MONASTIC CHARTERS.
Every abbey of any importance kept a chartulary--in other words, a
catalogue of its possessions in the copies of grants of land all
collected within one or more volumes--a carefully compiled work, giving
all the benefactions and privileges of the foundation, entered by the
scribe or secretary of the establishment, who must have spent many
hours of his life over the work, for these books are rarely found to
be the work of more than one, or at most two, men--one handwriting
continuing on until replaced by another. Great care and neatness was
used in the formation of each black letter--even and perfect as the
most exact printing ever done by machinery. Each charter was emphasized
with an elaborate capital letter, and the index or headings to them
were filled in after the writing was finished, as is proved by the
fact that these were sometimes never completed. The probability is that
they were the work of another artist or illuminator, and appear to have
been sketched in with a brush or hair pencil, the writing having been
executed with a quill pen. Colour is sometimes employed to embellish
and ornament the work, but in the oldest chartularies colour, usually
red, is only used to mark special passages, or, as in Domesday Book,
to point out names of persons or places. The largest work on English
monasteries was compiled by Sir William Dugdale; but in so extensive a
work as the ‘Monasticon’ too much was undertaken; it was impossible to
search deeply enough into existing records for information concerning
every religious house throughout England. Therefore, although a
valuable foundation to start with, much more may still be ascertained
from manuscripts, public and private, particularly with regard to the
lesser religious houses or cells to foreign abbeys.
Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons was a missionary undertaking,
therefore it encouraged the foundation of organizing centres; but
these seem at first to have rather taken the form of bishoprics than
abbeys; still, information as to the early Church in England does not
exist sufficiently in detail to permit us to state clearly the actual
religious work or its method of working.
Later on the Saxon abbeys partook rather of the nature of large
training colleges, where learning was carried on.
The mission of St. Augustine extended the monastic system, and spread
Christianity to a wider extent. It also encouraged the resort hither of
foreign monks. Great rivalry existed between the English bishops and
these foreign missionary priests, a feud which never seems entirely to
have died out. The largest number of English abbeys sprang up after the
Norman Conquest. The invaders manifested their religion by bestowing
large grants of lands as votive offerings and in token of gratitude,
while Duke William’s honest repayment of the loans given him for the
equipment of his armada brought over hundreds of priests and monks
to take possession of their new territories. Church building was a
religious work often undertaken for the expiation of sins. Voluntary
work is always the best of its kind. To this day the remains of the
old Norman abbeys surprise us with their solidity of structure and
elegance of design. They must, indeed, have been beautiful when the
interiors were fitted up with corresponding magnificence. At first
the monks were poor--they were given land, not always of the best,
often in wild and unfrequented regions; but by frugality, skill and
industry, they soon brought it into a fertile state, and lived on its
produce and the gifts of their patrons. The Cistercians were great
wool-dealers, and we know how much English cloth was prized at home
and abroad for its goodness of quality. In course of time the monks,
by their labours, became rich. The need for toil being over, they sank
into indolent affluence; instead of hard-working communities, they
became wealthy landowners. The abbots were miniature kings, ruling over
their vassals and dependents, living in almost royal state, surrounded
by their court. The history of monastic England extends over very many
centuries, even if its commencement is only placed at the arrival of
St. Augustine in A.D. 597, or later still, with the Norman
invasion.
Changes of all kinds took place in those long centuries. Large abbeys
had sunk into poverty, and others arisen in their places. The monks
had been subdivided into orders, each having its own peculiar rules.
The oldest of these was the Benedictine, or Black Monks, who held most
of the largest monasteries--as many as 156 in number. From this Order
arose the Cistercians, even more severe in their regulations--popular
in England, probably from having had an Englishman as their founder,
Stephen Harding, head of the Monastery of Citeaux (Cistercium) about
the year 1125. This order had been approved by the Pope twenty-five
years previously. Gasquet gives the names of 86 Cistercian houses
in England, the Cluniac as 26, and Carthusian as 9. These lesser
orders had each its own distinctive rules, but, as the above figures
show, were less popular than the older orders of monks. The number
of nunneries was also very large (Gasquet gives 140). These were
principally of the Benedictine Order. I have seen it stated that there
was only one house of White Nuns in England, that of Grace Dieu, in
Leicestershire, but this is not correct.
As the old Benedictine Order relaxed in severity, the Cistercians
came forward, and when these were no longer conspicuous for piety and
austerity, there arose the wandering missionaries known as Friars, who
were also eloquent preachers, a marked contrast to the half-educated
clergy. These friars were mendicants, bound by oath neither to possess
land nor money, nor to enjoy luxury. They went about preaching
throughout the country; it was the old story of the ‘house divided
against itself being unable to stand.’ The friars preached against the
monks, and the monks opposed the clergy, ending in the downfall of the
three rivals under Henry VIII.
The first order of friars was of Spanish origin, founded by Dominic
A.D. 1204, and confirmed in 1215. They wore a brown habit of
coarse hair-cloth. A few years later St. Francis of Assisi founded
the Grey Friars, called after him Franciscans. These came to England
A.D. 1224, where they became very popular. Like the monks,
lesser orders arose out of these. The Premonstratensians gained little
ground in England, but the Augustinian or Austin Friars had many
followers, both men and women.
Henry VIII.’s first attack on religious houses was made upon those
whose yearly incomes did not exceed £200. But the work thus begun
did not end here. It is said that 376 small monasteries were doomed;
of these 123 escaped immediate dissolution. Throughout 1535 and
the succeeding five years the work of suppression was carried on.
During that time the monks foresaw that ultimately they were doomed,
and had time to sell or hide their choicest possessions before the
Commissioners appeared to claim them. Then no doubt many valuable
manuscripts and papers were destroyed, or else either hidden or removed
out of the country. In several places some of these buried treasures
have come to light after being concealed for a long time. In this way
a beautiful copy of the Reading Abbey Chartulary was preserved for two
hundred years, having been concealed in a secret chamber adjoining a
chimney-stack in an old manor-house at Shinfield, only discovered by
workmen during some repairs in the eighteenth century.
[Illustration: READING ABBEY CHARTER.
(_Photographed by Mr. A. A. Harrison, of Theale. Kindly lent by Lord
Fingall._)]
This book[3] is a good example of its kind, being perfect as the day
when it was first hidden away. In it are written the grants of lands
from the Abbey’s second foundation by Henry I.[4] Vast possessions
given bit by bit--generally by those families whose ancestors lay
buried in the abbey church, for whose souls prayers were desired. The
inventories of relics are very curious, and the vestments also are
described. There is a long list of the books in the abbey libraries of
Reading and Leominster. All the books in this long list disappeared, no
one knows where or how. Two volumes, a missal and a book of hours, said
once to have been part of the abbey library, were sold by auction in
1889. Nor was Reading the only instance of the total disappearance of
valuable monastic manuscripts. Gasquet speaks of the wanton destruction
of manuscripts at this period, and says that they were sold for all
kinds of uses.
Mr. Maskell, ‘Monumentæ Ritualia Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ,’ reckons there
must have been more than 250,000 volumes of Church service books
in use, and that they must have been destroyed to prevent men from
following the worship of their forefathers. A most interesting article
on ‘Ancient Prymers,’ the service books of the people, appeared in the
_Antiquary_ of March, 1892, written by Mr. Henry Littlehales.
[Illustration: READING ABBEY CHARTULARY.
(_Photographed by Mr. A. A. Harrison, of Theale._)]
The original deeds or grants of land to abbeys are seldom met with
among private documents. The wording differs little from that of an
ordinary grant, except that the donor gives for the good of his soul
and the souls of his ancestors. Sometimes very interesting details
may be gathered from the foundation deeds of chantries, with the
appointment of a priest to celebrate Mass and offer up prayers for the
dead, receiving in return a salary derived from lands or else given at
once in money.
Original grants from the Crown to abbeys are seldom dated the day or
year they were written, except that they conclude with the names of the
bishops attesting them and the witnesses who were present, although
sometimes the King’s reign is given, or the episcopal year of the
archbishop or diocesan bishop.
The names of the English archbishops and bishops are important as
supplying the date of undated charters. Of the latter the contracted
names of the sees are all given in Wright’s ‘Court-hand Restored,’
but neither there nor in any other book is mention made of the Norman
bishops,[5] who frequently appear as witnesses to monastic charters.
_Bishoprics of Normandy, etc._
Name of See. Modern Name.
Archbishopric: Rothomagensis. Rouen.
Bishopric: Baiocensis. Bayeux.
„ Abrincatensis. Avranches.
„ Lexoviensis. Lisieux.
„ Ebroicensis. Evreux.
„ Cadomensis. Caen.
„ Sylvanectensis. Senliz.
„ Bellovacensis. Beauvais.
„ Atrebatensis. Arras.
„ Constantiensis. Coutances
„ Sagiensis. Séez.
„ Ambianensis or
Samarobrivensis. Amiens.
As likely to be a help towards affixing the date of undated charters I
append a list of the archbishops and chancellors of England from the
Conquest to the fourteenth century; also a few of the bishops of the
same period.
_Archbishops of Canterbury._
Stigand 1052–1070
Lanfranc 1070–1089
Anselm 1093–1109
Ralph of Escures 1114–1122
William of Corbeil 1123–1136
Theobald 1139–1161
Thomas à Beckett 1162–1170
Richard 1174–1184
Baldwin 1185–1190
Reginald Fitz Joscelin 1191
Hubert Walter 1193–1205
Stephen Langton 1207–1229
Richard le Grand 1229–1231
Edmund Rich 1234–1240
Boniface of Savoy 1245–1270
Robert Kilwardby 1273–1278
John Peckham 1279–1292
Robert Winchelsey 1294–1313
Next to Canterbury came the important bishopric of London. The latter
was a very large and powerful diocese, originating first at Dorchester
A.D. 634, dividing into two sees, Winchester and Sherborne, A.D. 705,
which were further subdivided, the latter into Sherborne and Wells,
and the Winchester see into Selsey and Ramsbury (Corvinensis); all
reuniting in 1075 into the powerful bishopric of Old Sarum, eventually
removed to Salisbury, 1218. Thus it will be seen that Winchester and
Sherborne were the chief bishoprics, the others being offshoots of
later creation.
* * * * *
The Bishops of Salisbury commenced under Herman (died 1077), previously
known as Bishop of Sherborne (Scirburniensis).
Osmund, died Dec. 3, 1099.
Roger, elected 1102, consecrated 1107, died 1139.
Jocelin de Bailul, died a Cistercian Monk at Waverley Abbey,
1184.
Hubert Walter, 1189, translated to Canterbury, 1193.
Herbert Poore, 1194.
Richard Poore, 1217. The see then transferred to New Sarum or
Salisbury.
Robert Bingham, 1228.
William of York, 1246.
Giles de Bridport, 1256.
Walter de La Wyle, 1263.
Robert de Wykehampton, 1271.
Walter Scammel, 1284.
Henry de Braundeston, 1287.
William de La Corner, 1289.
Nicolas Longespée, 1293.
Simon of Ghent, 1207.
Roger de Mortival, 1315.
_Bishops of Winchester who were Chancellors of England._
William Giffard, introduced the Cistercian Monks into
England 1100–1129
Nicholas Ely 1268–1282
John Sandall 1316–1320
Adam Orlton 1333–1345
William Edyngdon, first Prelate of the Order of the
Garter; the Bishops of Winchester have ever since
retained this honour 1345–1367
William de Wykeham. Introduced the Perpendicular
architecture into England; built Winchester
College and New College, Oxford; rebuilt part
of his Cathedral. A great reformer of abuses 1367–1404
Henry Beaufort (Cardinal) increased the St. Cross
Almshouses; took a prominent part in the burning
of Joan of Arc. See Shakespeare’s ‘Henry VI.’ 1404–1447
William de Waynflete, first Provost of Eton.
Founded Magdalen College, Oxford; continued his
master’s (William de Wykeham’s) reformation of
abuses, etc. 1447–1487
Thomas Wolsey, the celebrated Cardinal Wolsey of
history. Held the see _in commendam_ 1528–1530
Stephen Gardiner. He figures as one of the most
prominent ecclesiastics during the reigns of
Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary. His life is
part of the history of those times 1531–1550
_Chief Justices of England._
Odo of Bayeux and William Fitz Osbern, Earl of
Hereford 1067
William de Warren and Richard Fitz Gilbert 1073
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey, Bishop
of Coutances, and Robert, Count of Mortain 1078
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux 1087–1088
William de St. Carileph, Bishop of Durham 1088
Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham 1094–1100
Robert Bloett, Bishop of Lincoln 1100–1107
Roger Le Poor, Bishop of Salisbury 1107–1139
Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester 1154–1167
Richard de Luci 1154–1179
Ranulph Glanville 1180–1189
Hugh, Bishop of Durham, and William, Earl of Essex 1189
Hugh, Bishop of Durham, and William Longchamp,
Bishop of Ely 1190
William Longchamp alone 1190
Walter of Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen 1191–1193
Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury 1194–1198
Geoffrey Fitz Peter, Earl of Essex 1198–1213
Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, native of
Poitiers 1214–1215
Hubert de Burgh 1215–1232
Stephen Segrave 1232–1234
Hugh Bigot 1258–1260
Hugh Le Despenser 1260
Philip Basset 1261
Ralph de Hengham 1273–1289
Gilbert de Thornton 1289–1295
Roger Brabazon 1295
_Chancellors of England._
Herfast, afterwards Bishop of Elmham 1068
Osbern, afterwards Bishop of Exeter 1070–1074
Osmund, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury 1074–1078
Maurice, afterwards Bishop of London 1078–1083
William de Beaufoe, afterwards Bishop of Thetford 1083–1085
William Giffard 1086–1090
Robert Bloett 1090
Walderic 1093
William Giffard 1094–1101
Roger Le Poor 1101–1103
William Giffard 1103–1104
Walderic 1104
Ranulph 1108–1123
Geoffrey Rufus 1124–1135
Roger Le Poor 1135–1139
Philip 1139
Thomas à Beckett 1154–1162
Ralph de Warneville 1173–1181
Geoffrey, the King’s son 1181–1189
William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely 1189–1197
Eustace, Bishop of Ely 1197–1199
Hubert Walter 1199–1205
Walter Grey 1205–1213
Peter des Roches 1213–1214
Walter Grey 1214
Richard de Marisco 1214–1226
Ralph Neville 1226–1244
Walter de Merton 1261
Nicolas de Ely 1263
Thomas Cantelupe 1265
Walter Giffard 1265
Godfrey Giffard 1267
Richard Middleton 1269–1272
Walter de Merton 1272
Robert Burnell 1273–1292
John Langton 1292
William Greenfield 1302
William of Hamilton 1304
Ralph Baldock 1307
The witnesses were chosen from the King’s chief officers, with a few
local magnates. This will sometimes be a valuable guide to locality
when the county is not named. But as a rule the name of the county is
written on the margin, and also the name of the place, together with a
brief index of the contents of the charter.
[Illustration]