Cookham Abbey was an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

monastery in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was established by 726.

History

Situated south of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

Cookham Cookham is a historic Thames-side village and civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire, England, north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End. Cookham forms the southernmost and most rural part of High Wyco ...

was traditionally part of

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

, but being near a Roman crossing point the abbey was captured in 733 by

Æthelbald of Mercia Æthelbald (also spelled Ethelbald or Aethelbald; died 757) was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands from 716 until he was killed in 757. Æthelbald was the son of Alweo and thus a grandson of King Eowa. Æthelbald came to ...

. At some point between 740 and 757, Æthelbald gave the monastery with its deeds to Christ Church, ( Canterbury Cathedral). After the death of Archbishop Cuthbert in 760, the deeds were stolen by two of the archbishop's pupils, Daegheah and Osbert, and given to

Cynewulf of Wessex Cynewulf was the King of Wessex from 757 until his death in 786. He ruled for about 29 years. He was a direct male descendant of Cerdic. Cynewulf became king after his predecessor, Sigeberht, was deposed. He may have come to power under the in ...

, who took possession of the monastery. In 779 after the

Battle of Bensington The Battle of Bensington was a major battle fought between Mercia, led by King Offa, and the West Saxons led by Cynewulf of Wessex. It ended with a victory for the Mercians, and the West Saxons recognizing Mercian overlordship. Nearly nothing i ...

Offa of Mercia Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æt ...

once again took the monastery and the missing deeds became a cause of much dissension, often mentioned in church councils. Before he died in 786, Cynewulf sent the deeds back to Canterbury in an act of penance. After Offa's death in 796, his widow

Cynethryth Cynethryth (''Cyneðryð''; died after AD 798) was a Queen of Mercia, wife of King Offa of Mercia and mother of King Ecgfrith of Mercia. Cynethryth is the only Anglo-Saxon queen consort in whose name coinage was definitely issued. Biography Orig ...

became the abbess. At the

synod of Clofesho The Councils of Clovesho or Clofesho were a series of synods attended by Anglo-Saxon kings, bishops, abbots and nobles in the 8th and 9th centuries. They took place at an unknown location in the Kingdom of Mercia. Location The location of the pl ...

, which took place somewhere in Mercia in 798, the archbishop

Æthelhard Æthelhard (died 12 May 805) was a Bishop of Winchester then an Archbishop of Canterbury in medieval England. Appointed by King Offa of Mercia, Æthelhard had difficulties with both the Kentish monarchs and with a rival archiepiscopate in sou ...

produced the deeds, and obtained the agreement of all, that the monastery rightly belonged to Canterbury. Æthelhard then immediately gave the monastery to Cynethryth in return for various pieces of land that she owned in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, able to support 160 households. Thus peace was reestablished between Mercia and Kent. In August 2021, archaeologists from the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

announced the discovery of a

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 whic ...

dating to the reign of Queen Cynethryth in the grounds of Holy Trinity Church. Finds included food remains, pottery vessels used for cooking and eating, a fine bronze bracelet and a dress pin.

Citations

References

* * Charte
S1258
in ''The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters'' Monasteries in Berkshire Anglo-Saxon monastic houses 8th-century establishments in England Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Christian monasteries established in the 8th century Churches completed in 726 Cookham 8th-century church buildings in England {{England-church-stub