One of the earliest references to Repton Abbey and Abbess is found in a life of St. Guthlac, written by Felix, a monk of Croyland, at the command of Æthelbald, King of the Mercians. Guthlac, after a nine years’ life of plunder, obtained by fire and sword, repented of his life, “And one sleepless night, his conscience awoke, the enormity of his crimes, and the doom awaiting such a life, suddenly aroused him; at daybreak he announced to his companions, his intention of giving up the predatory life of a soldier of fortune, and desired them to choose another leader. So, at the age of twenty-four, he left them, and came to the abbey of Repton, and sought admission there.” This happened in the year 694, when Ælfritha was abbess. She admitted him, and under her rule he received the mystical tonsure of St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles. For two years he submitted himself to the discipline of the monastery, but, attracted by the virtues of a hermit’s life, he left the abbey in the autumn of 696, “when berries hung ripe over the stream,” and drifted down the Trent till he reached the Lincoln Fens, where he built himself a hut, and lived in it till he died in 714. It is related that Eadburgh, Abbess of Repton, daughter of Aldulph, King of the East Angles, sent a shroud and a coffin of Derbyshire lead for his burial. _The Memorials of St. Guthlac_, edited by Dr. Walter de Gray Birch, contain the full text of Felix’s life of the Saint, interleaved with eighteen cartoons, reproduced by autotype photography from the well-known roll in the British Museum. The next event is connected with Wystan, patron saint of Repton. In an appendix to the _Chronicon Abbatiæ de Evesham_, written by Thomas de Marleberge, Abbot of Evesham (published among _The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle-Ages_), there is a life of St. Wystan. Wystan was the son of Wimund (son of Wiglaf, King of Mercia); his mother’s name was “Elfleda”; his father died of dysentery when he (Wystan) was young. On the death of Wiglaf, Bertulph, “inflamed with a desire of ruling, and with a secret love for the Queen-Regent,” conspired against his nephew Wystan. A council was summoned to meet at a place known from that day to this as Wistanstowe, in Shropshire. Hither came Bertulph and his son Berfurt. Beneath his cloak Berfurt had concealed a sword, and whilst giving a kiss of peace to Wystan he drew it and smote him with a mortal wound in the head, and so, on the Eve of Pentecost, A.D. 850, “that holy martyr, leaving his precious body on the earth, bore his glorious soul to heaven.” The body was conveyed to the Abbey at Repton, “tunc temporis famosissimum,” and buried in the mausoleum of his grandfather.