Online talk to focus on the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds and history of Suffolk

The final presentation in the “From Rise to Ruins” series of free online talks to mark 1,000 years of the Abbey of St Edmund, takes place later this month.

So far the series, which is available to view at www.abbeyofstedmund.org.uk/rise-to-ruins/ has already heard among other things how ordinary people of East Anglia supported the Abbey in its early years through gifts of land.

But by the 14th century local people were rioting against the Abbey and blood was spilt on the streets of Bury St Edmunds.

“It’s fair to say the relationship between the Abbey and the people in Bury St Edmunds became stormy at best. People still held St Edmund in high affection, but no longer the Abbey itself. It had been the people’s Abbey so why did the relationship sour?” said Mark Bailey,

“The attacks on the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds in the riots of 1327 and the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 were ferocious and unparalleled in England. The enmity towards the Abbey needs explaining,” said the Professor of Late Medieval History at the University of East Anglia.

Part of the answer may lie in the way the Abbey, which was of both national and international significance, exploited its extensive judicial powers and accumulated vast estates of land both of which heavily influenced day to day Suffolk life.

As the Abbey faced debts, so it had to manage its estates more commercially.

“The way the Abbey changed the management of its estates and its relationship with the townsfolk of Bury changed the relationship between the people and their Abbey,” said Prof Bailey.

Yet the Abbey’s management of its estates also left an indelible imprint on the modern landscape, such as at Bradfield Woods, various parks and the centre of a village like Chevington where one of the abbots built a summer retreat. The Abbey also helped shape the distinctive landscape of the Brecks where it kept flocks of sheep and rabbit warrens.

Find out more when Prof Bailey discusses” The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds and the History of Suffolk” at 2pm Saturday, March 27, on the St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook page www.facebook.com/stedscathedral

The talks are being promoted by the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership and the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History.

The talks are free to watch and are supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Bury St Edmunds Town Council and various local business sponsors.

For more information visit www.abbeyofstedmund.org.uk/rise-to-ruins/