Medeshampstede, the name in the Dark Ages of the city of Peterborough. Petrarch, who conceived the idea of a European Dark Age. From Cycle of Famous Men and Women, Andrea di Bartolo di Bargillac, c. ... Peterborough is a cathedral city and Unitary Authority in the East of England. ...

The first definite record is of the Abbey of Medeshampstede - the spellings Medehampstede and Medeshampstead are also sometimes found. There had been a Roman settlement nearby, within the modern city boundaries but some distance from the actual site of the abbey. There may have already have been a Saxon village that gave the abbey its name. An abbey (from the Latin abbatia, which is derived from the Syriac abba, father), is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serve as the spiritual father or mother of the community. ... Roman or Romans may refer to: History Ancient Rome Roman Kingdom (753 BC to 509 BC) Roman Republic (509 BC to 44 BC) Roman Empire (44 BC to AD 476) Roman citizen Byzantine Empire (330 to 1453), also known as the Eastern Roman Empire or the Empire of the Greeks...

The abbey was founded in 655 by the ruling dynasty of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. It was largely destroyed by vikings in 870, but was restored. A town called Medeshampstede grew up and in late-Saxon times it was given a defensive wall and ditch and came to be known as "Burgh St Peter": "Burgh" is an Old English word for a fortified settlement. Events November 15 - Northumbrian king Oswiu defeats the pagan Mercian king Penda in the Battle of Winwaed Empress Saimei ascends to the throne of Japan. ... Mercia, sometimes spelled Mierce, was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, in what is now England, in the region of the Midlands, with its heart in the valley of the River Trent and its tributary streams. ... The name Viking is a loan from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse seafaring warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, Europe and the British Isles from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the period of European history referred to as the Viking Age. ... Events February 28 - End of the Fourth Council of Constantinople. ... A sign in Linlithgow, Scotland. ...

External links

• Peterborough Museum.
• An account of the foundation
• Mentioned in a poem (as Medehamstede)