[214] Wrote the Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, the original book is in the Durham Library.
CHAPTER VI
Croyland Monastery.—Its Library increased by Egebric.—Destroyed by Fire.—Peterborough.—Destroyed by the Danes.—Benedict and his books.—Anecdotes of Collectors.—Catalogue of the Library of the Abbey of Peterborough.—Leicester Library, etc.
he low marshy fens of Lincolnshire are particularly rich in monastic remains; but none prove so attractive to the antiquary as the ruins of the splendid abbey of Croyland. The pen of Ingulphus has made the affairs of that old monastery familiar to us; he has told us of its prospering and its misfortunes, and we may learn moreover from the pages of the monk how many wise and virtuous men, of Saxon and Norman days, were connected with this ancient fabric, receiving education there, or devoting their lives to piety within its walls. It was here that Guthlac, a Saxon warrior, disgusted with the world, sought solitude and repose; and for ten long years he led a hermit's life in that damp and marshy fen; in prayer and fasting, working miracles, and leading hearts to God, he spent his lonely days, all which was rewarded by a happy and peaceful death, and a sanctifying of his corporeal remains—for many wondrous miracles were wrought by those holy relics.
