Exploring Medieval Monasteries, part 8

Hello. At the time of the Norman Conquest, 1066, there are around 50 monasteries in England and Wales, and probably something like a thousand monks. William the Conqueror founded Battle Abbey in 1067, on the site of the Battle of Hastings. He is fulfilling a vow. Two years later, by royal charter, an abbey is founded at Selby in North Yorkshire. It follows on the brutal harrying of the North, and possibly the foundation is made in a spirit of atonement, because I believe that impulse explains, at least in part, the huge expansion that began two decades after Hastings. In 1066, the Normans are not sure they can hold on to England. Two decades later, they are confident. They are also deeply religious, well aware of the brutality by which their hold on power has been secured, and maybe the young victors at Hastings, 20-odd years on, are beginning to think about their place in heaven. There will be other motivation, of course. The desire to leave an enduring legacy. And, of course, they have the resources. There is money to spare. Labour is plentiful and cheap. And under the Normans, every monastic house in England and Wales is going to be rebuilt. By and large, the buildings are fine. They don't need rebuilding, but the Normans want to build something larger, something grander. They're making a statement. After the physical conquest, this is the spiritual takeover. They build in Romanesque style. Round arches, massive walls, blind arcading, heavy geometric decoration. And the Saxon legacy is being swept away. The Normans are saying, Norman is better. And one reason why our knowledge of the layout of Saxon monasteries is so sketchy is because the Norman builders were so thorough. Churches are going to be realigned much more accurately east to west. And sometimes the monasteries and rebuilds of the churches is on top of the Saxon predecessor. More often, it's alongside, so that there is a building that can be used until the new building is ready. And alongside the rebuild, there are new foundations. Even before the great rebuilding phase that begins mid-1080s, we have monks from France setting up Cluniac Priories. 1077, Lewis Priory, founded by William de Warenne, a Norman noble, one of the men who fought at Hastings. Built on the site of a Saxon church dedicated to St Pancras. It has a claim to be the first Cluniac Priory in England. This is a plan of the site. It's now managed by Lewis Priory Trust, Rinnies Sussex, of course. This is an artist's impression of the site just before the dissolution with the town and the castle. 1078, Montague Priory was founded by Robert the Count of Mortain. He is William's half-brother. The Abbey Farmhouse incorporates some of the former Abbey Gatehouse. 1081, the re-foundation of a 7th century Saxon monastery by Roger Montgomery, the Earl of Shrewsbury, at Wenlock in Shropshire. It's now much Wenlock. There's some fine arcading that remains in the ruins of the Chapter House. In 1089, Bermondsey Priory was founded by Alwyn Child. He was a London citizen. The houses along Grange Walk, in Numbers 5, 6 and 7, there are again some remains of the Gatehouse. William de Warenne, who founded Lewis Priory, also founded a Priory, Castle Acre, in Norfolk in 1089. Now, the usual practice is that the founder will grant land to a monastery in Normandy, and the monks will then come over to colonise it. 1083, Shrewsbury Monastery was founded again by Roger Montgomery, and he brought over Benedictine monks from Sais in Normandy. Much of the original Norman Priory Church is now in St Peter and St Paul, and over the road from the church, the pulpit from the refectory has been roofed as a kind of roadside feature. Most of these new foundations are in urban centres, or they're alongside castles. That's for their protection. You cannot imagine these new foundations are popular with the locals. Seen as further exploitation, the land is being taken and given away, and a handful of French monks arrive, occupy the local manor house, take over the running of the local estate, run the local manorial court. And they probably served little or no religious purpose for locals in the early days. The Norman buildings serve as a basis for continued expansion. 1066, around 50 monasteries in England and Wales. At its peak, around about 1220, over a thousand. And as their prosperity increases, their popularity tends to decline. Large numbers of lay brothers are recruited. In the mid-12th century, lay brothers probably outnumber monks in many of the monasteries by as many as three to one. And you can imagine there's going to be a tense relationship between the lay brethren and the monks. On the one side, a life of hard work, creating vast wealth, to support a life of relative ease. 13th century England, probably one in every 150 adults is a monk or a canon or a nun, out of a population of perhaps three million. By the mid-14th century, the largest abbey, St Albans, has around 100 monks. The average is probably around 30 monks per monastery, but it varies greatly between different establishments. Most are Benedictines, followed by the Cistercians, then the Cluniacs, then the Carthusians. We'll look at these different denominations in a future session. And then we have the Canons, the clerks in holy orders, clergy living according to a rule. Most of those will be Augustinians, then Gilbertines, and also pre-monstretentions. And then we have the nuns of various orders. Now next time, we're going to have a look at a typical layout of a monastery. Consider how the sites were chosen, look at the practicalities, and we'll begin to look at those different denominations. 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