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most probable account is given by those
who place it under Sebert, King of the
East Saxons, who died in 616. These
say, that this Prince being converted to
christianity by Austin's discourses, and his
uncle Ethelbert's example, erected this
church on the ruins of a temple dedicated
to Apollo, in the island of Thorney, and
caused Mellitus, Bishop of London, to
consecrate it to St. Peter.
As many ridiculous miracles have been
related of its foundation, it is the less sur-
prizing that its dedication should also be
represented as miraculous, and that St.
Peter himself, five hundred years after his
decease, should be represented by the
monks, as doing honour to the new fa-
bric, by performing the ceremony him-
self. For according to the legend, the
King having ordered Mellitus to perform
the ceremony, St. Peter over-night called
upon Edricus, a fisherman, and desired to
be ferried over to Thorney, which hap-
pened to be then overflowed by the heavy
rains that had lately fallen; the fisherman
consented, and having carried over the
Apostle, he saw him consecrate the church
amidst a grand chorus of celestial mu-
sic, and a glorious appearance of heavenly
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lights. After which the Apostle return-
ing, discovered himself to the fisherman,
and bid him tell Mellitus what he had
heard and seen, and as a proof of his
divine mission, gave him a miraculous
draught of salmon, and then assured him,
that none of his profession should ever
want that kind of fish in the proper season,
provided they made an offering of the
tenth fish for the use of the new church;
which custom, it seems, was continued by
the fishermen four hundred years after.
This church and its monastery were
afterwards repaired and enlarged by Offa,
King of Mercia, but being destroyed by
the Pagan Danes, they were rebuilt by
King Edgar, who endowed them with
lands and manors, and in the year 969
granted them many ample privileges.
The church and monastery having again
suffered by the ravages of the Danes, were
again rebuilt by Edward the Confessor,
who pulled down the old church, and
erected a most magnificent one, for that age,
in its room, in the form of a cross, which
afterwards became a pattern for that kind
of building. The work being finished in
the year 1065, he caused it to be conse-
crated with the greatest pomp and solem-
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