=Ceolred= succeeded, and in the year 852 signs a grant of land as Abbot.  Patrick conjectures that he became a bishop, but does not name his diocese.  There is no certainty about the dates at which these early abbots entered upon their office; and possibly some names have been altogether lost.  But all accounts agree that the last Abbot of Medeshamstede was =Hedda=; and that he perished when the monastery was destroyed and its inmates killed by the Danes in 870.  A graphic account of the circumstances attending this attack is given by Ingulf; but as authentic historians like Orderic and Malmesbury have no reference whatever to the occurrences described by Ingulf, Bishop Stubbs unwillingly is obliged to consider his version to be a pure romance.  But of the fact itself, the utter destruction of the monastery, there is no question; nor of the fact that all the inmates, or nearly all, perished.  We read that at Crowland some monks escaped the general slaughter, and met again, after the departure of the Danes, and elected a fresh abbot.  They then came to Medeshamstede, and buried the bodies of those that had been murdered, in one vast tomb.  It has been commonly supposed that the Monks’ Stone, before described, was the stone erected at the time in commemoration of the disaster.  The arguments against this supposition have been already given.

The Fen monasteries remained desolate for 100 years.  During that period the lands were constantly being seized by different intruders.  It was not till the time of Alfred the Great, who came to the throne in 871, that the invasions of the Danes were finally checked, and tranquillity restored to the kingdom.  Security being assured, the people began again to improve their public buildings and the religious houses.  Crowland was the first in the neighbourhood to be restored.  This restoration was effected by Thurketyl.  Instigated probably by his example, Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, encouraged and supported by King Edgar, rebuilt the monastery of Medeshamstede after the old model.  The rebuilding was completed in 972; and the name of Burgh was given to the place, and the old name went altogether out of use.

The first Abbot, after the re-establishment of the monastery, was =Aldulf= (971-992), formerly Chancellor to the King.  He is said to have accidentally caused the death of his only son, and feeling that he could no longer live happily in the midst of earthly vanities, he endowed this monastery with all his possessions, and was appointed to govern it.  Gunton declares that the prosperous and wealthy condition of the abbey under the rule of Aldulf caused its name to be improved into Gildenburgh, the Golden Borough.  At this time most of the neighbouring woods were cut down and the land brought into cultivation.  Aldulf became Bishop of Worcester after remaining twenty years at Burgh; and in 995 was made Archbishop of York.  He died in May 1002, and is buried at Worcester.  He held indeed the See of Worcester with that of York till his death.