Exeter monastery

Various monasteries and other religious houses have existed at various times during the Middle Ages in the city of Exeter, Devon, England.^[1]

The monastic buildings in Exeter included:

Anglo-Saxon foundations

• The Priory Church of the
  Roman bath house.^[2]
• Canute in c. 1019.^[3]
• The Abbey Church of St Mary and St Peter,
  Benedictine monastery, founded in 932 by King Æthelstan^[4] and dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Peter.^[5] It was located on the site of the existing Priory Church. The building was eventually replaced by the Church of St Mary Major, Exeter.^[2]
• The Nunnery of Saint Augustine, a nunnery of
  Canonesses founded circa 968, on what later became Exeter's Cathedral close^[6]

• The Benedictine Priory of St Nicholas, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1087^[7]
• St James Priory, a Cluniac priory founded in 1146^[8]
• Polsloe Priory, a Benedictine priory for women (a nunnery) founded circa 1159^[9]
• Exeter Blackfriars, a Dominican priory founded before 1232^[10]
• Exeter Greyfriars, a Franciscan friary founded before 1240^[11]
• Exeter Priory, a Carthusian priory licensed in 1331–2 but never established

The origins of monasticism in Exeter are uncertain. Christianity arrived in Britain when Exeter was still a Roman city^[12] and the area's military and civic capital. However, the end of Roman rule in Britain led to the city being nearly abandoned for over 400 years.^[13] During the Post-Roman period it was part of the Romano-British kingdom of Dumnonia. Celtic Christianity was introduced to the area during the fifth century by Welsh, Irish and Breton missionaries^[12] and a church and cemetery are thought to have existed on the site of the present Exeter Cathedral at this time.^[13] The defeat of the British in 682 by King Centwine of Wessex allowed the Saxons to reach Exeter,^[12] and in the late seventh century the church appears to have become a monastery under abbot Wulfhard.^[13] The Saxons gave the name Monkton to Exeter as a consequence of the large number of monks that it contained.^[14] According to Willibald, an Anglo-Saxon priest who wrote a "Life" of Saint Boniface, the saint was educated at a monastery in 690 in a place variously called Adestancester, Escancastre, or Examchester,^[15] names that have been identified with Exeter.^[14]

During the tenth century the population of Exeter grew to around 2,000 and the monastery was re-founded as a

• List of monastic houses in Devon