WHITBY, ABBEY OF

On the Northumbrian coast of England (now Whitby, Yorkshire) hilda, Abbess of Hartlepool and member

of the royal house, founded the double monastery of Streoneshalh (later called Whitby by the Danes) in 657. Here King Oswy summoned the synod of 664 (less probably 663) to unite the Celtic (see celtic rite) and Roman churches of his realm. Not only did Oswy and his queen celebrate Easter on different days, but the two Northumbrian royal houses were identified with different churches, Bernicia with the Celtic and Deira with the Roman. At this decisive council the Iro-Celtic church was represented by Oswy, Bp. colman of Lindisfarne, Hilda, and Bp. cedd of the East Saxons, and Rome by Oswy's son, Alchfrith, Bp. Agilbert of Wessex, Abbot Wilfrid of Ripon, and James the Deacon. Of the differences separating the two churches, apparently only one, the subject of the easter controversy, was discussed. Colman claimed the authority of St. John the Apostle, Anatolius of Laodicea, and columba of iona. Wilfrid, Rome's spokesman since the Frankish-born Agilbert spoke English poorly, denied that Anatolius supported the Celtic position, spoke disparagingly of Columba, and asserted the authority of Peter. Colman admitted Peter's preeminence, and King Oswy, "smiling," refused to disobey the gatekeeper of Heaven and decided for Roman usage. His decision opened the way for the ecclesiastical unity of England, since the south had already accepted Roman obedience. Colman resigned his see and went to Iona, although Celtic usage did not end immediately in Britain.

Whitby became the greatest house in northeast England, a noted center of learning, and a royal burial place; there lived caedmon (d. 680), "the father of English poetry." Hilda died in 680 and was succeeded by Aelfflaed, Oswy's daughter. Whitby perished in the Danish onslaught (c. 867) and was a desolate site when refounded as a priory after the Norman Conquest, with Reinfrid as first prior; c. 1078 it established a daughterhouse, St. Mary's, York. Whitby became an abbey under Henry I. Its later history was relatively calm, disturbed only by occasional pirate raids and a struggle between its abbots and the town. Henry VIII suppressed Whitby (Dec. 14, 1543), its abbot having resigned to avoid surrendering it.

Excavations have partly uncovered the Anglo-Saxon foundation, showing Celtic-type cells and houses in an enclosure. The present monastic ruins, following the collapse of much of the nave (1763) and the tower (1830), include portions of the Early English choir, the north transept, and the decorated nave.

Bibliography: Sources. bede, Ecclesiastical History 3.25. eddius, The Life of Bishop Wilfrid, ed. and tr. b. colgrave (Cambridge, Eng. 1927). simeon of durham, Historia regum, v. 2 of Symeonis monachi opera omnia, ed. t. arnold, 2 v. in Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 244 v. (New York 1964–) 75; 1882–85). Cartularium Abbathiae de Whiteby, ed. j. c. atkinson, 2 v. (Surtees Society 69, 72; Newcastle 1879). Literature. g. young, A History of Whitby and Streoneshalh Abbey, 2 v. (Whitby 1817). c. peers and c. a. ralegh radford, "The Saxon Monastery of Whitby," Archaeologia 89 (1943) 27–88. m. deanesly, The Pre–Conquest Church in England (New York 1961). d. knowles, The Monastic Order in England, 943–1216 (Cambridge, Eng. 1962). d. knowles and r. n. hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales (New York 1953).

[w. a. chaney]