Editing Malmesbury Abbey (section)

==Monastic history==
In the later seventh century, the site of the [[Abbey]] was chosen by [[Máel Dub]], an [[Irish monasticism|Irish monk]] who established a hermitage, teaching local children. Towards the end of his life, in the late seventh century, the area was conquered by the [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxons]].<ref name="Anglo Saxon England p. 209">''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo Saxon England'', p. 209.</ref> Malmesbury Abbey was founded as a [[Benedictine monastery]] around 676 by the scholar-poet [[Aldhelm]], a nephew of [[Ine of Wessex|King Ine of Wessex]]. The town of [[Malmesbury]] grew up around the expanding Abbey and under [[Alfred the Great]] was made a [[burh]],<ref name="Anglo Saxon England p. 209"/> with an assessment of 12 hides.

In October 939 [[Æthelstan]], king of Wessex and of the English, died in [[Gloucester]], and in the year 941 his remains were buried in the Abbey. The choice of Malmesbury over the [[New Minster]] in [[Winchester]] indicated that the king remained an outsider to the [[Kingdom of Wessex|West Saxon court]].<ref>[[Sarah Foot]], ‘Æthelstan (893/4–939)’, ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2011</ref> A mint was founded at the Abbey around this time.<ref name="Anglo Saxon England p. 209"/>

The Abbey developed an illustrious reputation for academic learning under the rule of abbots such as [[Aldhelm]], [[John Scotus Eriugena]], [[Alfred of Malmesbury]] and [[Aelfric of Eynsham]].

The Abbey was the site of an early attempt at human flight when, during the early 11th century, the monk [[Eilmer of Malmesbury]] attached wings to his body and flew from a tower. Eilmer flew over 200 yards (200 m) before landing, breaking both legs. He later remarked that the only reason he did not fly further was the lack of a tail on his glider.

The [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 says of the Abbey: 
:''In [[Wiltshire]]: Highway (11 hides), Dauntsey (10 hides), Somerford Keynes (5 hides), Brinkworth (5 hides), Norton, near Malmesbury (5 hides), Brokenborough with Corston (50 hides), Kemble (30 hides—now in Glos.), Long Newnton (30 hides), Charlton (20 hides), Garsdon (3 hides), Crudwell (40 hides), Bremhill (38 hides), Purton (35 hides); (fn. 127) in [[Gloucestershire]]: Littleton - upon - Severn (5 hides); (fn. 128) and in [[Warwickshire]]: Newbold Pacey (3 hides)''.<ref>V.C.H. Wilts. ii, pp. 125-7.</ref><ref>Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 165.</ref><ref name="vch-210"/> These lands were valued at [[pound Sterling|£]]188 14s. in all and were assessed as 3 knights' fees.

The 12th-century historian [[William of Malmesbury]] was a monk at the Abbey.

===Construction and structural collapse===
The current Abbey was substantially completed by 1180. The 431 feet (131 m) tall [[spire]], and the tower it was built upon, collapsed in a storm around 1500 destroying much of the church, including two-thirds of the [[nave]] and the [[transept]].

===Abbots===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name
! Appointment
! Died
! Notes
|-
| [[Máel Dub|Maidulbh]]<ref>Meidulf, William of Malmesbury: 265.</ref>
| 
| 673
| Irish [[hermit]] and founder of Malmesbury<ref>Maidulbh founded the [[monastery]] as a hermitage and taught local children including Aldhelm.</ref>
|-
| [[Aldhelm]]
| 639
| 709
| first [[Old English]] writer in Latin, scholar and poet
|-
| Eaba ???
| 
| 
| known only from a letter to [[Lullus]]
|-
| [[Ethelhard]]<ref>[[De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum]].</ref>
| 
| 
| a signatory to a charter of 749
|-
| Cuthbert 
| 
| 
| attended the [[Councils of Clovesho|council of Clofeshoh]] in 803
|-
| [[John Scotus Eriugena]] 
| 
| c877
| was murdered by his pupils<ref>Caribine, Deirdre, ''Great Medieval Thinkers'', "John Scottus Eriugena" (Oxford University Press, 2000), p14.</ref>
|-
| [[Alfred of Malmesbury]]
| 
| 999
|
|-
| [[Ælfric of Crediton]]<ref>''De gestis pontificum Anglorum'', ed. N(icholas) E. S. A. Hamilton, [[Rolls Series]], 1870, p406.</ref> 
| 974
| 1010
| known for building work and his prophecy of the Viking sacking of Malmesbury
|-
| [[Æthelweard (Abbot)|Æthelweard]]<ref name="GPA-411">William of Malmesbury: ''Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, The History of the English Bishops''; Vol. I: Text and Translation: Volume I: 411.</ref> 
| 
| 
| 
|-
| Cineweard<ref name=cotton>[[Cotton manuscripts|B.M., Cott. MS.]] Vit. A. X.</ref> 
|
|
| 
|-
| Beorhtelm<ref name=cotton /><ref name="GPA-683">{{cite book|author=William of Malmesbury|title=Gesta Pontificum Anglorum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIEYPsHuC18C|year=2002|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-0-85115-884-6|page=683}}</ref>
| 
| 
| 
|-
| Beorhtold<ref name="GPA-683" />
| 
| 
| 
|-
| Beorhtwold<ref name="vch-210">{{Cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol3/pp210-231 |series=[[Victoria County History]] |title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 3 |chapter=House of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Malmesbury |pages=210–231 |editor1-first=R.B. |editor1-last=Pugh |editor1-link=Ralph Pugh |editor2-first=Elizabeth |editor2-last=Crittall |date=1956 |via=British History Online |publisher=University of London |access-date=13 July 2022}}</ref>
| 
| 
| sold off portions of the abbey lands{{sfn|William of Malmesbury|1125|p=258}}
|-
| Eadric<ref name="GPA-411" />
| c1012<ref>Cod. Dipl. ed. Kemble, no. 719.</ref>
| 
| 
|-
| Wulfsine
| 
| 1034<ref name="GPA-411" />
| 
|-
|-
| Æthelweard II<ref name="vch-210" />
| 
| 
| 
|-
| Ælfwine 
| 
| 
| almost nothing is known of him<ref name="vch-210" />
|-
| Beorhtwold II
| 
| 1053
| a man of bad character who collapsed and died during a drunken orgy in the town<ref name="vch-210" />
|-
| Beorhtric appointed 
| 1053
| 1067
| removed by [[William the Conqueror]]
|-
| {{ill|Turold of Fécamp|fr|Turold de Fécamp}}
| 1067
| 
| moved by William I to [[Peterborough]] in 1070
|-
| Warin of Lyre (Évreux)
| 1070
| 1087
| spent much of his time at court, squandering the abbey's resources<ref>"vir efficax": Gest. Pont. 425.</ref>
|-
| Godfrey{{sfn|William of Malmesbury|1125|p=271}}
| 
| 
| 
|-
| Eadwulf
| 
| 
| a monk of Winchester,<ref>Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 42.</ref> expelled by Roger of Salisbury
|-
| [[Roger of Salisbury]]
| 1118
| 1139
|
|-
| John of Malmsbury
| 1139
| 1140
| appointed by King Stephen after he took the abbey during [[the Anarchy]]<ref>Leland, Collect. ii, 272.</ref>
|-
| Peter Moraunt
| 1141
| 1159
| obtained a [[papal bull|bull]] of [[Pope Innocent II]]
|-
| Gregory 
| 1159
| 1168
| 
|-
| Robert
| 1172
| 1176
| a physician to [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]
|-
| Osbert Foliot<ref name="vch-210" />
| 1176
| 1182
| 
|-
| Nicholas
| 
| 
| deposed for running into debt 218{{clarify|date=September 2015}}
|-
| Robert of Melûn
| 1189
| 1206
| 
|-
| [[Walter Loring]]
| 1206
| 1222
| signed [[Magna Carta]],<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/translation.html Magna Carta translation], Barons at [[Runnymede]], Magna Charta Period Feudal Estates, h2g2, [[John, King of England|King John]] and the [[Magna Carta]].</ref> received [[papal bull]] from Innocent III <br/>and gained permission from [[John, King of England|King John]] to demolish [[Malmesbury Castle]].<ref>Bernard Hodge, ''A History of Malmesbury'' (Friends of Malmesbury Abbey, 1990).</ref>
|-
| John Walsh
| 1222
| 1246
| 
|-
| Geoffrey, sacristan<ref>B.M., Cott. MS. Faust. B. VIII, f. 142a.</ref>
| 1246
| 1260
| a monk of Malmesbury
|-
|  William of Colerne
| 1260
| 1296
| 
|-
| William of [[Badminton, Gloucestershire|Badminton]]
| 
| 1296
|
|-
| Adam de la Hoke
| 
| 
| a monk of Malmesbury
|-
| Adam by John of [[Tintern]]
| 
| 1349
| 
|-
| [[Simon de Aumeney]]
| 1348
| 1361 
| 
|-
| Walter de Camme
| 1362
| 1396
| 
|-
| Thomas Chelworth
| 1396
| 1424
| 
|-
| Roger Pershore
| 1424
| 1434 
|
|-
| John Bristow 
| 1434
| 1456
| 
|-
| John Andever
| 1456
| 1462
| 
|-
| John Ayly
| 1462
| 1480 
| 
|-
| [[Richard Frampton]]
| 1480
| 1515 
| 
|-
| Richard Camme 
| 1515
| 1533 
| 
|-
| [[Richard Selwyn]]
| 
| 
| [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|surrendered the Abbey]] to [[Henry VIII]] in 1539
|}