Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VIII. At the time it was the second-wealthiest nunnery in England, behind only Syon Abbey in west London.
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Shaftesbury Abbey in the context of Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury (died 944) was the first wife of King Edmund I (r. 939–946). She was Queen of the English from her marriage in around 939 until her death in 944. Ælfgifu and Edmund were the parents of two future English kings, Eadwig (r. 955–959) and Edgar (r. 959–975). Like her mother Wynflaed, Ælfgifu had a close and special if unknown connection with the royal nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred, where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is 18 May.
Shaftesbury Abbey in the context of Wynflaed
Wynflæd or Ƿynflæd (died c. 950 or 960) was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman and a major landowner in the areas of Hampshire, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. Wynflæd is likely a widow vowess primarily connected to royal foundation at Shaftesbury Abbey, with further connections to royal nunnery at Wilton Abbey. There is ongoing debate if she was the mother of Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury and thus the grandmother of Kings Eadwig and Edgar the Peaceful.