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Monastic Apostasy in late Medieval England1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Christopher Harper-Bill
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Extract

References to apostates from the monastic life appear frequently in ecclesiastical and governmental records of the later Middle Ages, yet little attempt has been made to examine motives for flight or the measures which were adopted to recapture the fugitives. The problem of apostasy regularly attracted the attention of the legislators of the Orders, bishops were anxious both to restrain the culprits and to mitigate the severity of vengeful superiors, and the crown lent the weight of the secular arm to attempts at coercion, although an appeal to Rome might often avert the worst consequences of flight. The ecclesiastical authorities were, of course, concerned that no religious should prejudice his hopes of salvation by the rejection of his profession. Those who without the licence of their superior emigrated to another Order, accepted a secular benefice, or wandered off in search of carnal pleasure or spiritual benefits must be restrained, and those sinners and criminals who sought to evade the jurisdiction of their superiors must be punished. Most serious, however, were those cases in which apostasy was a symptom of dissension within the community and polarisation into factions, and where the fugitive sought from outside the walls to disrupt the life of the cloister until he might return to dominate his monastery.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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Footnotes

1

This paper was read to the Annual General Meeting of the Canterbury and York Society on 10 November 1978. My debt to Professor R. B. Dobson's work on Durham Cathedral Priory, which first interested me in this topic, is indicated by the footnotes. I am grateful for financial assistance to the Central Research Fund of the University of London. ‘Monastic’ is used in its wider sense, to embrace both monks and canons regular.

References

2 The Rule ofSt Benedict, ed. McCann, J., London 1952Google Scholar, cap. 1, 29.

3 The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc, ed. Knowles, M. D., Edinburgh 1951, 103Google Scholar; cf Customary of the Benedictine Abbey of Eynsham in Oxfordshire, ed. Gransde, A. (Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum, ii. Siegburg 1963), 89–91Google Scholar.

4 Cuslomaries of St Augustine's Canterbury and St Peter's Westminster (Henry Bradshaw Society, London 1902–1904Google Scholar), i. 41.

5 Staluta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis ab anno 1116 ad annum 1786, ed. Canivez, J. N.. (Bibliotheque de la Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, fasc, 9–14b. Louvain 1933–1941Google Scholar, hereafter cited as S.C.G, 1180, cap. 9 (i, 87).

6 Ibid., 1284, cap. 8; 1285, cap. 3 (iii. 231–2).

7 Ibid., 1340, cap. 5 (iii. 461–2). An earlier statute threatened with deposition abbesses who were unwilling to take back fugitives (ibid., 1286, cap. 4 (iii. 286)).

8 Ibid., 1134, cap. 16 (i. 16).

9 Ibid., 1175, cap. 11 (i. 83).

10 Ibid., 1242, cap. 10 (ii. 247).

11 Ibid., 1296, cap. 2 (iii. 282–3). In 1206 General Chapter had authorised the building of prisons for the incarceration of fugitives and other malefactors, (ibid., 1206, cap. 4 (i. 320)).

12 Ibid., 1291, cap. 6 (iii. 250–1). In 1267 General Chapter had lent its weight to the entreaty of St Bonaventura that fugitive Franciscans should not be received, (ibid., 1267, cap. 18 (iii. 50)).

13 Ibid., 1134, cap. 66 (i. 28–9). In is 18 a special licence from the General Chapter was made obligatory before a returned fugitive could celebrate mass; this provision was revoked three years later, when it was stipulated that a priest should abstain from celebration for as long as he had been in the world (ibid., 1218, cap. 6 (i. 486); 1221, cap. 11 (ii. 3)).

14 Ibid., 1221, cap. 11 (ii. 3). The apparent severity of this punishment is placed in perspective by the consideration that the aged and eminent Thomas de la Mare received the discipline every week from one o f his monks (M. D. Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, Cambridge 1948–59, ii. 46).

15 S.C.G. 1263, cap. 3 (iii. 10). The Cistercian abbots vacillated on the subsequent promotion of fugitives. In 1274 it was decreed that those who had apostatised might be promoted, if their own abbot requested it (ibid., 1274, cap. 9 (iii. 128)); in 1323 apostates who had left only once were declared to be totally ineligible for election to abbatial office, unless the General Chapter granted special dispensation (ibid., 1323, cap. 10 (iii. 365)).

16 Ibid., 1221, cap. 10 (ii. 2–3).

17 Ibid., 1190, cap. 9 (i. 119).

18 Ibid., 1183, cap. 4 (i. 92).

19 Ibid., 1193, cap. 27 (i. 162); 1228, cap. 41 (ii. 74).

20 Ibid., 1195, cap. 21 (i. 185).

21 Ibid., 1195, cap. 7 (i. 183).

22 Ibid., i189, cap. 13 (i. 112).

23 Ibid., 1221, cap. 10 (ii. 2–3).

24 Documents Illustrating the Activities of the General and Provincial Chapters of the English Black Monks 1215–1540, ed. Pantin, W. A. (3 vols, Camden 3rd. ser., xlv, xlvii and liv, 1931–1937Google Scholar) (hereafter cited as Pantin), i. 83; cf. ibid., i. 13.

25 Ibid., ii. 53.

26 See Logan, F. D., Excommunication and the Secular Arm in Medieval England, Toronto 1968Google Scholar.

27 The files of extant significations are in the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane. Brief details lor the enclosed Orders are as follows:

Benedictine: Chancery Warrants, C81/1786 ; 55 significations for the caption of 79 individual religious, spanning the years 1265 to 1512.

Cluniac: C81/1787; 21 significations of 35 individuals, from 1318 to 1461.

Carthusian: C81/1787; 2 significations of a individuals, from 1391 to 1451.

Cistercian: C81/1788; 65 significations of 81 individuals, from 1289 to 1512.

Augustinian canons: C81/1789; 68 significations of 98 individuals, from 1278 to 1526.

Premonstratensian canons: C81/1790; 19 significations of 22 individuals, from 1305 to 1474.

Gilbertine canons: C81/1791; is significations of 16 individuals, from 1286 to 1415.

Hospitallers: 081/1795; 6 significations of 5 individuals, from 1334 to 1528.

Miscellaneous hospitals, including Burton Lazars: C81/1795–6; 26 significations of 26 individuals, from 1282 to 1528.

Many significations include the name of more than one individual, while some religious were signified on more than one occasion. Further files cover the mendicant Orders. Published examples of significations are in Registra quorundam Abbaium Monasterii S. Albani, ed. Riley, H. T. (2 vols., Rolls Series, xxviii, 1872–1873), ii. 16–17Google Scholar, and in Royal and Historical Letters during the Reign of Henry iv, ed. F. C. Hingeston (2 vols., Rolls Series, xviii, 1860), nos. 21 and 32. It is interesting that only ten of these significations were for the caption of female religious.

28 C81/1788/8–14.

29 c. 24 X iii 31.

30 Bullarium Romanum, ed. Cocquelines, Rome 1741, iii. pt. 2, 201–3. For the full form of the commission, see Lettres Communes de Benoit xii, ed. Vidal, J. M., Paris 1903, i. 153–4Google Scholar.

31 Councils and Synods with other documents relating to the English Church, ii, A.D. 1205–1313, ed. Powicke, F. M. and Cheney, C. R. (2 vols.), Oxford 1964, 93Google Scholar.

32 Ibid., 913.

33 The Register of Bishop Philip Repingdon, 1405–1419, ed. Archer, M. (Lincoln Record Society, lvii-lviii, 1962–1963Google Scholar), ii. 371.

34 Visitations in the Diocese of Lincoln, 1517–31, ed. Thompson, A. H. (3 vols., Lincoln Record Society, xxxiii, xxxv, xxxvii, 1940–1947Google Scholar) (hereafter cited as Linc. Vis. 1517–31), ii. 112–13.

35 Register of Thomas Spofford, Bishop of Hereford 1422–28, ed. Bannister, A. T. (Canterbury and York Society, xxiii, 1918), 51–2Google Scholar; Register of Richard Mayew, Bishop of Hereford 1504–16, ed. Bannister, A. T. (Canterbury and York Society, xxvii, 1921), 174Google Scholar.

36 Register of Archbishop fohn le Romeyn, ed. Brown, W. (Surtees Society, cxxiii, cxxviii, 1913–1917Google Scholar), i. 175.

37 Ibid., i. 158.

38 Visitations of Religious Houses in the Diocese of Lincoln, 1420–49. ed. A. H. Thompson (3 vols., Lincoln Record Society, vii, xiv, xxi, 1914–29, or Canterbury- and York Society xvii, xxiv, xxxiii, 1915–29) (hereafter cited as Line. Vis. 1420–49), i. 43, 56.

39 The need for such concern is illustrated by the attitude of Robert de Wainfleet, deposed abbot of Bardney, who, after his restoration in 1304, chained a recaptured apostate to a post for a year, (C81/1786/31; cf. V.C.H. Lincolnshire, ii. 100).

40 Register of Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham 1406–37, ed. R. L. Storey (Surtees Society clxiv, clxvi, clxix, clxx, clxxvii, clxxxii, 1956–67), v, no. 1396.

41 Line. Vis. 1420–49, i. 29.

42 Ibid., i. 56; ii. 183.

43 Linc. Vis. 1517–31, ii. 144.

44 See above, n. 35, and Registers of Richard Beauchamp, Reginald Boulers and John Stanbury, Bishops of Hereford 1449–74 (Canterbury and York Society, xxv, 1919), 68Google Scholar.

45 The Rolls and Register of Bishop Oliver Sutton, 1280–99, ed. R. M. T. Hill (Lincoln Record Society, Ix, 1965), 30, 99, 167.

46 Linc. Vis. 1430–49, i. 29, 43, 48, 54, 56, 83. There was an indeterminate number of apostates at Daventry.

47 Ibid., ii. 26, 32, 37, 41, 71, 91, 140, 169, 183; iii. 322, 348, 388, 391. Humberstone was in a thoroughly disordered state; the abbot was found guilty of laxity, favouritism and improvident management, and subsequently the sub-prior of Bardney was put in to administer the house for two years (ibid., ii. 139–48).

48 Linc. Vis. 1517–31, ii. 70, 112, 139, 144 ; iii, 116.

49 Lambeth Palace Library, Register of Archbishop John Morton, i. fos. 122, 124V, 126, 126V, 145V, 161.

50 Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland (14 vols.), London 1893–61 (hereafter cited as C. P. L.), 1342–62, passim.

51 C.P.L., 1362–1404, 170; C.P.L., 1404–15, 179.

52 The figures broken into fifty-year periods are: 1265 (first extant signification) –1299, 23; 1300–49, 56; 1350–99, 103; 1400–49, 46; 1450–99, 37; 1500–26 (last example), 15. The few significations where the date is uncertain or illegible have been assigned to the most probable period.

53 C.P.L., 1404–15, 55.

54 Line. Vis. 1420–49, i. 41, 71.

55 C.P.L, 1431–47, 527.

56 C.P.L, 1447–55, 89.

57 C.P.L, 1431–47, 64–66.

58 C.P.L, 1342–62, 393.

59 See A. H. Sweet, ‘Papal Privileges granted to Individual Religious’, Speculum, xxxi (1956), 602–10.

60 C.P.L, 1404–15. 380.

61 C.P.L., 1396–1404, 358.

62 C.P.L., 1471–84, 7; for similar dispensations, see ibid., 60, 640, 714.

63 Pantin, iii. 84–7.

64 See, for example, Reg. Romeyn, 1, 335; Calendar of Papal Registers: Papal Petitions (hereafter cited as C.P.R. Petitions) 1343–1419, 569–70; C.P.L., 1396–1404, 276; Linc. Vis. 1420–49, ii. 169; R. B. Dobson, Durham Priory 1400–1450, Cambridge 1973, 76.

65 C.P.L., 1342–62, 188.

66 081/1789/49–50; cf. Cartulary of the Monastery of St Frideswide, ed. S. R. Wigram (2 vols., Oxford Historical Society, xxviii, xxxi, 1895–6) i. 477; ii. 373–4.

67 Lambeth Palace Library, Reg. Morton, i. fo. 127V.

68 C.P.L., 1396–1404, 346, 517, 602.

69 C81/1786/54.

70 C81/1789/54.

71 Dobson, Durham Priory, 74.

72 Thompson, A. H., The English Clergy and their Organisation in the Later Middle Ages, Oxford 1947Google Scholar, 245.

73 C81/1786/38; cf. Calendar of Close Rolls 1307–13, 255.

74 C81/1787/10 and 15; C.P.L., 1305–42, 211–12; C.P.R. 1317–21, 261–2, 285; V.C.H. Essex, ii. 139–40.

75 C81/1786/32, 34–5; Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani, ed. H. T. Riley (3 vols., Rolls Series, xxviii, 1867), ii. 130–42, 302–3.

76 C81/1786/36; Registrum Abbatiae Johannis Whethamstede, i. 146–7; cf. C.P.L., 1447–55, 49.

77 Pantin, iii. 277–309.

78 Ibid., iii. 124–36.

79 C81/1789/10; C.P.L., 1396–1404, 150–1; C.P.R. 1396–99, 420, 516–17.

80 S.C.G., 1344, cap. 15 (iii. 480–1).

81 C81/1788/62; V.C.H. Lancashire, ii. 136.

82 C81/1788/27; C.P.R. 1358–61, 358, 412.

83 C.P.L., 1362–1404, 70; R. V. H. Burne, The Monks of Chester, London 1962, 92–4.

84 C81/1789/41; V.C.H. Buckinghamshire, 371.

85 C81/1786/14; C.P.R. Petitions 1342–1419, 100; C.P.L. 1342–63, 174; see also Cartulary of the Abbey of Eynsham, ed. Salter, H. E. (2 vols., Oxford Historical Society, xlix, li, 1907–1908), i. pp. xxiv–xxviGoogle Scholar.

86 S.C.G., 1424, cap. 45 (iv. 285); C.P.S. 1432–9, 300; C81/1788/41.

87 S.C.G., 1427, cap. 27 (iv. 315–16); C81/1788/36.

88 C81/1788/8–14; a full account of the affair is given by S. F. Hockey, Quan Abbey and its Lands, 1131–1631, Leicester 1970,153–5.

89 S.C.G., 1471, cap. 10 (v. 280); C81/1788/21.

90 S.C.G., 1240, cap. 6 (ii. 217).

91 Ibid., 1296, cap. 2 (iii. 283). The Cistercian General Chapter was also particularly concerned about the lure of Paris. In 1288 the provisor of the house of studies was ordered to capture all fugitives, and monks who had been expelled from their houses were prohibited from entering the city (ibid., 1288, cap. 8 (iii. 241–2)).

92 Pantin, ii. 73; a commission to Thomas Brinton to act as proctor at the curia is printed ibid., iii. 52–3.

93 C.P.L., 1417–31, 62.

94 C.P.L., 1362–1404, 223,355.

95 C.P.L, 1396–1404, 157–8.

96 S. C. G., 1278, cap. 14 (ii. 177).

97 Ibid., 1339, cap. 2 (ii. 454).

98 Ibid., 1350, cap. 7 (iii. 518).

99 Ibid., 1454, cap. 101 (iv. 716–17).

100 Ibid., 1350, cap. 4. (iii. 517).

101 C.P.L., 1342–62, passim.

102 Ibid., 194.

103 Ibid., 461.

104 Ibid., 388.

105 Monks of Durham during Wessington's priorate were licenced to go to Rome pro salute animi, non animo apostandi (Dobson, Durham Priory, 212).

106 C.P.L., 1447–55, 57–8.

107 Ibid., 530–1.

108 Letters from the English Abbots to the Chapter at Citeaux, 1442–1521, ed. Talbot, C. H. (Camden 4th ser., iv, 1967), 223–4Google Scholar.

109 C81/1791/7. In 1373, in the bull Ad Romani ponlificis providentiam, Cregory xi ordered that all religious who had obtained papal chaplaincies should nevertheless be subject to the correction of their superiors.

110 Dobson, Durham Priory, 75.

111 Ibid., 212.

112 Line. Vis. 1420–49, iii. 391–3.

113 Dobson, Durham Priory, 74. In 1517 the sub-prior ot Eynsham advised against the readmission of an apostate, since he would be ill-disposed, (Line. Vis. 1517–31, ii. 140).