We will now continue our narrative, briefly taking in review the
history of the monastery as it is handed down to us. About A.D. 673
Etheldreda commenced the foundation of a monastery for both sexes, and
was installed the first abbess; she gave the whole Isle of Ely to the
monastery as an endowment, and died A.D. 679. She was succeeded by her
elder sister Sexburga, then a widow, who died A.D. 699, and was buried
beside her sister in the church of the monastery. Erminilda, daughter
of Sexburga, and widow of Wulfure, king of Mercia, next succeeded; and
the fourth abbess was Werburga, daughter of Erminilda, the time of
whose death is not known. Although St. Etheldreda's monastery
continued to enjoy a regular succession of abbesses for nearly two
centuries, not a single name of its superiors is preserved; protected
by its situation in the midst of waters, it was little molested by
external troubles until A.D. 870, when it was destroyed--like that of
Peterborough--by the Danes, the monastery burnt, and the inhabitants
put to the sword.

After the destruction of the monastery a century elapsed before steps
were taken for its restoration. At length Ethelwold, then Bishop of
Winchester, who is spoken of as "a great builder of churches and of
various other works," re-founded the monastery in the year 970, by the
direction of Edgar "the peaceful," who then sat on the throne of
England. After some time Ethelwold arranged with the king for the
surrender of the whole district of the Isle of Ely, by way of purchase
and exchange, for the use of the monastery. The king, for certain
considerations, gave his royal charter[4] restoring the revenues,
rights, and privileges to the monastery for ever. This charter (which
was afterwards confirmed by king Edward the Confessor,) formed the
base of that temporal power given to the church and monastery of Ely
by St. Etheldreda, and exercised (with some interruption) by the
abbots and bishops down to the year 1836, when it was discontinued by
an Act of Parliament.

[Footnote 4: This Charter is given at length in the Saxon language,
with an English translation, in the Appendix to Bentham's History.]

On the re-foundation of the monastery it was placed under the
Benedictine rule, which required the separation of the sexes, whereas
under the previous order both men and women had resided in the same
establishment. Brithnoth, prior of Winchester, was instituted as the
first abbot of the restored mo