Fragments of two Late Saxon stone crosses from Bath, both discovered in the 19th century. In the collection of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution

Early developments

The first evidence for a monastery at Bath comes from a 12th-century copy of an earlier charter, which states that on 6 November 675, King Osric of the Hwicce gave 100 hides of land at Hat Bathu (‘the Hot Baths’) to a ‘convent of holy virgins’.

Bede, writing in the early 8th century, meticulously records the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms by St Augustin’s mission, but the Hwicce, when they appear in his narrative, are said to have been ‘a Christian people’: it is unclear exactly when they became so, but it is probable that the ruling dynasty was converted by indigenous British Christians within their territory.

It has also been speculated that Osric’s convent may have been re-founding an earlier British religious house. Indeed, there is good evidence for the Christianisation of former Romano-British temple sites from the 4th century onwards, and this may well have been the case with Bath. The convent at Bath was headed by the Abbess Berta, who was almost certainly a Frank. The international flavour of the early English church is further demonstrated by the signatories to the charter who include Leuthere, Bishop of Wessex, also from Frankia, and Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, who originally hailed from Anatolia (modern Turkey).

In AD 757, ‘the brethren of the monastery of St Peter in Bath’ were granted a further 30 hides of land, which suggests that by this date the nuns had been replaced by monks. It is possible that prior to this date the monastery had operated as a ‘double house’, with separate communities for men and women. This would not have been an unusual arrangement within an Anglo-Saxon context. Double houses would normally be led by an abbess, but with strict segregation between the sexes facilitated by multiple churches and other buildings within the monastic precinct.

A royal estate

The ‘celebrated monastery’ at Bath is mentioned again in AD 781, following a landgrab by Offa, the powerful king of Mercia. He claimed that 90 of the 100 hides gifted by Osric over a century before, were being unlawfully held by the see of Worcester and were in fact the rightful inheritance of the king. The rulers of Hwicce, by this time reduced in status to ealdormen, were in no position to contest the claim, particularly after Offa secured the backing of Pope Adrian I.

Following the church synod at Brentford, the 90 hides in Bath as well as the 30 hides south of the Avon were ‘restored’ to the king, effectively making Bath a Royal manor. This was not however as disastrous for the monastery as it sounds. William of Malmesbury, writing in the early 12th century, credits Offa with building the church of St Peter, and there is little reason to doubt that serious building work was undertaken, possibly reusing readily available masonry from the collapsed Roman temple and bath complex. Certainly, by the time of Offa’s death in AD 796 the infrastructure was in place for his successor Ecgfrith to hold court at ‘the monastery in Bath’.