatis; ante conditum ibidem cœnobium Seukes- It will be observed that the 5 See vol. i. pp. 9, 38, 120, &c. from Sussex into not how he could better describe its inhabitants than by the emphatic designation of "paganissimi." The spiritual condition of the neighbouring districts was not more satisfactory. The entire population of the South Saxons was ignorant of the name and faith of God. As late as the year 686, Christianity had gained no footing whatever in the Isle of Wight. Successive missionaries from home and abroad had attempted to evangelize the pagan inhabitants of the southern states of England, but one after another had abandoned the task as impracticable. Where they failed, the more energetic Wilfrid was successful. Within the inaccessible wilds of Sussex he experienced a kindly welcome from the half-christianized Adilwalch, the king of this remote district. He received from the king a grant of land at Selsey, near Chichester; on that peninsula he established himself, with the little band of missionaries who still clung to him in his exile, and shared his labours and misfortunes. From this point Wilfrid and his companions diverged into the neighbouring districts; and the preaching of these men gave to Wessex the glad tidings of the Gospel. § 5. While Centwin claimed to be the supreme ruler Wiltshire; of Sussex, it embraced within its limits various petty "Brittaniam perveniens [Birinus] ac primam Gevissorum gentem ingrediens, cum omnes ibidem paganissimos inveniret . . . ratus est ibi ... Verbum prædicare." II.E. iii. 7. 2 Beda tells us that in A.D. 681, the province of the South Saxons "paganis cultibus serviebat," H. E. iv. 13; and again, in the same chapter, "tota provincia Australium Saxonum Divini nominis et fidei erat ignara." 3 "insula Vecta. . . quæ catenus erat tota idolatriæ dedita." H. E. iv. 17. Eddius, in his Life of Wilfrid, thus describes the locality: "Provincia. . . quæ pro rupium multitudine et silvarum densitate, aliis provinciis inexpugnabilis restitit." Cap. xl. ap. Gale's "Scriptt." 1, 72. See also, to the same effect, Fridegode, ap. Mabill. Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened. iii. i. 170. states, each of which was governed by a subregulus, who exercised an independent authority within his own principality. Of these viceroys one was named Cissa, whose dominions included Wiltshire and the greater part of Berkshire.1 Cissa and his nephew Hean were the co-founders of Abingdon. and from Wiltshire shire. § 6. During one of these missions which emanated from Selsey, Hean was present at the delivery of a into Berkdiscourse upon the dangers arising from the love of riches. The preacher took for his text the passage of St. Mark, which declares that "it is easier for a camel "to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." These words Hean, like Anthony, the founder of monachism, applied to himself, and startled by the case of the rich young man "who went away grieved, for he had many possessions," he resolved that he would go and sell all that he had, and lead a life of humility and poverty. In his sister Ceolswitha (or Cilla, as she is more generally called,) he found one likeminded; she encouraged his resolution, and professed His royal residence was at Bedwyn, in Wiltshire, where he built a castle, the ruins of which are still visible, and are described by Bishop Gibson (Camd. Brit. p. 126) and Sir Richard C. Hoare in his History of Ancient Wiltshire, (ii. 14 fol. Lond. 1819), the latter of whom describes the inner ditch as at least 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. At no great distance from this spot are Chilton (Cilla's town?) and Henwood (Hean's wood?). It is curious that in immediate contiguity with each other, in the same country, (although at some distance from the localities already specified,) we find "Talia secum volvens, intravit The foun Abingdon contem plated: herself ready to imitate his example. From their uncle Cissa they obtained a grant of land, situated towards the south of Oxfordshire; they added to it their own patrimonial inheritance, and this spot they regarded as the scene of their future labours. The superior energy of Cilla enabled her speedily to found a nunnery, which she dedicated in honour of her country woman St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, on a site thence named Helenstow. The history of this establishment is soon told. During her administration it flourished; but after the death of its foundress and first abbess, the nuns moved up the Thames to Wightam or Witham, where they continued for about a century, until the war which broke out between Offa, king of Mercia, and Kinewolf, king of the West Saxons, expelled the inmates, and the convent was dispersed once and for ever.1 § 7. Destined to attain a greater maturity, the esdation of tablishment founded by Hean was of slower growth and more difficult nurture. The broader features of its foundation are sufficiently perceptible, notwithstanding occasional obscurity. The tradition of the monastery cannot be brought into harmony on this point with some assertions contained in the documentary evidence.2 But accepting them as they stand, they point to the following account of the foundation of Abingdon. 1 See vol. i. p. 8, vol. ii. p. 269. lated and fragmentary; and not only so, but these fragments are open to suspicion in consequence of an injudicious attempt having been made at an early period to piece them together without regard to consistency or chronology. § 8. When Cissa, about the year 675, granted to but first! Hean a considerable portion of land, of which Abingdon delayed; formed the central point, it was with the expressed understanding, that upon it a monastery should be founded. Cissa was succeeded by Ceadwalla; the grant made to Hean was confirmed and augmented by a donation of twenty hides of land, which stretched apparently from the banks of the Thames in the direction of Cumnor. Upon his departure to Rome, Ceadwalla was succeeded by Ini. During the whole of this period Hean was inactive. On his accession to the throne in A.D. 688, Ini found that the intention of the donor had not yet been fulfilled. He was dissatisfied, and he pressed Hean to comply with the terms of the gift. It is not easy to understand Hean's conduct at this time, and impossible to vindicate it. The grant from Cissa had been in existence for twenty years before Hean had taken the preliminary step of becoming even a simple monk. In A.D. 695, eleven years after Ini's accession, he took the usual monastic vows; but in so doing he rather increased than removed the difficulty, for a monk could neither hold nor transmit property. It might reasonably have been concluded either that he had abandoned his intention, or that he was influenced only by selfish motives; and this appears to have been the impression produced upon the mind of his sovereign.2 § 9. Whatever might have been his ultimate in- and then tentions in regard to Abingdon, we cannot accuse by Ini; suspended Ini of rashly putting them into execution. He had 'See i. 18, note, and p. 126. This grant was equivalent to two thousand acres. At this very time Beda addressed a letter to Bishop Ecgbert of York, which shows us what |