Bedford Abbey was a short-lived

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

, recorded in 10th-century England. Bedford Priory, perhaps representing the same institution two centuries later, was an Augustinian

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

that within two decades of its foundation moved to nearby Newnham. Bedford Abbey existed in the 10th-century, staffed with Benedictine monks when

Oscytel Oscytel (or Oskytel or Oscetel; died 971) was a medieval Bishop of Dorchester and Archbishop of York. Early life Oscytel was probably of Danish ancestry.Duckett ''Alfred the Great'' p. 127''Oscytel, Oskytel'' is the anglicized version of the ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

, died in 971. The archbishop was buried in the abbey, after his body was taken there by its abbot,

Thurcytel Thurcytel (or Thurkytel) (died 28 June 975?) was abbot of Crowland and perhaps also of Bedford Abbey. Thurcytel of Crowland is known from the unreliable history of Crowland Abbey attributed to Pseudo-Ingulf, an account full of anachronisms in ...

(who later moved to

Crowland Abbey Crowland Abbey (also spelled Croyland Abbey, Latin: ''Croilandia'') is a Church of England parish church, formerly part of a Benedictine abbey church, in Crowland in the English county of Lincolnshire. It is a Grade I listed building. History A ...

). Thurcytel is the only known abbot of the monastery. Its history after this is obscure, and may have evolved into St Paul's, which became an Augustinian priory c. 1166. Around 1180, the priory moved to Newnham (see Newnham Priory).

References

10th-century establishments in England Anglo-Saxon monastic houses Benedictine monasteries in England Augustinian monasteries in England Monasteries in Bedfordshire Christian monasteries established in the 10th century Buildings and structures in Bedford {{England-stub