Gilling Abbey was a medieval

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

monastery established in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, England. It was founded at Gilling in what is currently

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

Blair ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'' p. 187 footnote 20 by Queen Eanflæd, the wife of King

Oswiu of Northumbria Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig (; c. 612 – 15 February 670), was King of Bernicia from 642 and of Northumbria from 654 until his death. He is notable for his role at the Synod of Whitby in 664, which ultimately brought the church in Northu ...

, who persuaded her husband to found it at the site where Oswiu had killed a rival and kinsman, King

Oswine of Deira Oswine, Oswin or Osuine (died 20 August 651) was a King of Deira in northern England. Life Oswine succeeded King Oswald of Northumbria, probably around the year 644, after Oswald's death at the Battle of Maserfield. Oswine was the son of Os ...

. Oswine died around 651 or 652. Eanflæd forced her husband to found the monastery in order to atone for Oswine's death, since Eanflæd was Oswine's second cousin.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 78 Under the laws of the time, the only way Eanflæd could take revenge for her cousin's death was to kill her husband or accept a substantial gift known as a

weregild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price ( blood money), was a precept in some historical legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, ...

. The abbey was built on that weregild.Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 80 Eanflæd also requested that the first abbot be a kinsman of Oswine.Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 230 By founding the monastery shortly after Oswine's death,Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 106 Oswiu and Eanflæd avoided the creation of a feud.Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 234 The monastery canonized Oswine as a saint, joining the ranks of several murdered Anglo-Saxon kings who were regarded as saints.Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 193 The first abbot of the monastery was a relative of Oswine's named

Trumhere __NOTOC__ Trumhere (or Thumhere; died ) was a medieval Bishop of Mercia. Trumhere probably was consecrated about 658 and died about 662.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 220 He was born in England but was educated in Ireland.Ste ...

.Kirby "Northumbria" ''Saint Wilfrid at Hexham'' p. 19 The second abbot was Cynefrith, who later left the abbey and went to Ireland.Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 101 Another early abbot was Trumbert, who either became

Bishop of Hexham The Bishop of Hexham was an episcopal title which took its name after the market town of Hexham in Northumberland, England. The title was first used by the Anglo-Saxons in the 7th and 9th centuries, and then by the Roman Catholic Church since ...

after being abbot,Kirby "Northumbira" ''Saint Wilfrid at Hexham'' p. 23 or was abbot after being deposed as bishop.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 91 Gilling may be identical with the monastery of ''Ingetlingum'', which had close ties to the monastery at

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

, which was held by

Wilfrid Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and beca ...

.Roper "Wilfrid's Landholdings" ''Saint Wilfrid at Hexham'' p. 61 Gilling became depopulated from the plague,Blair ''World of Bede'' pp. 162–163 sometime before 669.Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 166 Because of this, one of the monks there,

Ceolfrith Saint Ceolfrid (or Ceolfrith, ; also Geoffrey, c. 642 – 716) was an Anglo-Saxon Christian abbot and saint. He is best known as the warden of Bede from the age of seven until his death in 716. He was the Abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, an ...

, brother of Cynefrith, went to Ripon. Ceolfrith later went to Wearmouth-Jarrow, where he became abbot. It is unknown whether the depopulation of the monastery from the plague meant the end of the religious community at Gilling, or if it continued to exist after that.Pickles "Locating ''Ingetlingum'' and ''Suthgedling''" ''Northern History'' p. 316 The abbey's location has traditionally held to have been in or near Gilling West, Yorkshire. An alternative location of Gilling East, Yorkshire has been proposed by historians Richard Morris and Ian Wood.Pickles "Locating ''Ingetlingum'' and ''Suthgedling''" ''Northern History'' pp. 313-314

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* * * * * * * * * {{short description, Medieval monastery in Yorkshire Monasteries in North Yorkshire Anglo-Saxon monastic houses 7th-century establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 7th century 7th-century church buildings in England