03 — Whitby, the Double Monastery
The foundation on which Hilda’s fame chiefly rests: the great double monastery of Streanæshalch — Whitby — which she founded or took over c. 657 and ruled until her death. A community of both men and women under a single abbess, ordered on the Ionan model of common possession and the study of Scripture, it became under Hilda a centre of learning, a royal burial place, and the venue of the great synod of 664.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (pre-Schism; Celtic-Roman; abbess of Whitby)
Whitby was a double monastery — a community of monks and nuns living in adjacent quarters under the rule of one head, who at Whitby was the abbess. The form was characteristic of seventh-century England and of the Frankish world from which it partly derived, and at Whitby it reached a height of influence. Bede praises the regular life Hilda established there: the holding of all things in common after the example of the primitive Church, so that nothing was anyone’s private property, and the diligent study of Scripture. These files set out the founding of the house and the shape of the life within it, and the governance of the woman whom Bede’s sources called simply “mother.”
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Founding Streanæshalch | The foundation of Whitby c. 657; the gift of land by King Oswiu in fulfilment of a vow before the battle of the Winwæd; the double-monastery form; the problem of the name Streanæshalch and its identification with Whitby. |
| The Rule and the Life | The Ionan-shaped common life Hilda established — common possession, the study of Scripture, the ordering of justice, devotion, and chastity; her governance; and why Bede’s sources called her “mother.” |
See Also
- Abbess of Hartlepool — her first house and the model for Whitby
- Hosting the Great Synod — the council Whitby would host
- The Nurturing of Learning — Whitby as a school of bishops
- St. Columba of Iona — the source of the Ionan monastic pattern
- Monasticism — the monastic tradition behind Whitby’s life
References
- Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Ed. and trans. Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. (III.24; IV.23.)
- Foot, Sarah. Veiled Women. 2 vols. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000.
- Yorke, Barbara. Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses. London: Continuum, 2003.