Ely Abbey

 ( Benedictine Nunneries In England ) 

Ely Abbey was an Anglo-Saxon monastic establishment on the Isle of Ely first established in 673 by Æthelthryth the daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia. The first establishment was destroyed by the Danes in 870, but Edgar, King of England re-established the monastery in 970 as part of the English Benedictine Reform.

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First establishment The precise siting of Æthelthryth's original monastery is not known. It was built on land she had received from her late husband, Tondberct, "prince of the South Gyrwas",Bede, Ecclesiastical History, iv, 19 as a dower. Macpherson, Ewan. "St. Etheldreda." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909

The original Abbey was established in 673 as a double monasteryLawrence, C.H., Medieval Monasticism. London: Longman, 1984. p, 52 with facilities for both and . Athelthryth's sister, Seaxburh married King Eorcenberht of Kent. Upon her husband's death, she served as regent for her son, Ecgberht. Despite having founded abbeys at Sittingbourne and Minster-in-Sheppey (where her daughter, Ermenilda was a nun), she subsequently chose to retire to her sister's foundation at Ely.Yorke, Barbara. Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses, London, Continuum, 2003, p. 52 When Athelthryth died in 679, Seaxburh succeeded her as abbess.

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See also

• Abbots of Ely
• Abbesses of Ely

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