Barking Abbey

 ( Christian Monasteries Established In The 7th Century ) 

Barking Abbey was initially dedicated to the Virgin Mary and later to both St. Mary and St. Ethelburga, who served as the abbey's first abbess. The original abbey was a double monastery that followed either the Rule of St. Columbanus or the Benedictine Rule,

During her tenure as abbess, Æfgiva expanded and rebuilt the abbey, tearing down the existing building and founding "a church which rivalled the heights of the country." She also commissioned Goscelin to write a series of Hagiography for Ethelburga, Hildelith, and Wulfhilda, which he completed c. 1087. The relics of the three saints were then translated into the new church and reburied under the abbey's choir.

In 1086, the abbey and its holdings were documented in the Domesday Book.

Queen Maud/Matilda (c.1080–1 May 1118), wife of King Henry I, financed the construction of two stone bridges and a causeway over the branches of the River Lea in Stratford-by-Bow. As Barking Abbey was the closest to the bridges, the queen gave the abbey the responsibility for maintaining the bridges and donated lands as an endowment to finance those future repairs. After the foundation of Stratford Langthorne Abbey in 1135 (which was closer to the bridges), the Abbess of Barking transferred the responsibility to Stratford. This started a dispute between the two abbeys which was not settled until 1315. A settlement was reached when the Abbess of Barking paid the Abbot of Stratford Lanthorne £200 (); in return, the abbot agreed to maintain the bridges and causeway and to pay an annual rent of four marks () to the abbess.

Mary Becket, the sister of Thomas Becket, was created abbess of Barking in 1173, as reparation for the murder of her brother.

The abbey has been described as "perhaps the longest lived...institutional centre of literary culture for women in British history" /ref>

In the early thirteenth century, the east end of the abbey was expanded into a saints' chapel, where the relics of Ethelburga, Hildelith, and Wulfhilda were translated and given greater prominence. The church was rededicated by Abbess Mabel de Bosham (1215–1247).

Prior to 1214, as a "royal foundation", the abbesses of Barking had been chosen by the King. However, following pressure from the Pope, King John allowed the nuns to conduct elections to choose their abbess. The crown would later, however, claim they had the right to select a nun to join the abbey each time a new monarch acceded to the throne. This privilege was used to nominate Alice de Belhus on the accession of King Edward II in 1307, Margaret Swinford (daughter of Katherine Swynford and later abbess) on the accession of King Richard II in 1377, Maud Kylet in 1404 (five years after the accession of King Henry IV), and Goda Hapton in 1430 (eight years after the accession of King Henry VI).

The abbey's status granted it several rights and responsibilities. The abbess had precedence over all the other abbesses in England. She was also one of four abbesses who, "holding of the king by barony" were required to perform military service. The abbess had to perform these duties during the reigns of both King Henry III and King Edward I.

In the Taxation Rolls of 1291, the abbey was recorded as having an income of £300 13s 1¼d ().

Elizabeth de Burgh Queen of Scots, captured by the English in 1306, was confined here from March 1313 to March 1314.

Elizabeth de Clare was briefly imprisoned in Barking Abbey in 1322, as part of a campaign to force her to surrender some of her Welsh estates to Hugh Despenser the younger. Whilst imprisoned some of her "valuable possessions" were extorted but they were later recovered.

In 1377 a larger portion of the abbey's lands near to the River Thames was flooded. The devastation was severe and the abbey's fortunes never completely recovered: The devastation of the land, and the high cost of repairing Levee led to the abbey's impoverishment.

In 1382 the abbey's lands were recorded as still "inundated" (flooded), and their yearly income had fallen to 400 marks (). In 1409, 32 years after the flood, the land had still not been reclaimed, despite the abbey having spent over £2,000 (equivalent to £ million in ) in attempts to save it. Around 720 acres of land had been lost; 600 of which was in Dagenham Marsh. Various attempts were made to try to help the abbey. In 1380 the king released the abbey from certain charges. In 1384 they were given permission to "impressment" (force) labourers to help improve the situation on Dagenham Marsh. The abbey was granted "various liberties in Becontree hundred" in 1392 and 1462, and exempted from payment of "tenths" for ten years from 1409. It seems the land was never reclaimed, as during the reign of King Henry VII (1485–1509) the flooded lands were "exempted from the statute", thus "extending the jurisdiction of the Mayor of London as the conservator of the Thames".

In 1381 Elizabeth Chaucer became a nun at the abbey. Elizabeth was the daughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa Roet. When Elizabeth joined the abbey John of Gaunt, a royal prince, paid £51 8s 2d () "for expenses and gifts" for the occasion. Geoffery Chaucer was in the service of the king's court and John of Gaunt much of his life. Katherine Swynford, who eventually became the wife of John of Gaunt, was Philippa Chaucer's sister. Elizabeth Chaucer's brother, Thomas Chaucer, served in John of Gaunt's home at an early age and rose through the ranks to become very successful. Thomas's daughter would go on to become Duchess of Suffolk.Chaucer by Peter Ackroyd Copyright 2004 Doubleday

In 1404, Barking Abbey is recorded as having a librarian, one of just three insular abbeys to do so. Several fifteenth-century manuscripts used at Barking Abbey survive to the present, including a hymnalCambridge, Trinity College, MS 1226 (O.3.54) and Ordinale and Customary.Oxford, University College MS 16 The latter includes a calendar, instructions on how to perform certain rites, and commemorations of Barking's three saintly abbesses (Ethelburga, Hildelith, and Wulfhilda).

During Katherine de la Pole's time as abbess, the young Edmund and Jasper Tudor were sent to be brought up in the abbess's custody by King Henry VI's council. The boys were Henry VI's half brothers: the children of Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois; herself the widow of King Henry V and Henry VI's mother. The Tudors were raised and educated at Barking under the care of Abbess Katherine. An allowance of £52 12s () was paid for their maintenance. Edmund went on to father King Henry VII, who seized the throne at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

The abbey's water supply was ransomed by John Rigby of Cranbrook Manor in 1462. The water conduit to the abbey had broken and John Rigby had it repaired. He then decided that the abbey should pay an annual fee for its water supply. Katherine de la Pole was annoyed at this and instigated work to find an alternative and independent supply from their own spring.

The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 records the abbey's gross income as £1,084 6s 2¼d (), which made it the third wealthiest nunnery in England; behind Sion Abbey and Shaftesbury Abbey.

One of the abbey's seals, which was used during the 13th century until its dissolution in 1539, elevates their patron saints as many conventual seals did at the time. The Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ, St. Paul, and Saint Peter are depicted, as are its three abbess-saints, Æthelburh of Barking, Hildelith, and Wulfhilda of Barking.

After the dissolution, the abbey was demolished and much of its wealth was sold off. At the time of the dissolution the abbey also controlled the manors of Barking, Abbess Roding, Bulphan, Abbess Roding, Dagenham, Down Hall, Great Warley, Ingatestone, Fobbing, Tollesbury, Hockley, Ingatestone, Leaden Roding Mucking, Tollesbury, Chadwell Heath, Westbury in Barking, Wigborough and Ingatestone; all in Essex. Demolition started in June 1540 and took around 18 months to complete, with only the abbey's north gate and Curfew Tower were left standing. Records from 1540 show £744 was raised from selling the abbey's lead; £122 13s from the sale of the abbey's eleven bells (12,912 lb of "bellmetal"); and £182 2s 10d from the sale of "goods, grain and cattle". The abbey was also in possession of various jewels and valuables; including 3,586 ounces of silver.

Following its demolition some of the abbey's building materials were reused: some of the lead was used to repair Greenwich Palace's roof, and some of the stone used to construct King Henry VIII's new Manor at Dartford.