St Peter’s runner-up in medieval ‘World Cup’

They think it’s all over. It is now! But sadly the result wasn’t quite what we’d hoped for.

After storming its way to the Medieval Abbey World Cup final, St Peter’s in Monkearmouth lost out to Minster Abbey in Kent. The winner was decided by an online poll in a four-way final in which people voted for their favourite.

St Peter’s polled 33.4% of the 1,314 votes cast as a combined entry with its twin site of St Paul’s in Jarrow. But it was edged out by Minster with 38.4%. The other finalists were Mar Mattai in Iraq on 14.8% and Cluny in France on 13.3%.

However, St Peter’s can take pride in its runners-up spot. There were six rounds in total with 180 entrants. These included Glastonbury, La Sacra di San Michele in Turin, Abba Garima in Ethiopia and Kells in Ireland.

The home of the Venerable Bede, St Peter’s was established in AD 674 as a double monastery along with St Paul’s. Together they are known as MonkwearmouthJarrow.

The “tournament” was the idea of medieval scholars Charlotte Liebelt and Lily Hawker-Yates, who recently completed their PhDs at Canterbury Christ Church University. The idea was to promote an interest in history while having some fun.

Charlotte said: “Organising a tournament such as this is a lot of work, but is also very rewarding.

“At the end of a tournament especially, we noticed how much such an activity on social media can connect people.

“That includes us as well, it is great fun to connect with people and history around the world.”