Evesham Abbey

For centuries travellers have visited this sacred site, situated in the Heart of England and the Vale of Evesham, first as pilgrims then as tourists. These pages are dedicated to the history of the abbey, to those who lived in it and served it and aims to discuss how it founded and shaped the town and vale of Evesham.

Evesham Abbey was founded by St. Ecgwine, third Bishop of Worcester, about 701, in Worcestershire, England, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The founder's charter of endowment, dated 714, records that a herdsman of the bishop, named Eoves, was one day favoured with a vision of The Virgin Mary. St. Ecgwine, being informed, visited the spot and there the Blessed Virgin appeared to him also, commanding him to erect in that place a monastery in her honour. The bishop at once set about the task, being liberally assisted in the work by Ethelred and Kenred, successive kings of Mercia, and others. The derivation of the name Evesham is accounted for by the legend of Eoves (or Eof). It is stated, though contemporary charters make the fact doubtful, that St. Ecgwine resigned his see in order to become first abbot of the new foundation, which he ruled until his death in 717. He was buried in the abbey church and his shrine, beautified by subsequent abbots, became in after years one of the richest and most popular in the West of England, and many miracles are recorded as having taken place there.

In 941, after the havoc wrought by the Danes, the few surviving monks were ejected and secular canons installed in their place. Their possession of the abbey, however, did not last long, for in 960 St. Dunstan and St. Ethelwold, then engaged upon their great reform of the English monasteries, restored the Benedictines to their own. A second expulsion occurred in 977 and it was not until 1014 that the monks effected their final return. With the Norman Conquest and the consolidation of the kingdom of England, Evesham grew and prospered, and enjoying royal favour, became one of the most important abbeys of Black Monks in the country, so much so, indeed, that the jealousy of the bishops of Worcester was aroused.

As in the case of many other monasteries the bishops of Worcester claimed rights of visitation and diocesan authority over the monks. The dispute continued for a long time, but eventually the exemption from episcopal jurisdiction, originally obtained by St. Ecgwine, was confirmed by Rome in 1206. In this, as in other matters, the internal history of the abbey, as recorded in the 'Evesham Chronicle', differs only in detail from that of any other great Benedictine house of the same period. A succession of worthy abbots, seldom broken, guided its fortunes through the eight centuries of its existence. The use of abbatial pontificalia was obtained in 1160 by Abbot Adam from the reigning pope. At the height of its prosperity the abbey was one of the largest and most stately in England. It had two dependent 'cells' — Penwortham in Lancashire and Alcester in Warwickshire — besides another in Denmark; the abbots were also the patrons of seventeen neighbouring parishes; they had a seat in the House of Lords; and they exercised civil jurisdiction within the bounds of the monastic territory.

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