King Ine

King Ine is often quoted as the main person responsible for laying the foundations of Taunton.The king lived between 688ad and 726ad and was the saxon king of Wessex. It is suggested that there may have been a Roman settlement somewhere near Holway that predates King Ines Taunton. It is likely that he choose somewhere that had already proven to be a good settlement as Taunton was to become a stronghold for him. The Taunton King Ine founded was probably an earthen castle and is said to have been built around 700ad. King Ine is known to have produced laws to govern his kingdom and some of these are still available as written documents contained in the Peterborough Chronicle. It is said that Ines laws only exist because Alfred the great adopted his laws into his own. So they must have been pretty good. One of his laws is very similar to a ruling we have today. King Ina prescribed a penalty for deferring the baptism of an infant for more than thirty days. Today we have to register our childrens birth within a similar period. The King also decreed that if any servant was made to work on a Sunday that they would be free. The King also started a tribute known as Peters Pence. This was a tax which was to be paid to the church of St. Peter. The tax was due if you owned possessions of more than twenty pence and the price was one penny in twenty per year.

The Saxon king was known to have been a Christian and in fact abdicated his throne to travel to Rome where he died. His laws names his advisors who were all high ranking members of the church. One of the named advisors was the Bishop of Winchester, does that name sound familiar. It should, by the year 900 the Bishop of Winchester owned the manor of Taunton and recieved a charter from King Edward. I can currently think of The Winchester Arms and Winchester Street that still bear the bishops title. I also know a local person with the surname, so the name has had plenty of influence on the town. The Bishop of Winchester is a very old position and owned the manor until 1647 when an act of parliament decreed the sale of all land owned by episcopal sees.

At or about 721ad some sort of conflict arose in the royal family. This was a bad thing for Taunton as King Ines Queen, Aethelburg, destroyed the town. She supposedly did this in an attempt to find the rebel Ealdburt who she obviously thought was hiding here. It couldn't have set the town back that much as by 900ad, as noted above, Taunton had gained a charter.

There are two different stories as to how the manor of Taunton came to be owned by the Bishop of Winchester.
When King Ina abdicated his throne and went of to Rome his successor was Ethelard.One story as to Bishop owning the manor is that Ethelards Queen; Fristhwella, gave the town to the Bishop out of loyalty to the church.
Another story is that Queen Emma was accused by the Archbishop of Canterbury of incontinency with Alfwin. Upon this charge she was made to walk across nine red hot plough shares known at the time as the fiery ordeal. The reasoning being that if she were innocent God would intervene and allow her to pass over unharmed. She passed over the ordeal unharmed for remembrance of her vindicated character gave the manor of Taunton to the Bishop of Winchester.
I have read that some historians think that the second story is no more than a fable and think it more likely that Queen Fristhwella gave Taunton to the Bishop.