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Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continual history from the 7th century through to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. ==Monastic history== In the later seventh century, the site of the Abbey was chosen by Maidulbh, an Irish monk who established a hermitage, teaching local children. Toward the end of his life (late seventh century), the area was conquered by the Saxons.〔''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo Saxon England'', p. 209.〕 Malmesbury Abbey was founded as a Benedictine monastery around 676 by the scholar-poet Aldhelm, a nephew of King Ine of Wessex. The town of Malmesbury grew round the expanding Abbey and under Alfred the Great was made a burh,〔''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo Saxon England'', p. 209.〕 with an assessment of 12 hides. In AD 941, King Athelstan was buried in the Abbey. Æthelstan had died in Gloucester in October 939. The choice of Malmesbury over the New Minster in Winchester indicated that the king remained an outsider to the West Saxon court.〔Sarah Foot, ‘Æthelstan (893/4–939)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2011〕 A mint was founded at the Abbey around this time.〔''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo Saxon England'', p. 209.〕 By the 11th century it contained the second largest library in Europe and was considered one of the leading European seats of learning. The Abbey was the site of an early attempt at human flight when, during the early 11th century, the monk Eilmer of Malmesbury attached wings to his body and flew from a tower. Eilmer flew over 200 yards (200 m) before landing, breaking both legs. He later remarked that the only reason he did not fly further was the lack of a tail on his glider. The 12th-century historian William of Malmesbury was a member of the community, and it is mentioned in the Domesday Book 〔Barbara Yorke, ''Wessex Passio''.〕 The Domesday Survey says of the Abbey: :''In Wiltshire: Highway (11 hides), Dauntsey (10 hides), Somerford Keynes (5 hides), Brinkworth (5 hides), Norton, near Malmesbury (5 hides), Brokenborough with Corston (50 hides), Kemble (30 hides—now in Glos.), Long Newnton (30 hides), Charlton (20 hides), Garsdon (3 hides), Crudwell (40 hides), Bremhill (38 hides), Purton (35 hides); (fn. 127) in Gloucestershire: Littleton - upon - Severn (5 hides); (fn. 128) and in Warwickshire: Newbold Pacey (3 hides)''.〔V.C.H. Wilts. ii, pp. 125-7.〕〔Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 165.〕〔('House of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Malmesbury', ''A History of the County of Wiltshire''; Volume 3 (1956), pp. 210-231. ) Date accessed: 30 April 2014.〕 These lands were valued at £188 14s. in all and were assessed as 3 knights' fees. The current Abbey was substantially completed by 1180. The 431 feet (131 m) tall spire, and the tower it was built upon, collapsed in a storm around 1500 destroying much of the church, including two thirds of the nave and the transept. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Malmesbury Abbey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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