Abbot of Abingdon


The Abbot of Abingdon was the head of Anglo-Saxon and eventually Benedictine house of Abingdon Abbey at Abingdon-on-Thames in northern Berkshire, England.
The following is a list of abbots of Abingdon:

Fictional abbots

Historian Susan E. Kelly regards the traditional first six abbots as fictional: "There is good reason to think that in most cases their names were simply plucked from early charters available in the abbey's archive, the majority of which would seem to have had no connection with an early minister at Abingdon; there is no very convincing evidence that the historians had access to independent, reliable sources of information. The 'history' of the pre-Æthelwoldian minister seems to a very large extent to represent a fictional reconstruction".
Probably fictional abbots:
NameComments
Hæha, also HeanThe legendary first abbot of Abingdon, but, according to Kelly, more probably an abbot of Bradfield, his name having been plucked from a charter dated 704, with others, in order to replace the lost early history of Abingdon Abbey.
CummaCumma is mentioned in a forged charter of King Æthelbald, but "no Abbot Cumma is known from other sources". It is, however, generally considered that the village of Cumnor is named after him.
HræthhunA Hræthhun was styled abbot of Abingdon in a charter dated 811, but the charter was forged, probably using the name of Hræthhun, bishop of Leicester. Kelly therefore excludes him from the list of Abingdon abbots.
AlhhardKelly suggests that the name was plucked from the witness list of a charter, with others, in order to reconstruct the lost early history of the Abbey of Abingdon.
CynathA Cynath, abbot of Evesham, mistakenly listed by the compiler of the De Abbatibus Abbendoniae as an abbot of Abingdon.
GodescealcGodescealc's name occurs in three charters, all of them forgeries, and was later extracted from these documents and used in the construction of a spurious early history of the Abbey of Abingdon.

Abbots

The historic abbots, right up to the dissolution of the abbey in 1538, are as follows:
NameIn officeComments
Saint Æthelwold of Winchesterc. 955 – c. 964later Bishop of Winchester
Osgarc. 964 – 984
Eadwine985 – 990
Wulfgar990 – 1016
Æthelsige1016 – 1018
Æthelwine1018 – 1030
Siward1030 – 1044
Æthelstanc. 1044 – 1047/1048
Spearhafocc. 1047/1048 – 1051a famous goldsmith, later Bishop-Elect of London, who absconded with a large treasure
Rodulf1051 – 1052
Ordric1052 – 1066
Ealdred1066 – 1071
Adelelm1071 – 1083Norman abbot
Rainald10841097Norman abbot
Faritius1100 – 1117Norman abbot
vacant1117 – 1121
Vincent1121 – 1130
Ingulph1130 – 1159
Walkelin1159 – 1164
vacant1164 – 1165held by the king
none1165 – 1175held in commendam by Godfrey, bishop of St Asaph
vacant1175
Roger1175 – 1185
vacant1185 – 1186vacant for half a year
Alvred1186 – 1189
Hugh1189/1190 – c. 1221
Robert of Hendred 1221 – 1234
Luke1234 – 1241?
John de Blosmeville1241 – 1256
William of Newbury1256 – 1260
Henry of Frilford 1260 – 1261
Robert of Hendred1261 – 1289
Nicholas of Culham1289 – 1306
Richard of Bishops Cleeve1306 – 1315
John of Sutton1315 – 1322
John de Canyng 1322 – 1328
Robert of Garford1328 – 1332
William 1335 – 1361
Peter of Hanney1361 – 1399
Richard de Salford1401
John Dorset1415
Richard Boxore1421/2 – 1427
Thomas Salford1427
Ralph Hamme1428 – 1435
William Ashendon1435
John Sante1468
Thomas Rowland1496
Alexander Shottisbrook1504
John Coventry1508
Thomas Pentecost 1511/1512 – 1538