titution, together with a large number of other
local works.

CHAPTER V.

HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY.

The inhabitants of the Fen country, when first distinguished by a
special name, were known as the Gyrvii. Their district included the
south part of Lincolnshire, the north part of Northamptonshire, and the
greater part of Cambridgeshire. The southern Gyrvii were a province of
East Anglia; the Gyrvii of the north appear to have been allied to the
East Anglians, and perhaps inclined to become united with them; but they
were ultimately absorbed in the great Midland Kingdom of Mercia. Bishop
Stubbs,[29] speaking of the early Fasti of Peterborough, says: "Mercia,
late in its formation as a kingdom, sprang at once into a great state
under Penda; late in its adoption of Christianity, it seems from the
period of its conversion to have taken a prominent place at once among
the Christian powers. The Chronicle places the conversion in 655, and a
very few years saw it the best governed and best organised province of
the Church. In less than thirty years it was divided into five dioceses,
amongst which the place of the Fen country is more clearly definable.
The bishopric of Lindsey occupied the north of Lincolnshire, reaching to
the Witham: a line drawn from the south point of Nottinghamshire to the
Cam would probably represent the western border of the Gyrvii; the
border of Cambridgeshire was the boundary of the dioceses of Elmham and
Dunwich. The Fen country thus falls into the eastern portion of the
great Lichfield diocese, which for a few years after 680 had its own
bishop at Leicester, but was not finally separated from the mother see
until 737."

The date given above for the conversion of Mercia, 655, is the date of
the laying of the foundation of the monastery of Medeshamstede. Penda
had been succeeded on the throne of Mercia by his eldest son, Peada; and
he, in conjunction with Oswy, brother of King Oswald, determined to
"rear a minster to the glory of Christ and honour of Saint Peter."

=Saxulf= (656-675), was the first Abbot. In Bede no mention is made of
royal patronage, and the whole credit of founding the abbey is given to
Saxulf. Another account represents him as having been a thane of great
wealth and renown, and that this abbey was dedicated by him "as the
first fruits of the Mercian church." He was made Bishop of Lichfield in
675, but continued to take an active part in the affairs of the abbey.
He died