MONASTERII DE ABINGDON. EDITED BY THE REV. JOSEPH STEVENSON, M.A., OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DURIIAM, AND VICAR OF LEIGHTON BUZZARD. LELAMI PUBLISHED by the AUTHORITY OF THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF HER MAJESTY'Ś VOL. I. FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE MONASTERY UNTIL THE LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS. 1858. PREFACE TO THE CHRONICLE OF ABINGDON. § 1. THE present work has been selected for publi- The Chrocation as presenting, within a narrow compass, materials nicle of Abingdon: for the history of a great subject. Not only does its general it abound with minute information of local interest, value; but, what is far more important, it exhibits a type of the monastic system as it prevailed in our own island, and gives us a standard whereby to form an estimate of its capabilities and its resources. We see how the idea was worked out and reduced into practice, for here it assumes a form, tangible, precise, and definite. An authentic record of the youth and manhood of a large Benedictine abbey is laid open to our inspection; here we may read of its sayings and doings; its thoughts, wishes, and feelings; its affections and its antipathies; its hopes and its fears. We trace the progress of its fortunes, propitious and adverse, the steps by which it gradually gained its large extent of real and personal property, and secured for itself exemption from the common law of the land. a 2 its impartiality; its truthfulness; And, lastly, we may inform ourselves of the mode in which it dealt with the wide possessions and the vast influence which, through good report and evil report, it succeeded in acquiring. § 2. This narrative possesses one important recommendation, it comes before us in no questionable shape. When it was penned there existed no temptation either to suppress or to pervert the truth. It was written by a monk, within a monastery, and intended for the inspection of none but the inmates of the same establishment. No necessity had then arisen to plead for the continuance of observances which were gradually losing their hold upon the people, or to defend the wisdom of theories which daily were growing obsolete. The affections of the layman still sided with the monk; the precincts of the abbey were still holy ground; and popular opinion still proclaimed that it was a holy and a wholesome deed to dedicate the best that one possessed" in pure and perpetual alms to God and the blessed ever-Virgin Mary, and the house of Abingdon and the monks there serving God for ever." § 3. As there existed no antecedent inducement to deal unfairly with the truth, so there is no internal evidence that the truth has been unfairly dealt withal. The compilers of this narrative, whoever they may have been, have executed their labour with commendable singleness of purpose. Their intention was to record the history of their own monastery, and to that object they have religiously confined themselves. Guiltless of every attempt to produce effect, and devoid of all artistic skill, they have told what they had to tell 1 Excepting in such instances of political disorganization as described, pp. 485, 486, 493, 494. |