Ancient History

The History of Minster Abbey

Minster Abbey is situated a few miles from Ebbsfleet, the place where St. Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, landed in 597 to begin his mission to the Anglo-Saxon people. Within a few years of his arrival on the shores of Thanet, Christianity had spread throughout southern England, and monastic life began to flourish. The name Minster is derived from the first “mynster” or monasterium/ monastery built here in 670 by St. Domneva, a princess from the royal house of Kent. Her daughter Mildred became the second Abbess, one of the best loved Anglo-Saxon Saints and patron of Thanet. The history of the foundation of Minster Abbey is well documented in the old chronicles, and supported by several charters of the Kings of Kent.

The Foundation of Minster Abbey – The early Abbesses

Ermenburga, a great-granddaughter of King Ethelbert of Kent, came to Thanet in the middle of the 7th century from Mercia, a kingdom near Wales where her husband was ruler. Two of her younger brothers had been murdered as a result of a political dispute at the court of their cousin Egbert, King of Kent. Instead of claiming the customary blood money or ‘wergild’ for the murder of her brothers, Ermenburga asked the repentant King for land on which she could build a house of prayer. The King readily agreed.

According to an ancient legend, Ermenburga sent her tame deer on a free course, and the path the animal took determined the boundaries of the monastic lands. The deer has become the symbol for Minster, and the early abbesses of Minster are often pictured with a deer. St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated the new monastery in 670, dedicating it to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ermenburga, now known as Domneva, became the first Abbess. The nuns lived a life dedicated primarily to the praise of God in the celebration of the Liturgy, gathering in the monastery Church seven times a day for Divine Office and rising for the prayer of Vigils during the night. The monastery also became a centre of learning in East Kent, with its own scriptorium to copy texts of the Holy Scriptures and the Church Fathers. The community would also have had the care of pilgrims and other travellers and a hospice for the sick.

The first monastery was constructed on the site of the present church of St Mary the Virgin in Minster, on the southern shores of the Isle of Thanet. It had a natural harbour leading into the Wantsum channel, which cut the island off from mainland Kent. The River Stour is all that remains of this today. Gradually a village community grew up around the monastery and Minster developed into a port and toll-station for the shipping route to London. Different charters of this time make it evident that the monastery built and owned ships, perhaps to convey grain from the fertile land to the London corn markets.

Abbess Domneva died around the year 690AD. She was soon venerated as a saint (19th November). Her daughter Mildred, who had entered her mother's community shortly after its foundation, was consecrated Abbess by St Theodore of Canterbury. Mildred, whose name means ‘peaceful counsel’, led her community with wisdom and love for more than 30 years. She was renowned during her lifetime as a peacemaker and was especially close to the poor. Mildred died about 725. Soon after her death people started coming in pilgrimage to her tomb. Miracles of healing were reported and the veneration of St. Mildred spread throughout Southern England and across Europe. Her feast is kept on 13th July.

Edburga was the third Abbess of Minster. The community had grown greatly, and a new monastery was built in 741, a short distance away, on the site of the present Minster Abbey. The monastic buildings were probably constructed of wood or wattle like most Saxon buildings, but the monastic church was built of stone. It was dedicated to SS Peter and Paul by Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury. Edburga had the relics of St Mildred brought from St Mary's Church and re-interred behind the altar of the new church.
From Abbess Edburga’s correspondence with St Boniface we learn that the nuns of Minster encouraged his missionary work in Germany and assisted him by sending gifts of manuscripts. Several of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries who set sail for the continent did so from Minster. St Lioba (originally from Wimborne Abbey in Dorset), who became a co-worker with St Boniface, refers to her “dearest mistress Edburga” in her letters. Edburga died in 751 and was buried in the monastic church she had built at Minster. She, too, is venerated as a saint. Her feast is kept on 12th December.

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