A.D.

Abbot Brithnod* first set forth the limits of the isle, 976. assisted by Leo, a monk, and for a perpetual evidence of the possessions belonging to his church, caused a deep ditch to be cut through the main body of the fen,' called Abbot's Delf, to remain as a boundary between the respective possessions. This monastery was largely

* Abbot Brithnod is said to have been slain by the orders of Elfrida, queen dowager of king Edgar. There was also a duke Brithnoth, a nobleman of the first rank in the court of king Edgar, who was particularly liberal to the church of Ely. Bentham, p. 85. Brithnoth was duke of Northumberland, and sometimes called Alderman; he fell in an engagement with the Danish invaders, A. D. 991. Among the MSS. in the Cottonian library, is a fragment on the death of Brithnoth, in Anglo-Saxon poetry, distinguished by great spirit and eloquence. The poem is in praise of the warlike exploits and death of this nobleman. The title of duke was, in reality, first brought into England by king Edward III. who created his eldest son, duke of Cornwall. For though we find in Latin historians the word "Dux" used, and many "Duces" slain in the Danish invasion, yet they were not dukes, but governors of provinces.

The isle of Ely, strictly speaking, is that large tract of high ground, (of which the city of Ely is the principal place, and gives name to the whole) in which are included the villages of Stretham and Thetford, Wilburton, Haddenham, Sutton, Mepal, Manea, Witcham, Wentworth, Witchford, Downham, and Chettisham, making collectively but one island. Littleport, Coveney, and Stuntney, (though sometimes reckoned part of it) were, in their original state, disjointed by small intervals of the fenny ground, and, therefore, were distinct islands of themselves; but the three hundreds belonging to the isle extend from the bridge at Tid St. Giles, on the north, to Upware, below Stretham Mere, on the south, twenty-eight miles in length; and from Abbot's Delf, near Soham, (where the Delf bridge was re-built by the dean and chapter of Ely in 1765) on the east, to the river Nene, beyond Whittlesey, on the west, twenty-five miles in breadth. This whole district includes (besides the isle of Ely, properly so called) several considerable towns and villages, as Wisbech, March, Chatteris, Doddington, Elm, Outwell, Upwell, Welney, Whittlesey, Thorney, Leverington, Newton, Tid St. Giles, &c. the whole whereof is now called the Isle of Ely, and is, as a county palatine, subject to the lord bishop of Ely.

endowed with lands by the abbot Brithnod, and otherwise richly beautified through the bounty of many zealous people; multitudes, for devotion's sake, flocked hither, and king Canute, with his queen Emma, kept A.D. the feast of the purification at Ely, and as there was 1030. no other access but by shipping, he accordingly set sail thitherward, where, being received with solemn procession, and brought into the church, he ratified all the donations, before those present, which had been conferred by his royal predecessors, kings of England, with their immunities, upon the high altar; which privileges were again confirmed by Edward the Confessor, who is said to have received the early part of his education here. This place was considered so secure, by reason of the vast and deep waters wherein it was situated, that in the time of Edward the Confessor, when the Danes threatened another invasion, treasures were sent here for protection; but the most signal testimony of the strength of this place, on account of the said waters encompassing it, is, that during the confusion occasioned by the Norman invasion, divers 1066. of the principal nobility of the English nation made this place their greatest refuge against the strength and power of the Norman conqueror, and were able, for a considerable time, to hold out a defence against a most powerful army brought for subduing it.

Its Defence against William the Conqueror.

Notwithstanding that William, duke of Normandy, had gained his great and decisive victory of Hastings, some steps were taken by the English towards adjusting their disjointed government, and uniting themselves against the common enemy. Two potent earls, Edwin

and Morcar, who had fled to London, with the remainder of their broken army, took the lead on the occasion; in concert with Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, they proclaimed Edgar Atheling, the only heir of the Saxon line, to be king. However, the two earls, despairing of making any effectual resistance, retired with their troops to their own provinces, and as soon as William passed the Thames, Stigand made submission, and Edgar Atheling, who was ill qualified to govern, yielded to his authority. Still discontents and secret conspiracies multiplied in various parts against the new government. Thurstan, the seventh abbot of Ely, willing to support the interest of Edgar Atheling, gave assistance and shelter to several English lords, determined to defend their country against one whom they regarded as an usurper, and the natural strength of this isle was supposed capable of resisting the progress of William's army; Stigand also, being looked upon with a jealous eye by the Conqueror, afterwards fled into the isle for safety, so likewise did Egfrid, abbot of St. Alban's, with the treasures of his church, also the earls Edwin and Morcar, with Edelwine, bishop of Durham, besides many thousands of the clergy and laity. The noblemen understanding that Hereward, lord of Brunne,† in Lincolnshire, (youngest son of Leofric, earl of Mercia,) a person renowned for valour and military skill, was returned from abroad, whither he had been banished, sent for him to join in the defence of their native country; with which request Hereward willingly complied, and was received with great honor, as well by the abbot and his monks, as by the noble persons there, viz. Edwin, and Morcar, his brother,

with the earl of Warwick, and other eminent men, who, having been much oppressed by the Conqueror, had fled thither.*

When king William was informed thereof, he resolved to obtain the isle by assault, and thereupon caused a rendezvous of his whole army at Alrehede, but he could make no impression on the isle, and having sustained several disasters, departed with little or no hope of conquering it.

Many noble exploits were performed by Hereward during the siege, who beat his adversaries, and deluded them so often, that he obtained lasting renown by sustaining the tottering ruins of the country.

How the King obtained Possession thereof.

The king, observing that all his endeavours to conquer the isle by force were frustrated by the obstinate valour of its defenders; having lost many men in the attempt, and considering, as he wanted to go into Normandy, it would be unsafe to leave such an enemy behind him, had recourse to other expedients, and even manifested a willingness to make terms with an enemy whom he could not overcome by arms. At length, by the counsel of William, bishop of Hereford, and others, the king came to a determination, that all the estates, manors,

* Holinshed (p. 10) mentions the English nobility, with Hereward, taking refuge in the isle of Elie, to defend themselves from the injuries of the Normans.

+ Called Audreth at this present day, near which there is a military rampire still to be seen. Dugdale, p. 186.

and possessions belonging to the abbey, which lay without the compass of the isle, should be seized on and divided amongst his soldiers, who would thereby be excited to more than ordinary diligence: the monks having knowledge of this, consulted with their abbot, and resolved not only to yield peaceably to the king, in case he would honourably restore them all the manors and lands belonging to their church, but to give him one thousand marks; and accordingly, without the knowledge of the noble Hereward, made that tender to the king at Warwick, who received the proposal with approbation. Hereward, being informed of this step, at first, in his rage, resolved to set fire to the church and town, but desisted at the earnest prayer of the A.D. monks; still, refusing himself to submit, he left the 1073. isle, it being the seventh year of his holding of the same against the king.

1073.

After the Surrender of the Isle to the King, how it became a Bishoprick, and how the Conventual Church was afterwards converted into a Cathedral by Henry VIII.

King William, having now got possession of the isle, in order to protect himself from the like annoyance from the same quarter in future, compelled the abbot to

* Though it is said that Hereward never ceased to concert hostile measures against the Conqueror, still he had not only the singular fortune to escape death or imprisonment in these turbulent times, but, which is more remarkable, it appears that his estates descended to his heirs; for his only daughter and heir married Hugh de Evermore, lord of Deeping, in Lincolnshire, from whom the great lordship of Brunne (Hereward's patrimony) descended by female heirs, to the families of Rulton, FitzGilbert, and Wake.