Editing Romsey (section)

====Beginnings====
The first church in Romsey was founded by [[Edward the Elder]] in 907 AD for his daughter, Ælflæd, a nun who became the first [[abbess]] of Romsey. [[Edgar the Peaceful]] re-founded the abbey under the [[Rule of Benedict]] in 967 AD, appointing as abbess a noblewoman named [[Mærwynn|Merewenna]] in 974 AD. Merewenna was given charge of Edgar's stepdaughter, [[Æthelflæda of Romsey|Æthelflæd]], who later served as abbess herself. Both Merewenna and Æthelflæd are revered as saints.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22880?msg=welcome_stranger#ROMSEY_ABBEY|title=Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey, by Thomas Perkins|last=Perkins|first=Thomas|date=1907|via=Gutenberg.org|publisher=Chiswick Press|location=London|page=17}}</ref>

The surrounding village prospered alongside the religious community. In 1003 the [[Danes]] sacked Romsey and destroyed the Anglo-Saxon church in retaliation for the [[St. Brice's Day massacre|St Brice's Day Massacre]]. While there is no record of the abbey's restoration, it is written that in 1012 [[Emma of Normandy]] gave lands to the abbey and that there were a total of 54 nuns in Romsey during the reign of [[Cnut the Great]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22880/22880-h/22880-h.htm#ROMSEY_ABBEY|title=Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey, by Thomas Perkins|last=Perkins|first=Thomas|date=1907|website=Gutenberg.org|publisher=Chiswick Press|location=London|page=18|access-date=14 August 2019}}</ref>

The [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 refers to a population of 127 households in Romsey, along with the earliest records of the [[watermill]]s that would later establish it as an industrial town. Relative to other Domesday settlements, Romsey had a large population and paid a considerable amount of tax.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SU3521/romsey/|title=Romsey {{!}} Domesday Book|website=Opendomesday.org|access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref>

Along with [[Wilton Abbey]] nearby, Romsey Abbey became known as a place of learning in the [[High Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Henry I|last=Hollister|first=C. Warren|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2001|isbn=9780300143720|editor-last=Clark Frost|editor-first=Amanda|pages=128}}</ref> In 1086, [[Matilda of Scotland]] was sent there to be educated by her aunt, [[Cristina, daughter of Edward the Exile|Cristina]], who was then the abbess.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Elizabeth of York|last=Hilton|first=Lisa|publisher=Pegasus Books LLC|year=2010|isbn=9781605981055|location=New York|pages=42}}</ref> A number of hopeful suitors visited the princess in Romsey, including the later king [[William II of England|William Rufus]], whose advances were hindered by her aunt.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Matilda of Scotland: A Study in Medieval Queenship|last=Huneycutt|first=Lois L|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2003|isbn=9781846151149|pages=18}}</ref> William was killed in 1100 while hunting in the [[New Forest]], after which his body was carried through Bell Street in Romsey on its way to [[Winchester Cathedral]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Secret Romsey|last=Dickerson|first=Ian|publisher=Amberley Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-1445678955|pages=34}}</ref>

The existing abbey was built in the [[Norman architecture|Norman style]] between 1120 and 1140 using [[Chilmark stone]].<ref>{{NHLE|num=1092649|desc=ABBEY CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST ETHELFLAEDA, Romsey |access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref> It was likely designed by [[Henry of Blois]], the brother of [[Stephen, King of England|King Stephen]] and builder of the [[Hospital of St Cross]] in Winchester.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22880/22880-h/22880-h.htm#Footnote_2_2|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey, by Thomas Perkins|last=Perkins|first=Thomas|date=1907|website=Gutenberg.org|publisher=Chiswick Press|location=London|access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref> The final three arches were added between 1230 and 1240, at which time more than 100 nuns belonged to the foundation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.romseyabbey.org.uk/about/history/|title=About Romsey Abbey: A brief history|last=Hallett|first=Liz|website=Romsey Abbey|date=25 April 2010 |access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref> The north transept of the original Saxon church is still visible today.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.romseyabbey.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Education-60-Minute-Guide.pdf|title=Education 60 Minute Guide to Outside and Inside Romsey Abbey|website=Romsey Abbey|access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref>

[[Henry I of England|Henry I]] granted Romsey its first charter, allowing it to hold a full market each Sunday and a four-day fair at the Feast of St Æthelflæd the Virgin. This was confirmed by [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] in 1268 and extended to the Feast of St Philip and St James by [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] in 1272.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp452-469|title=Parishes: Romsey Extra and Infra {{!}} British History Online|website=British-history.ac.uk|access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref> Given these charters, it can be assumed that Romsey was flourishing in the 13th century, perhaps supported by a lucrative woollen industry whereby wool was woven and then fulled or pounded before being dyed and exported from nearby Southampton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.testvalley.gov.uk/assets/attach/7921/34XX%20Romsey%20Heritage%20Trail%20Leaflet%20Web.pdf|title=Romsey Heritage Trail – Test Valley Borough Council|website=Test Valley Borough Council|access-date=15 August 2019|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924062153/https://testvalley.gov.uk/assets/attach/7921/34XX%20Romsey%20Heritage%20Trail%20Leaflet%20Web.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is suggested that towns like Romsey and [[New Alresford]] prospered as a result of their location, which allowed them to exploit the [[downland]] sheep economy while retaining access to a major port to the south.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jervis|first=Ben|date=2017|title=Decline or Transformation? Archaeology and the Late Medieval 'Urban Decline' in Southern England|url=https://orca.cf.ac.uk/94046/1/12-5-2016_Decline%20or.pdf|journal=The Archaeological Journal|volume=174|pages=231|doi=10.1080/00665983.2017.1229895|s2cid=157800150|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Romsey continued to grow and prosper until the [[Black Death]] struck the town in 1348–9, killing up to half its population of roughly 1,000 individuals. It is recorded that 90 nuns voted in the 1333 [[abbatial election]] but never more than 25 in elections held from 1350 onwards.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATOlhaEvN3wC&pg=PA88|title=A History of Bubonic Plague in the British Isles|last=Shrewsbury|first=J.F.D.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=0521022479|location=Cambridge|page=88}}</ref> Plague arrived again in 1526, with [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] abandoning his plans to spend the eve of the [[Assumption of Mary|Assumption]] in Romsey and instead heading to Winchester.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp452-469#fnn25|title=Parishes: Romsey Extra and Infra {{!}} British History Online|last=A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4|date=1911|website=British-history.ac.uk|access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref> Prosperity never returned to the abbey.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www.visitromsey.co.uk/html/about_romsey.html|title=About Romsey Hampshire {{!}} Tourist and Visitor Information {{!}} Market Town {{!}} Visit Romsey {{!}} UK|website=Visitromsey.co.uk|access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref>

Romsey Abbey was finally suppressed by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] upon the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1539, during which time many religious buildings were destroyed. The abbey itself was saved from demolition, ostensibly due to a section dedicated to [[St Lawrence]] that was used as the parish church. In 1544, the townspeople were allowed to purchase the abbey from [[the Crown]] for a sum of £100. The section that saved it was subsequently demolished, however, with the remainder being used as the parish church that exists today.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.romseyabbey.org.uk/about/history/|title=A brief history|date=25 April 2010|website=Romseyabbey.org.uk|language=en-US|access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref>

By the mid-16th century Romsey's population was about 1,500, its woollen and tanning industries having fuelled growth. After his visit to Broadlands in 1607, [[James VI and I|James I]] granted the town a charter and made it a [[borough]]. This gave official status to an informal local government that had been running the town's affairs since the Dissolution in 1539. Romsey could now have a corporation comprising a mayor, six aldermen, twelve chief burgesses and a town clerk.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp452-469#anchorn26|title=Parishes: Romsey Extra and Infra {{!}} British History Online|website=British-history.ac.uk|access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref> There was also to be a local law court under a Court Recorder assisted by two sergeants-at-mace and, over all, a [[High steward (civic)|High Steward]], the first of whom was the [[Earl of Southampton]].<ref name="auto"/>

Romsey changed hands several times during the [[English Civil War]], with both [[Cavalier|Royalist]] and [[Parliamentary]] troops occupying and plundering the town. Most significant were the events of 1643 in which [[William Waller]], having captured Winchester, marched southwest to Romsey where his soldiers defaced the abbey and destroyed its organ.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/civilwarinhampsh00godwrich/page/74|title=The Civil War in Hampshire (1642–45) and the Story of Basing House|last=Godwin|first=George Nelson|publisher=H.M. Gilbert and Son|year=1904|isbn=1169342469|location=Southampton|pages=74}}</ref> A skirmish on Middle Bridge, downstream of [[Sadler's Mill]], may have preceded these events.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mason|first=Anne W.|date=1976|title=The History of Middle Bridge, Romsey|url=http://www.hantsfieldclub.org.uk/publications/hampshirestudies/digital/1970s/vol32/Mason.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society|volume=30|pages=51}}</ref>