king of Sussex, but various petty states were
tributary to him, and ruled by viceroys. One of these viceroys was
Cissa, whose dominions included Wiltshire and the greater part of
Berkshire {ix}. This Cissa and his nephew, Hean, founded Abingdon.
A mission was sent out from Chichester which attracted great
multitudes of the Berkshire folk. Hean was present, and heard the
preacher take for his text that verse of St. Matthew which declares
that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. These words entered into
the hearts of Hean and his sister Cilla, who was with him. They
determined to go and sell all that they had and embrace a life of
poverty. From their uncle, Cissa, they obtained grants of land,
whereon they founded monastic homes. Cilla dedicated the convent she
reared to St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, traditions of whose
life in the neighbourhood had survived the Saxon Conquest.

Hean obtained the land of which Abingdon formed the central point,
then generally known by the name Cloveshoo. He was tardy in his work
as contrasted with his sister, and Cissa died without seeing the work
for which he had given the land accomplished. Ceadwalla succeeded him
(A.D. 685), and further augmented the territory. He rebelled against
Centwin, and became king of Wessex; spending most of his life in
warfare; it was through his conquest of the island that the "Wight"
became Christian. He made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he died, after
his baptism by Pope Sergius.

Ina, his successor (A.D. 688), was so angry at the long delay in
building the monastery, that at first he revoked the grant of his
predecessors to Hean, but becoming reconciled, gave all his energy to
the work, and Cloveshoo {x}, or Abingdon, became a monastic town,
and its history commences as a house of God from Ina, about A.D.
690-700.

Important benefits were thus conferred on the whole neighbourhood;
agriculture flourished, learning increased, a sanctuary for the
oppressed was provided, and last, though not least in Ina's eyes, a
bulwark against Mercia was provided for the neighbourhood; while the
poor and the afflicted found their happiness in every way promoted by
the neighbourhood of the monastery.

Several times the monastery was in peril by reason of the wars between
Wessex and Mercia. In A. D. 752, Cuthred of Wessex defeated Ethelbald
of Mercia at Burford, hard by, and protected Abingdo