A Monastic Reformation of Domestic Space: Richard Whitford's Werke for Housholders

Summary

Although neglected by scholars until quite recently, Richard Whitford, the self-styled “wretch” of Syon Abbey, was a widely-read author who not only participated in the ongoing transfer of monastic devotional culture to the laity through his writing but also actively engaged in defending this culture and its institutions against reformers. A onetime fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, graduate of the University of Paris and associate of Erasmus and Thomas More, Whitford turned away from the prominent clerical and intellectual communities to which he belonged in the early sixteenth century to join the austere and spiritually élite Bridgettine community at Syon Abbey. However, Syon's high profile and comprehensive library ensured continual visitation from pious laypeople and devout scholars, and the abbey had a reputation for its commitment to the pastoral care of those residing in the precinct and visiting from afar. So, despite Whitford's apparent movement away from the affairs of the secular world, the brother's presence at Syon, which entailed strict enclosure from the world, necessitated regular interaction with individuals outside the cloister.

At a time when the ideals of the cloister were coming under increasing criticism, first from reformers and then from the crown, Whitford's regular contact with laypeople allowed him the opportunity to transmit elements of religious life outside of the monastery. In addition to preaching, the brother flourished as an author and translator during the period between his entrance into the abbey and Syon's expulsion in 1539.