Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- I GILBERT'S HOME AT BEC
- II THE NOBLE FAMILY OF THE CRISPINS
- III GILBERT AT WESTMINSTER
- IV DETAILS OF ADMINISTRATION
- V ABBOT GILBERT'S LITERARY REMAINS
- VI CORRESPONDENCE
- VITA DOMNI HERLUINI ABBATIS BECCENSIS
- LIBER DE SIMONIACIS
- SELECTED CHARTERS
- ADDITIONAL NOTES
- INDEX
- NOTES AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY
IV - DETAILS OF ADMINISTRATION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- I GILBERT'S HOME AT BEC
- II THE NOBLE FAMILY OF THE CRISPINS
- III GILBERT AT WESTMINSTER
- IV DETAILS OF ADMINISTRATION
- V ABBOT GILBERT'S LITERARY REMAINS
- VI CORRESPONDENCE
- VITA DOMNI HERLUINI ABBATIS BECCENSIS
- LIBER DE SIMONIACIS
- SELECTED CHARTERS
- ADDITIONAL NOTES
- INDEX
- NOTES AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Summary
When Lanfranc came to Canterbury, he drew up for the regulation of the monks of Christ Church a book of Customs, which found its way into many of the English monasteries and was known sometimes as the Customs of Canterbury and sometimes as the Customs of Bec. It represented the result of the experience of Lanfranc and Anselm, as gained and formulated in the eager life of Herluin's new foundation; but it rested largely on earlier codes which can be traced back through Fécamp and Dijon to Cluny and even to that strenuous reformer Benedict of Aniane. Lanfranc made some modifications in detail in deference to English traditions, though in general he was not sympathetic in dealing with the religious life of his new fellow-countrymen. We can hardly doubt that this code, which Gilbert must have seen in force at Canterbury, was brought by him to Westminster. As a matter of fact, considerable portions of it are embodied word for word in the thirteenth century Customary of Abbot Ware. Vitalis, who had come to Westminster from Bernay, which was a cell of Fécamp, must have paved the way for the peaceable introduction of the new regulations. From Lanfranc's book a picture might easily be drawn of the daily life of Westminster Abbey at the close of the eleventh century; but we must confine ourselves here to the more laborious task of gathering together such scattered notices as can be found in charters or elsewhere of Abbot Gilbert's rule.
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- Gilbert Crispin Abbot of WestminsterA Study of the Abbey under Norman Rule, pp. 28 - 50Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1911