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Pro statu et incolumnitate regni mei: royal monastic patronage 1066–1154

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Emma Mason
Emma Mason*
Affiliation:
University of London Birkbeck College
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Extract

Dangers to the cohesion of the Anglo-Norman regnum correlate to a marked extent with the fluctuating patronage extended by the Anglo-Norman kings towards Westminster Abbey, and other religious houses, in their search for one which would symbolize and enhance the stability of their dynasty.

Westminster itself had royal connections from the outset. The original church of St Peter, on Thorney Island in the Thames, to the west of London, was founded by Saebert, king of the East Saxons, and his wife Ethelgoda.’ The couple were allegedly buried there early in the seventh century, but it was some four hundred and fifty years before further royal burials took place in St Peter’s The church was restored by Offa of Essex in the early years of the eighth century, and c959 king Edgar sold it to Dunstan, who founded a monastery on the site. Edgar gave several manors to this abbey, and Aethelred II gave or confirmed others. Less exalted donors followed suit, and the house was already fairly prosperous when Harold I Harefoot was buried there in 1040. His successor and half-brother Harthacnut, is said to have had his body thrown out.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 18: Religion and National Identity , 1982 , pp. 99 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1982

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References

1 Harvey, [Barbara], [Westminster Abbey and its estates in the middle ages] (Oxford 1977)p 20 Google Scholar.

2 Ibid p 372.

3 Ibid p 21. It has been suggested that Offa the Great took an interest in the church, perhaps with the idea of asserting Mercian supremacy in the neighbourhood of London Brooke, [C. N. L.] and [Gillian], Keir, [London 800-1216: the shaping of a city] (London 1975) p 295 and nGoogle Scholar. See also Harvey pp 345-6.

4 Harvey pp 22-3.

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17 Ibid pp 233, 253. I am grateful to Dr Richard Gem for an informal discussion on Edward’s possible ‘imperial’ intentions.

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24 RR 1 nos 45, 86-7. To achieve brevity in these footnotes, RR calendar numbers of royal charters are given throughout. Reference to the location of published texts of those not printed in extenso in RR 1 and 2 are given by the editors. In the preparation of this paper, the full texts have been consulted and the printed texts checked against the manuscripts.

25 RR 1 nos 162-3, 166.

26 Ibid no 236.

27 Ibid nos 45, 86, 162-3.

28 Harvey p 28. Baronial patrons adopted a similar attitude when endowing their own religious houses. (See my ‘Timeo barones et dona ferentes’, SCH 15 (1978) pp 61-2, 71-2).

29 RR 1 nos 17-18, 32, 53.

30 Ibid nos 166, 202, 212-14.

31 Ibid nos 209, 250.

32 Ibid nos 143, 235, 278.

33 Ibid no 89.

34 Ibid nos 381-2.

35 Ibid nos 417,436.

36 Harvey p 27.

37 Ibid p 27; RR 1 nos 45, 86-7, 236.

38 Westminster abbey muniment book 2 fol 100; Harvey p 38.

39 Ibid p 349 and n 6. The donor was probably William Mauduit I (See my ‘Magnates, [curiales and the wheel of Fortune’] PBC 2 (1979), pp 131-2). His great-grandson, Robert Mauduit II, was a benefactor of the abbey in the early thirteenth century—see my ‘The Mauduits and their chamberlainship of the Exchequer’, BIHR 49 (1976) pp 9, 20-3—but intervening generations seem not to have been benefactors of the abbey.

40 Barlow p 267.

41 Ibid p 264.

42 See my ‘Magnates’ pp 136-7; Barlow pp 262-3.

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48 Ibid pp 105-6. I am grateful to Professor John Le Patourel for a helpful discussion on the Norman ‘empire’.

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50 Ibid nos 370, 402, 420, 454-5.

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66 Ibid p 347.

67 Le Patourel, Empire p 330.

68 Ibid p 331.

69 In return, the town of Waltham was restored to the canons ( The legend of Waltham p 6; compare p 4 for the value of Harold’s royal cloak).

70 See my ‘William Rufus’ p 7.

71 Baker, ‘St Margaret of Scotland’ p 140.

72 RR 2 no 1180.

73 Ibid no 897.

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75 HRH 173.

76 Dickinson, [J. C], [The origins of the Austin Canons and their introduction into England] (London 1950) pp 110-11Google Scholar. After the queen’s death, Henry I did not give to Holy Trinity all the land she had wished the canons to have— The cartulary of Holy Trinity Aldgate, cal G. Hodgett, A. J., London Record Society 7 (1971) p xv Google Scholar. Perhaps her promised donation had been made in anticipation of burial there.

77 Harvey pp 373, 388; Barlow p 270.

78 The Acts of Malcolm IV king of Scots 1153-1165, ed Barrow, G. W. S. (Edinburgh 1960) nos 6, 13-14. confirmed by his son Earl Henry (ibid no 36)Google Scholar.

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80 RR 2 no 867.

81 Ibid nos 1053, 1175.

82 Ibid no 1377. The others are nos 1239, 1884-5.

83 Ibid no 490.

84 Ibid no 1240.

85 Ibid nos 1247-8.

86 Ibid no 1249. There was no competition between Caen and Westminster to offer burial to William Aetheling, since his body was not among those recovered from the wreck—OV 6 (1978) p 307.

87 RR 2 nos 667, 769, 818, 851, 903.

88 Ibid nos 1123, 1173, 1178-9.

89 Ibid nos 1250-2, 1383, 1416.

90 Ibid nos 1538-9, 1878, 1880, 1987.

91 Ibid nos 1758, 1838, 1879, 1882-3, 1988.

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98 Leyser p 499.

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101 Hallam p 130.

102 See my ‘The king, the chamberlain and Southwick priory’ BIHR 53 (1980) pp 1-2, 8.

103 CBA p 109.

104 Ibid p 140. Henry insisted on burial at Reading when struck down by his last illness at Lyons-la-Forêt (Eure) in Normandy—OV 6, p 448.

105 [J.] Le Patourel, , [‘What did not happen in] Stephen’s reign’, History 58 (1973) p 2 Google Scholar.

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107 See my ‘English tithe income of Norman religious houses’ BIHR 48 (1975) p 91. The burials of Athelaise and Geoffrey de Mandeville in Westminster Abbey, a generation or more earlier, are exceptional—Harvey pp 372-3.

108 Matthew p 28. However, Le Patourel, in an informal discussion of this point doubted whether Henry can be regarded as any more ‘English’ than his predecessors.

109 Le Patourel, ‘Stephen’s reign’ pp 2, 4.

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111 Ibid p 14.

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114 HRH p 77.

115 [P.] Chaplais, [‘The original charters of Herbert and Gervase abbots of Westminster (1121-1157)’], Miscellany pp 89-110; Brooke and Keir pp 306, 308-9; Brooke, C. N. L.,’Approaches to medieval forgery’, Medieval Church and Society (London 1971) pp 106-8, no, 115-16Google Scholar.

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117 Ibid pp 275-6.

118 RR 3 no 927.

119 Ibid no 931.

120 Ibid no 932.

121 Ibid no 938.

122 Ibid nos 925-6.

123 Ibid nos 930, 933-6.

124 Ibid no 259.

125 Ibid no 681. The other early charter is RR 3 no 684.

126 Ibid nos 676-7, 682, 687, 691-4.

127 Ibid nos 691, 694. Eustace issued a confirmation of the latter (ibid no 694a).

128 Ibid no 690. The others are nos 678, 685-6, 688.

129 Ibid no 675. The others are nos 680, 683, 689, 695-6. There is also one forgery purporting to be a confirmation of his (ibid no 679).

130 Ibid nos 697-8, 700-1.

131 Ibid nos 702-3

132 Ibid no 698.

133 Ibid no 702. Compare the wording of a Reading forgery purporting to be a confirmation of hers (ibid no 699).

134 Ibid nos 704, 706. His other charters are nos 705, 707-10.

135 Leyser p 497.

136 Dickinson p 144.

137 MRHEW p 119; RR 3 no 337.

138 RR 3 nos 508, 511.

139 Ibid no 512.

140 Ibid no 509.

141 Ibid no 513.

142 Ibid no 503.

143 HRH p 173; Dickinson p 144.

144 RR 3 no 507.

145 Ibid nos 514, 516.

146 Ibid nos 517, 520.

147 Ibid no 500. The empress issued one grant to Holy Trinity c1141, for the souls of her parents and herself (ibid no 518).

148 Ibid nos 499, 501-2, 504-5, 510, 515, 519.

149 CBA p 152.

150 MRHEW p 65.

151 Le Patourel, Empire p 95.

152 Cronne pp 60, 101.

153 RR 3 no 300.

154 Ibid nos 301-2.

155 Gesta Stephani, ed and transl Potter, K. R., introd Davis, R. H. C. (Oxford 1976) p 238 Google Scholar.

156 The Chronicle of Battle Abbey p 152; Barlow, Church p 193.

157 Le Patourel, ‘Conquest’ p 105.