Page:St. Oswald and the Church of Worcester.djvu/41

 This year (968) is a traditional date for the first settlement at Ramsey: for in one of the MSS. of the History of Ramsey (cent, xiv) the date 969 is entered in the margin against the notice of the foundation of the new church (p. 40). It is not quite easy, however, to reconcile this date with the narrative contained in the Privilege of King Edgar, to which the writer himself refers, and which is given later in the book. For here we read that the consecration of the new church took place on Nov. 8, 974, five years and eighteen days after the first temporary buildings had been erected (p. 185): but this brings us back only to October 969.

Yet another tradition is preserved in the List of Abbots of Ramsey (ibid., p. 339), where Eadnoth is said to have been sent by Oswald from Westbury in 970, and the settlement of twelve monks is assigned to August 29, 972. And, again, the Register of Ramsey distinctly places the foundation of the monastery in 969, the arrival of Eadnoth in 970, and that of the twelve monks from Westbury in 972.

Whether the foundation of Ramsey be assigned to 968, 969, or 970, it is difficult to suppose that Wynsige, after being trained there, could have been placed at the head of the Worcester 'familia', at the very earliest, before 972, when Oswald became archbishop of York. We are told in a document of 1092 (Anglia Sacra, i. 542) that he was made prior of Worcester in e the third year of his conversion 9: and Oswald's biographer (p. 435) speaks of him as follows:

Illis qui sub eo erant in civitate [i. e. at Worcester] anteposuit Wynsinum reverendum presbyterum, qui erat apud nostri coenobii gymnasium eruditus, cui annexuit quosdam fratres ex nostro choro.

In conclusion, we are certain from the charters that Wynsige was at the head of the 'familia' at Worcester in 977. Six years after this Oswald could thank God that he had been able praeter spem to bring to completion the church of St Mary at Worcester (K. C. D. 637: A.D. 983). In view of all that has been said above, the dates 969 and 974, which are found in the charters B. C. S. 1243, 1298, where Saxon notes speak of 'Wynsige monk' and 'Wynsige dean', cannot be relied on as satisfactory evidence.