it
preserved is illustrated later by its inclusion under one sheriff,
chosen in successive years from Cambridgeshire proper, the Isle of Ely
and Huntingdonshire. In 656 numerous lands in the neighbourhood of
Wisbech were included in the endowment of the abbey of Peterborough, and
in the same century religious houses were established at Ely and
Thorney, both of which, however, were destroyed during the Danish
invasions of the 9th century. After the treaty of Wedmore the district
became part of the Danelaw. On the expulsion of the Danes by Edward in
the 10th century it was included in East Anglia, but in the 11th century
was again overrun by the Danes, who in the course of their devastations
burnt Cambridge. The first mention of the shire in the Saxon Chronicle
records the valiant resistance which it opposed to the invaders in 1010
when the rest of East Anglia had taken ignominious flight. The
shire-system of East Anglia was in all probability not definitely
settled before the Conquest, but during the Danish occupation of the 9th
century the district possessed a certain military and political
organization round Cambridge, its chief town, whence probably originated
the constitution and demarcation of the later shire. At the time of the
Domesday Survey the county was divided as now, except that the Isle of
Ely, which then formed two hundreds having their meeting-place at
Witchford, is now divided into the four hundreds of Ely, Wisbech, North
Witchford and South Witchford, while Cambridge formed a hundred by
itself. The hundred of Flendish was then known as Flamingdike.
Cambridgeshire was formerly included in the diocese of Lincoln, until,
on the erection of Ely to a bishop's see in 1109, almost the whole
county was placed in that diocese. In 1291 the whole county, with the
exception of parishes in the deanery of Fordham and diocese of Norwich,
constituted the archdeaconry of Ely, comprising the deaneries of Ely,
Wisbech, Chesterton, Cambridge, Shingay, Bourn, Barton and Camps. The
Isle of Ely formerly constituted an independent franchise in which the
bishops exercised quasi-palatinate rights, and offences were held to be
committed against the bishop's peace. These privileges were considerably
abridged in the reign of Henry VIII., but the Isle still had separate
civil officers, appointed by the bishop, chief among whom were the
chief justice, chief bailiff, deputy bailiff and two coroners. The
bishop is still _custos rotuloru