Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T05:28:56.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Anarchy on English Monasticism, 1135-1154

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Thomas Callahan Jr.
Get access

Extract

King Stephen's reign has long been recognized as a crucial period for monasticism in England. Many authors have written about alleged anarchical conditions during those nineteen years, and scholars have done a great deal of work on twelfth century English monasticism; nevertheless, comparatively little attention has been paid to the impact of this supposed anarchy on the monastic establishment. This impact is the concern of this essay. Due to the limitation of space, I will confine myself to the material damages suffered by monastic houses during Stephen's reign and will offer an extended summary of my findings.

The traditional picture of anarchy in England during Stephen's reign is that the civil wars wreaked havoc with nearly all aspects of life and inflicted massive and long lasting material damages. Medieval writers—most memorably the Peterborough chronicler— emotionally depicted scenes of terror and devastation, and the majority of later scholars—most notably H. W. C. Davis—upheld the basic validity of this picture. During the past century, however, historians have somewhat modified the traditional view. Whereas most medieval writers described an England embroiled in internal warfare for nearly all of Stephen's nineteen year reign, modern scholars have realized that the area of active fighting was more limited and that actual warfare lasted less than half of the reign. Also, modern scholars have shown that many of the occurrences in Stephen's reign were not characterized by aimless chaos and confusion, but rather by purposeful actions directed towards specific ends.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , Fall 1974 , pp. 218 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Whitelock, Dorothy, et al., eds., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (New Brunswick, N. J., 1961), pp. 199–200Google Scholar; Davis, H. W. C., “The Anarchy of Stephen's Reign,” English Historical Review, XVIII (1903): 630–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 See, for example, Howlett, R., ed., Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, Rolls Series, 82 (4 vols.; London, 1884–1889), III: xlvii-iii, liGoogle Scholar; Poole, A. L., From Domesday Book to Magna Carta (2d. ed.; Oxford, 1955), pp. 151–54Google Scholar; Cronne, H. A., The Reign of Stephen, p. 3.Google Scholar

3 See, for example, Davis, R. H. C., “What Happened in Stephen's Reign, 1135-1154,” History, XLIX (1964): 1–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar; “Geoffrey de Mandeville Reconsidered,” English Historical Review, LXXIX (1964):299–307CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cronne, The Reign of Stephen.

4 Cronne, , Reign of Stephen, p. 225.Google Scholar

5 of Hexham, John, History of the Church of Hexham in Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, ed., Arnold, T., Rolls Series, 75 (2 vols.; London, 1882–1885), II: 314–15.Google Scholar

6 The Monastic Order in England (2d. cd.; Cambridge, 1963), pp. 268-72, 296.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., p. 269.

8 Ibid., pp. 269, 296.

9 H. W. C. Davis, “Anarchy,” 641.

10 Poole, , Domesday Book, pp. 151–54Google Scholar. R. H. C. Davis disputes Poole's interpretation, King Stephen, p. 88.

11 Knowles, D. and Hadcock, R., Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales (2d. ed.; London, 1971), p. 494Google Scholar. A count of the actual listings under each order reveals an even higher total; the table does not include many of the smaller black monk houses.

12 See Appendix for a listing of damaged houses.

13 For example, Knowles claims that Thorney, Bath, Cerne, Worcester and Tewkesbury were damaged, although he cites no evidence for this assertion: Monastic Order, pp. 269-71.

14 See Appendix.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 For example, see Potter, K. R., ed., Gesta Stephani (London, 1955), p. 153Google Scholar; of Huntingdon, Henry, Historia Anglorum, ed. Arnold, T., Rolls Series, 74 (London, 1879), p. 267.Google Scholar

19 Saltman, A., Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury (London, 1956), pp. 547–48.Google Scholar

20 of Malmesbury, William, Historia Novella, ed. Potter, K. R. (London, 1955), p. 43.Google Scholar

21 Earl Ranulf is known to have damaged Burton Abbey, Chester Abbey, and Lincoln Cathedral: Wrottesley, G., ed., “The Burton Cartulary,” in Collections for the History of Staffordshire, William Salt Archeological Society, V (2 vols.; London, 1884–1885), I: 48Google Scholar; Tail, J., ed., The Chartulary or Register of the Abbey of St. Werberg, Chester, Chatham Society. New Series, LXXIX. LXXXII (2 vols.; Manchester, 1920–1923), I: 231–32Google Scholar; Foster, C. W. and Major, K., eds., The Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, Lincoln Record Society, XXVII- (8 vols.; Lincoln, 1931 -in progress), I: 94. 96–97. II: 7Google Scholar; Cronne, H. A.. “Ranulf de Gernons. Earl of Chester, 1129-1153,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th Ser., XX (1937): 134.Google Scholar

22 Farrer, W. and Clay, C. T., eds., Early Yorkshire Charters. Yorkshire Archeological Society Record Series, Extra Series (12 vols.; Edinburgh and Wakefield, 1914–1965), III: 34–35.Google Scholar

23 of Newburgh, William, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, in Howlett, Chronicles, I:42.Google Scholar

24 See Appendix.

25 Cronne, , Reign of Stephen. p. 3.Google Scholar

26 Dugdale, W., ed., Monasticon Anglicanum (6 vols, in 8; London, 1817–1830), VI: 873.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., p. 955.

28 Ibid., V: 560. In fact, I know of no example of a black monk house being founded as an aci of reparation.

29 Monastic Order, p. 246; see also Hill, B., English Cistercian Monasteries and their Patrons in the Twelfth Century (Urbana, III., 1968). pp. 44, 46.Google Scholar

30 Whitelock, , Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 200.Google Scholar

31 of Durham, Simeon, Opera, I:142Google Scholar; Atkinson, J. C., ed., Cartularium Abbathiae de Whiteby, Surtees Society, LXIX, LXXII (2 vols.; Durham, 1879–1881), I: 9–10.Google Scholar

32 Burne, R., The Monks of Chester (London, 1962), pp. 8–9.Google Scholar

33 Potter, , Gesta Stephani, p. 65.Google Scholar

34 Bentham, J., History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Ely (2d. ed.; Norwich, 1812), p. 216Google Scholar; Hart, W., ed., Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae, Rolls Series, 33 (3 vols.; London, 1863–1867), I:18Google Scholar; Macray, W. D., ed., Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham, Rolls Series, 29 (London, 1863), pp. 98–99Google Scholar; Williams, L., History of the Abbey of St. Albans (London, 1917), p. 56Google Scholar; Haines, C. R., Dover Priory (Cambridge, 1930), p. 184Google Scholar; Lower, M., ed., The Chronicle of Battle Abbey (London, 1951), p. 72.Google Scholar

35 Macray, W. D., ed., Chronicon Abbatiae de Ramesiensis, Rolls Series, 83 (London, 1886), pp. 335–36.Google Scholar

36 Knowles, , Monastic Order, p. 711Google Scholar; See also Knowles, and Hadcock, , Medieval Religious Houses, p. 494Google Scholar. The latter source does not separate the reigns of Henry I and Stephen. Also, as noted in footnote eleven, Knowles does not count many of the small black monk houses.

37 See Appendix.

38 See Knowles, , Monastic Order, p. 269.Google Scholar