Editing Gloucester Cathedral (section)

==History==
===Early history===
The first recorded religious building on the site was a minster founded by [[Osric of Hwicce]] in around 679.{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=395}}  A relative, Kyneburg, was consecrated as the first abbess by [[Bosel]], [[Bishop of Worcester]]. Monastic life flourished, and the possessions of the house increased, but after 767 it seems probable that the nuns dispersed during the confusion of civil strife in England.

[[Beornwulf of Mercia]] is said to have rebuilt the church, and to have endowed a body of secular priests with the former possessions of the nuns.{{sfn|Page|1907|pp=53-61}} In 1022 [[Wulfstan (died 1023)|Wulfstan]], Bishop of Worcester, had the [[Rule of Saint Benedict|Benedictine rule]] introduced and the abbey dedicated to St Peter.{{sfn|Knowles|Brooke|London|1972|p=52}}

The early building history is confused; at some point in the early 11th century the monastic buildings were destroyed by fire, and it is recorded that [[Ealdred (archbishop of York)|Ealdred]], [[Bishop of Worcester]] rebuilt the church in around 1058 on a site "a little further from the place where it stood, and nearer to the side of the city".{{sfn|Pevsner|Metcalf|2005|p=100}}{{efn|The history of the early church is made more complicated by its intermingling with that of [[St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester|St Oswald's Priory]]. This foundation was established in around 909 by [[Æthelflæd]], daughter of [[Alfred the Great]], but was also dedicated to St Peter. Over the following centuries, as the abbey grew in wealth and importance, it incorporated elements of the priory.{{sfn|Herbert|1988|pp=275-288}}}} The foundations of the present church were laid by Abbot [[Serlo (abbot of Gloucester)|Serlo]] (1072–1104).{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=395}} Appointed by [[William the Conqueror]] in 1072, Serlo found a new building with a complement of only two monks and eight novices.{{sfn|Pevsner|Metcalf|2005|p=101}}

The situation was worsened by another major fire in 1088.{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=395}} But the town retained its importance as a favoured royal seat; William celebrated Christmas there in 1085 when, in discussion with his [[Witan]] in the [[chapter house]], he initiated the assembly of [[Domesday Book]].{{sfn|Pevsner|Metcalf|2005|p=101}} His support, together with that of others such as [[Walter de Lacy (died 1085)|Walter de Lacy]] and his wife,{{efn|On Walter de Lacy's death in 1085, he was buried in the chapter house at Gloucester and his son later became abbot there.<ref>Green, Judith A., ''The Aristocracy of Norman England''. (1997) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 398 {{ISBN| 0-521-52465-2}}</ref>}} enabled Serlo to embark on a major rebuilding, and between the laying of the foundation stone in 1089 and the abbey's re-consecration in 1100, work on the [[nave]], the [[apse]], the [[crypt]] and the chapter house was undertaken at speed{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=395}} and on an "exceptional scale".{{sfn|Cannon|2011|p=339}}

St Peter's Abbey had long enjoyed important royal connections, from its foundation, then under the patronage of the Conqueror, and in October 1216 it was chosen as the venue for the [[Coronation of the British monarch|coronation]] of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]], after the death of his father, [[John, King of England|King John]].<ref>{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/12950 |title=Henry III (1207–1272) |publication-date=September 2010 |year=2004 |last=Ridgeway |first=Huw W. |access-date=22 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053239/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/12950 |archive-date=21 September 2013 |mode=cs2 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/12950 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The nine-year-old boy was crowned in the presence of his mother [[Isabella of Angoulême|Isabella]], whose bracelet was reputedly used in place of a crown.{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=395}}

The abbey's royal connections continued, albeit in a darker vein, in the following century. In 1327, [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] was buried in an elaborate [[shrine]] at Gloucester, following his death at [[Berkeley Castle]] nearby. Widely believed to have been murdered,{{sfn|Cannon|2011|p=339}} Edward was entombed at Gloucester in a lavish ceremony attended by his widow, [[Isabella of France|Isabella]] and their young son, [[Edward III of England|Edward]]. The abbey reputedly benefitted from substantial gifts donated by those making pilgrimage to Edward's shrine, although this is disputed. [[Nikolaus Pevsner]] suggests that the more likely source of revenue was the new king, making donations ''in piam memoriam''.{{sfn|Pevsner|Metcalf|2005|p=104}}

Others support the traditional claim, and Jon Cannon, in his work, ''Cathedral: The great English cathedrals and the world that made them'', is certain that the presence of the body of the dead king had a long-term, beneficial, impact on the abbey's fortunes, citing [[Henry VIII]]'s later decision to make it a cathedral, on account of the presence of "many famous monuments of our renowned ancestors, kings of England."{{sfn|Cannon|2011|p=345}}

However occasioned, the cathedral's improved financial position enabled another great period of building. This work included the cloisters, with their famed fan vaulting.{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=398}} St Peter's was unusual as a religious foundation in commissioning its own history, the ''Historia Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae''. Its author, Walter Frocester (died 1412), became its first mitred abbot in 1381.{{sfn|Gransden|2013|p=391}}

===Dependencies===
* In 1134, William Fitznorman gave the church of [[Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck|St David]], Kilpeck, and the Chapel of St Mary at Kilpeck Castle to Gloucester Abbey, and a priory cell was established about 400 yards south east of the church, to house some monks displaced from [[Llanthony Priory]] by attacks of the Welsh. [[Kilpeck Priory]] closed in 1422.{{sfn|Bailey|2000|p=?}} 
* The [[St Guthlac's Priory|Priory of Saints Peter, Paul and Guthlac]] in [[Hereford]] was a dependency of Gloucester Abbey.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=110582|title=St Guthlacs Priory|work=PastScape.org.uk|publisher=Historic England|access-date=15 January 2023}}</ref>
* [[Ewenny Priory]] was founded by [[Maurice de Londres]] in 1141. Maurice granted the [[Norman architecture|Norman]] church of [[St. Michael]] to the [[abbey]] of St. Peter at Gloucester, together with the church of [[St Brides Major]] and the chapel at [[Ogmore, Vale of Glamorgan|Ogmore]] "in order that a convent of monks might be formed".{{sfn|Newman|1995|p=343}}
* In 1146 the college of Augustinian canons at [[Leonard Stanley|Stanley St. Leonard]] was given to the monastery by Roger de Berkeley III, with the consent of the prior and canons, and became St. Leonard Priory. His grandfather, Roger de Berkeley I, had retired as a monk to St Peter's Abbey around 1091.<ref>Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage'', new edition, II, p.124</ref>

===Dissolution and recreation===
At its inception, the abbey stood in the [[see of Worcester]]; but its position was transformed at the [[Dissolution of the monasteries]]. Following abolition, Henry VIII created the new [[Diocese of Gloucester]] and on 3 September 1541,{{sfn|Pevsner|Metcalf|2005|p=106}} the abbey church became its cathedral, with [[John Wakeman]], last abbot of [[Tewkesbury Abbey|Tewkesbury]], as its first bishop.{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=398}} The diocese covered the greater part of [[Gloucestershire]], with small parts of [[Herefordshire]] and [[Wiltshire]]. Although staunchly [[Cavalier|Royalist]] in its sympathies, the city, and the cathedral, escaped largely unscathed from the tumult of the [[English Civil War]] and plans for complete demolition formulated during the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]] were not taken forward.{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=398}}

The 18th and 19th centuries saw repeated periods of reconstruction, renovation and rebuilding. Counter to the approach sometimes adopted elsewhere in the [[Victorian era]], the 19th century restorations at Gloucester, firstly by the local architects, [[Frederick S. Waller]] and [[Thomas Fulljames]], and latterly by [[George Gilbert Scott]], were "on the whole, very tactful" [see box].{{sfn|Verey|Brooks|2002a|p=399}}{{efn|[[George Gilbert Scott]]'s plans for the restoration of [[Tewkesbury Abbey]] saw a furious assault from [[William Morris]], who subsequently founded the [[Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings]] to fight against the "scraping" he considered was so often the result of Victorian restoration.{{sfn|Stamp|2015|pp=12–13}}}} During the [[Second World War]] a recess in the crypt was used to house the [[Coronation Chair]], which had been moved in August 1939 from [[Westminster Abbey]] for safe keeping. The 13th century bog-oak effigy of [[Robert Curthose]] was placed on the chair and the whole covered by sandbags. The Great East Window was also dismantled and placed in storage.{{sfn|Shenton|2021|pp=201-202}} The remainder of the 10,000 sandbags supplied by the Office of Works were used to protect the other monuments in the cathedral, including the tomb of Edward II.{{sfn|Shenton|2021|pp=201-202}}

===Modern period===
The cathedral celebrated its 900th anniversary in 1989. In 2015 [[Rachel Treweek]] was installed as bishop, the first woman to be appointed to a [[diocesan bishop]]ric in the history of the [[Church of England]].<ref name="Daily Telegraph - Church of England names first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords">{{cite news|last1=Ward|first1=Victoria|title=Church of England names first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11496047/Church-of-England-names-first-female-bishop-to-sit-in-the-House-of-Lords.html|access-date=26 March 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=26 March 2015}}</ref> In September 2016 Gloucester Cathedral joined the Church of England's '[[Shrinking the footprint]]' campaign, intended to reduce the Church of England's carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. The cathedral commissioned a [[Photovoltaic system|solar array]] on the cathedral roof which is expected to reduce the cathedral's energy costs by 25%.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.mypoweruk.com/gloucester-cathedral-installation/|title= Let there be light – 1000 year old Gloucester Cathedral becomes the oldest building of its type in the world to install solar PV|website= MyPower.com|access-date= 7 September 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180908015802/https://www.mypoweruk.com/gloucester-cathedral-installation/|archive-date= 8 September 2018|url-status= live}}</ref> The installation was completed by November 2016, making the 927-year-old cathedral the oldest one in the UK with a solar installation.<ref>{{cite web |title=First panels laid on 1,000 year old Gloucester Cathedral |date= 31 October 2016 |url= https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/first_panels_laid_on_1000_year_old_gloucester_cathedral |publisher=Solar Power Portal |access-date=3 May 2021 |archive-date=7 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107071734/http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/first_panels_laid_on_1000_year_old_gloucester_cathedral |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Gloucester Cathedral 'oldest' to get solar panels |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-37278405 |publisher=BBC |date=5 September 2016 |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503120349/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-37278405 |url-status=live}}</ref><br />A redevelopment of an old car park next to the cathedral was finished in 2018, making the car park a green space.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.soglos.com/news/culture/gloucester-cathedral-celebrates-6-million-project-pilgrim-completion/13181/ | title=Gloucester Cathedral celebrates 6 million Project Pilgrim Phase One Completion | date=21 June 2018 }}</ref>