St. Petrius de Burgh.
("Doomsday Book.")
This ancient cathedral city of Peterborough is most curiously situated.
On first looking at the map it is extremely difficult to determine
off-hand to which of the three counties, Northamptonshire,
Huntingdonshire, or Cambridgeshire, it belongs. It is true part of the
city lies in Huntingdonshire. Happily for Northamptonshire, the near
proximity of the river Nene probably decided the worthy monks to select
that site for the monastery. It was dedicated to St. Peter, whose
saintly name was evidently borrowed to designate the name of the
borough, and to displace the original appellation, which was
Medeswelhamsted, or Medeshampsted, taken out of compliment to a
whirlpool in the river Aufona, now the Nene. Though we are told that
this monastery was founded, about 655, by a royal Christian convert,
Paeda, the fifth king of Mercia, and finished by his brother, Wulfhere,
in atonement for his crime in connection with the premature death of
his sons for their Christian proclivities--though we are told this,
nevertheless we are inclined to think that the worthy brethren were
chiefly responsible for the selection of the site.
If we come to consider closely the locality of each monastic
institution, we generally stumble across a river, however small and
humble it may appear. And why is this? Simply for the fish, which was
carefully preserved and encouraged to multiply. Even to this day all
monks, nuns, and strict followers of the Roman Catholic persuasion
rigidly adhere to the observance of eating fish, instead of flesh, on
every Friday and fast day, though nowadays it is not customary for them
to catch fish in its natural element. In the good old days the holy
friars had to depend principally upon the yield of the river for
Friday's requirements, if perchance the monastery was situated far
inland. Travelling in mediaeval times was somewhat precarious and slow.
This monastery would be in all probability a wooden erection of
Anglo-Saxon style. Philologists demonstrate that "getimbrian"--to
construct of wood--was the Anglo-Saxon word for "build." If this
argument holds good, it accounts not only for the scarcity of Old
English lapidary remains, but also for their peculiar character. Till
the arrival of masons in 672 from the continent, the buildings had been
composed mostly of wood covered with thatch. Only towards the close of
the tenth century, with a better knowledge of stone-work, did architects
develop a definite style in England.
With the arrival of the Danes, about the middle of the ninth century,
the town was sacked, the monks were massacred, and the monastic
buildings were burnt. For more than a century it remained in oblivion,
till the combined efforts of Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, King
Edgar, and his wealthy chancellor Adulph, produced a monastery, over
which, in recognition of his pecuniary assistance, Adulph was made
abbot. As usual, the Norman Conquest left its mark in the shape of a
castle to protect the town, and to instil wholesome awe in the English.
It was early in the reign of Henry I. that a fire caused great injury to
the town and monastery. Though deplorable, as it at first appeared, it
nevertheless gave birth to the present Norman cathedral church, which
Abbot Salisbury commenced to build in 1118, two years after the
accident. At the same time the site of the town was transferred from the
eastern side of the monastery to the present situation north of the
Nene.
[Illustration: PETERBOROUGH