Qualla: Walden Abbey https://qualla.com/walden-abbey en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:10 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/0/p/walden-abbey-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Walden Abbey https://qualla.com/walden-abbey Walden Abbey: Introduction https://qualla.com/walden-abbey/ Photo credit The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. Geoffrey de Mandeville, the first Earl of Essex, founded a Benedictine priory at Walden somewhere between 1136 and 1143, then promptly ruined his own foundation by getting himself arrested by King Stephen and excommunicated for rebellion. When he died, his body could not be buried in the priory he had built. The monks struggled on without a patron, eventually became an abbey in 1190, weathered four centuries of medieval politics, and were finally dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538. On their site rose Audley End House - one of the largest Jacobean mansions ever built in England, big enough to be mistaken for a royal palace. Charles II eventually bought it for that purpose.

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Image: The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/0/p/walden-abbey-wp/u10p-walden-abbey-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Walden Abbey: A Founder in Disgrace https://qualla.com/walden-abbey/ Photo credit The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. Geoffrey de Mandeville was one of the most powerful magnates of King Stephen's reign - and one of the most slippery. He held lands on both sides of the civil war between Stephen and the Empress Matilda, and he played them with cold competence. Around 1140 he founded a Benedictine...

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Image: The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/0/p/walden-abbey-wp/u10p-walden-abbey-a-founder-in-disgrace.mp3 0:06 2 full Walden Abbey: A Monastery Without a Patron https://qualla.com/walden-abbey/ Photo credit The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. Without an active founder, Walden Priory struggled. De Mandeville's son, the second Earl of Essex, got the family's lands back under Henry II but did almost nothing for the priory. When he died in 1166 his body was still brought to Walden for burial - over the protests of his mot...

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Image: The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/0/p/walden-abbey-wp/u10p-walden-abbey-a-monastery-without-a-patron.mp3 0:06 3 full Walden Abbey: The Bohun Tombs https://qualla.com/walden-abbey/ Photo credit The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. By the later Middle Ages the abbey came under the patronage of the Duchy of Lancaster, which gave it stability for the first time. A succession of great noblemen and noblewomen were buried in the abbey church - Humphrey de Bohun, third Earl of Hereford. His wife Joan. Elizabeth o...

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Image: The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/0/p/walden-abbey-wp/u10p-walden-abbey-the-bohun-tombs.mp3 0:06 4 full Walden Abbey: The Audley Mansion https://qualla.com/walden-abbey/ Photo credit The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. Walden Abbey was dissolved in 1538. Sir Thomas Audley - Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, the man who had presided over the trial of Thomas More - bought the property in 1538 and was given the title Baron Audley of Walden. He died at the new mansion in 1544 and was buried in what had...

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/0/p/walden-abbey-wp/u10p-walden-abbey-the-audley-mansion.mp3 0:06 5 full Walden Abbey: Charles II's White Elephant https://qualla.com/walden-abbey/ Photo credit The original uploader was Paul W Wells at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. Audley End was so huge that Charles II actually bought it from the Suffolks in 1666 for use as a royal palace - convenient for the Newmarket races. The Crown later sold it back, no monarch having quite wanted to live in something quite so big or so expensive to maintain. Successi...

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/0/p/walden-abbey-wp/u10p-walden-abbey-charles-iis-white-elephant.mp3 0:06 6 full