An abbey is a monastery or religious community of the highest class, governed by an abbot, assisted generally by a prior, sub-prior, and other subordinate functionaries; or, in the case of a female community, superintended by an abbess. An abbey invariably included a church. A priory differed from an abbey only in being scarcely so extensive an establishment, and was governed by a prior. In the English conventual cathedral establishments, as Canterbury, Norwich, Ely, etc, the archbishops or bishops held the abbot's place, the immediate governor of the monastery being called a prior.
Some priories sprang originally from the more important abbeys, and remained under the jurisdiction of the abbots; but subsequently any real distinction between abbeys and priories was lost. The greater abbeys formed most complete and extensive establishments, including not only the church and other buildings devoted to the monastic life and its daily requirements, such as the refectory or eating-room, the dormitories or sleeping-rooms, the room for social intercourse, the school for novices, the scribes' cells, library, and so on; but also workshops, storehouses, mills, cattle and poultry sheds, dwellings for artisans, labourers, and other servants, infirmary, guest-house, etc. Among the most famous abbeys on the continent of Europe were those of Cluny, Clairvaux, and Citeaux in France; St Galle in Switzerland, and Pulda in Germany; the most noteworthy English abbeys were those of Westminster, St Mary's of York, Fountains, Kirkstall, Tintern, Rievaulx, Netley; and of Scotland, Melrose, Paisley, and Arbroath. Research Abbey
Alexander Barclay was a British poet. He was born about 1475 probably in Scotland and died in 1552. For some years he was a priest and chaplain of St Mary Ottery, in Devonshire, afterwards he was a Benedictinemonk of Ely, subsequently a Franciscan, and latterly the holder of one or two livings. His principal work was a satire, entitled The Shyp of Folys of this Worlde, part translation and part imitation of Brandt's Narrenschiff (Ship of Fools), and printed by Pynson in 1509. He also wrote a Myrrour of Good Manors, and some Egloges (Eclogues), both printed by Pynson, as well as translations, etc. Research Alexander Barclay
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect. He was born in 1811 at Gawcott, Buckinghamshire and died in 1878. He became the foremost representative of the Gothic school, and found his life-work as an architectural restorer. His first restoration was Chesterfieldchurch, and his first great original work the church of St Nicholas in Hamburg. Ely was the first cathedral he restored. He was knighted in 1872. Research George Scott
Hereward the Wake was an English patriot. After the Norman conquest he held out at the head of the English resistance for about a year in the Isle of Ely, until William penetrated into the marshes by building a causeway. Hereward escaped, but his fate after that is unknown. Research Hereward the Wake
Lancelot Andrews was an English clergyman. He was in 1555 at London and died in 1626. He was high in favour both with Queen Elizabeth I and James I. In 1605 he became Bishop of Chichester, in 1609 was translated to Ely, and appointed one of the king's privy-councillors; and in 1618 he was translated to Winchester. He was one of those engaged in preparing the authorized version of the Scriptures. He left sermons, lectures, and other writings. Research Lancelot Andrews
Oliver Cromwell was Lord-protector of the commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was born at Huntingdon in 1599 and died in 1658. His father, Robert Cromwell, who represented the borough of Huntingdon in the parliament of 1593, was a younger son of Sir Henry Cromwell, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I; and Sir Henry again was a son of Sir Richard Williams, a nephew of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, whose name he took. Oliver Cromwell's mother was a daughter of William Steward, of Ely, and could trace her descent back to Alexander, lord-steward of Scotland, the founder of the house of Stuart. The first really authentic fact in his biography is his leaving school at Huntingdon and entering Sidney - Sussex College, Cambridge, on April the 23rd, 1616.
On the death of his father in 1617 he returned home, and in 1620 married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Bourchier. In 1628 he was member of parliament for the borough of Huntingdon, to which he returned on the dissolution in 1629. In 1631 he went with his family to a farm which he had taken at St Ives; and in 1636 to Ely, where he had inherited a property worth nearly 500 pounds a year.
During the Short and Long Parliaments he represented Cambridge, his influence gradually increasing. In the summer of 1642 he was actively engaged in raising and drilling volunteers for the parliamentary party, in view of the impending struggle with the king. He served as captain and colonel in the earlier part of the war, doing good service with his troop of horse at Edgehill;
and it was his energy and ability which made the Eastern Association the most efficient of those formed for mutual defence. At the battle of Winceby in 1643 he led the van, narrowly escaping death, and in the following year he led the victorious left at Marston Moor, deciding the result of the battle. A few months later he was present at the second battle of Newbury, and his action being fettered by the timidity of Manchester, he impeached the conduct of the earl. As the result of this disagreement Sir Thomas Fairfax was made lord general, while Oliver Cromwell, notwithstanding the Self-denying Ordinance, was placed under him, with the command of the cavalry and the rank of lieutenant-general.
As the result of the discipline introduced by Oliver Cromwell the decisive victory of Naseby was gained in 1645, and Leicester, Taunton, Bridgewater, Bristol, Devizes, Winchester, and Dartmouth fell into the hands of the parliament. On the occasion of the surrender of Charles by the Scottish army in 1646 Oliver Cromwell was one of the commissioners, and in the distribution of rewards for services received 2500 pounds a year from the estates of the Marquis of Worcester.
Though at first supporting parliament in its wish to disband the army, which refused to lay down its arms until the freedom of the nation was established, he afterwards saw reason to decide in favour of the latter course. Hastily suppressing the Welsh rising, he marched against the Scottish royalists, whom he defeated with a much inferior force at Preston on August the 17th,1648. Then followed the tragedy of the king's execution, Oliver Cromwell's name standing third in order in the death-warrant. Affairs in Ireland demanding his presence, he was appointed lord-lieutenant and commander-in-chief; and by making a terrible example of Drogheda in September, 1649, crushed the royalist party in that country within six months. Resigning the command to Ireton, he undertook, at the request of the parliament, a similar expedition against Scotland, where Charles II had been proclaimed king. With an army greatly reduced by sickness he saved himself from almost inevitable disaster by the splendid victory at Dunbar on September the 3rd, 1650, and a year later put an end to the struggle by his total defeat of the royalists at Worcester on September the 3rd, 1651. For these services he was rewarded with an estate of 4000 pounds a year, besides other honours.
He already exerted a weighty influence in the supreme direction of affairs, being instrumental in restoring the continental relations of England, which had been almost entirely dissolved, and regulating them so as to promote the interests of commerce. The Navigation Act, from which may be dated the rise of the naval power of England, was framed upon his suggestion, and passed in 1651. The Rump Parliament, as the remnant of the Long Parliament was called, had become worse than useless, and on April the 20th, 1653, Oliver Cromwell, with 300 soldiers, dispersed that body. He then summoned a council of state, consisting mainly of his principal officers, which finally chose a parliament of persons selected from the three kingdoms, nicknamed Barebone's Paliament, or the Little Parliament. Fifteen months after a new annual parliament was chosen; but Oliver Cromwell soon prevailed on this body, who were totally incapable of governing, to place the charge of the commonwealth in his hands.
The chief power now devolving again upon the council of officers on December the 12th 1653, they declared Oliver Cromwell sole governor of the commonwealth, under the name of Lord-protector, with an assistant council of twenty-one men. The new protector behaved with dignity and firmness. Despite the innumerable difficulties which beset him from adverse parliaments, insurgent royalists, and mutinous republicans, the early months of his rule established favourable treaties with Holland, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, and France. In September 1656 he called a new parliament, which undertook the revisal of the constitution and offered Oliver Cromwell the title of king. On his refusal he was again installed as Lord-protector, but with his powers now legally defined.
Early in the following year, however, he peremptorily dissolved the house, which had rejected the authority of the second chamber. Abroad his influence still increased, reaching its full height after the victory of Dunkirk in June, 1658. But his masterly administration was not effected without severe strain, and upon the death of his favourite daughter, Elizabeth Claypole, in the beginning of August, 1658, his health began to fail him. Towards the end of the month he was confined to his room from a tertian fever, and on September the 3rd 1658, he died at Whitehall, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was buried in King Henry VII's Chapel, in Westminster Abbey, but after the Restoration his body was taken up and hanged at Tyburn, the head being fixed on a pole at Westminster Abbey, and the rest of the remains buried under the gallows.
Great as a general, Oliver Cromwell was still greater as a civil ruler. He lived in a simple and retired way, like a private man, and was abstemious, temperate, indefatigably industrious, and exact in his official duties. He possessed extraordinary penetration and knowledge of human nature; and devised the boldest plans with a quickness equalled only by the decision with which he executed them. No obstacle deterred him; and he was never at a loss for expedients. Cool and reserved, he patiently waited for the favourable moment, and never failed to make use of it. In his religious views he was a tolerant Calvinist. He was about 5 feet 10 inches in height, his body 'well compact and strong'; and his head and face, though wanting in refinement, were impressive in their unmistakable strength.
He had appointed his eldest son, Richard Cromwell, his successor; but the republican and religious fanaticism of the army and officers, with Fleetwood at their head, compelled Richard Cromwell to dissolve parliament; and a few days after he voluntarily abdicated the protectorship, on April the 22nd, 1659. His brother Henry, who from 1654 had governed Ireland in tranquillity, followed the example of Richard, and died in privacy in England.
At the Restoration Richard Cromwell went to the Continent until 1680, when he assumed the name of Clark, and passed the remainder of his days in tranquil seclusion at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. He died in 1712, at the age of eighty-six.
The last of the family was Oliver Cromwell, great-grandson of Henry Cromwell, son of the protector. He was a London solicitor, and clerk to St Thomas' Hospital. He succeeded to the estate of Theobalds, which descended to him through the children of Richard Cromwell, and died at Cheshunt Park in 1821, aged seventy-nine. He wrote the Memoirs of the Protector and his Sons, illustrated by Family Papers, 1820. Research Oliver Cromwell
Guy Pearce is an English-born Australian actor. He was born in 1967 at Ely, Cambridgeshire. His family emigrated to Australia when he was three years old, and he joined an amateur theatre group when he was eleven and in his teens started body-building and entering body-building competitions. In 1985 he got a break in television appearing in the soap-opera 'Neighbours' as the character 'Mike Young', later appearing in the rival soap-opera 'Home and Away' before appearing in films. Research Guy Pearce
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