The Church of Worcester from the Eighth to the Twelfth Century, Part II

Ivor Atkins

doi:10.1017/S0003581500045558

The Church of Worcester from the Eighth to the Twelfth Century, Part II

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2012

Ivor Atkins

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The principal authority for the early history of the church of Worcester is the famous Cartulary compiled about the end of the eleventh century by the Worcester monk, Hemming. Written partly in Latin, and partly in Anglo-Saxon, the volume contains for the most part transcripts of the various privileges and charters by which the monastery proved its title to the vast estates which it held at that time in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Oxfordshire. It is not known with certainty when the cartulary passed out of the possession of the cathedral, but it is probable that it was amongst the many manuscripts dispersed after the dissolution of the monastery in 1540.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 1940 , pp. 1 - 38

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500045558 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1940

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^{page 3 note 1} See also Oswald's letter to King Edgar (, Hemming, Cart. 292–6Google Scholar; K.C.D. 1287). The whole subject is discussed in , Maitland'sDomesday Book and Beyond (pp. 305–7)Google Scholar.

^{page 3 note 2} in bibliotheca Sancte ecclesie. See Appendix I. Some may prefer to read ‘in the library’.

^{page 4 note 1} Hemming, pp. 52–3 and 109–10.

^{page 5 note 1} Hemming, i, 127.

^{page 6 note 1} Oswald's leases are discussed at length by , Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, pp. 304–14Google Scholar.

^{page note 2} , Turner, Early Worcester MSS, xxxiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 7 ntoe 1} Hemming, 173–4

^{page 8 note 1} Hemming, 178–9.

^{page 10 note 1} Hemming: Beorhnasge.

^{page 10 note 2} Hemming: Byrhstane.

^{page 10 note 3} Hemming: Leofwine clericus.

^{page 11 note 1} Hemming, p. 175.

^{page 11 note 2} Hemming, pp. 139 and 143.

^{page 11 note 3} e.g. Hemming, p. 173.

^{page 11 note 4} We find ‘decanus’ in a deed of 974 (H., p. 155), but this goes to show that that document has not come down to us in its original form. See also Robinson, J. Armitage, St. Oswald and the Church of Worcester, p. 35Google Scholar.

^{page 12 note 1} See later under 1092.

^{page 12 note 2} There are no charters between 985 and 987.

^{page 12 note 3} , Eadmer, Vita Oswaldi in Raine's Historians of the Church of York (R.S.), ii, 45–8Google Scholar.

^{page 13 note 1} Hemming, pp. 276–7.

^{page 13 note 2} Miss Whitelock, Dorothy, ‘A note on the career of Wulfstan the Homilist’, E.H.R., 07 1937Google Scholar.

^{page 13 note 3} Liber Eliensis, p. 205, where it is stated that he was first monk and afterwards abbot.

^{page 15 note 1} Hemming, p. 153.

^{page 15 note 2} The Homiliary Obits, however, which are given on a later page, include one of Eadric, priest. Gloucester was refounded by Wulfstan by command of Cnut between 1017 and 1022. The only charter relating to it (K.C.D. 1317) is dated ‘circiter millesimo vicesimo secundo’. It was certainly founded before 1022.

^{page 16 note 1} He may perhaps be identified with Aua, abbot of Exeter, c. 1019 [K.C.D. 729].

^{page 17 note 1} There are many forms of the name, e.g. (amongst others) Beorhtheah, Briht-heah.

^{page 17 note 2} , Leland, Collectanea, i, 242Google Scholar, A.D. 1020: ‘Introitus fuit Persorensis novae ecclesiae post combustionem.’

^{page 18 note 1} Add. Chart. 19797.

^{page 18 note 2} Hemming, pp. 264–5: ‘Tempore illo, quo Dani hujus patrie possessores fuerunt … Ægeluuinus, prior istius monasterii.’

^{page 18 note 3} The names in the original run straight across in columns of four from Ælfweard. Those in the bottom line were added last.

^{page 20 note 1} This is the earliest record of these abbots. Ælfric probably succeeded Brihtheah as abbot of Pershore in 1038.

^{page 20 note 2} At one time Bishop Brihtheah's chamberlain (Hemming, p. 269).

^{page 21 note 1} The dots represent a tear in the original. The names are reproduced here in modern form.

^{page 22 note 1} York.

^{page 22 note 2} Elmham.

^{page 22 note 3} Hereford.

^{page 22 note 4} Lichfield.

^{page 22 note 5} unidentified.

^{page 22 note 6} Possibly the Worcester scribe of that name who wrote at the end of a portion of MS. Bodl. 523 ‘me scripsit Wulfgeatus scriptor Wigornensis’. To this writer other Worcester MSS. are attributed (e.g. MSS. Bodl. 5210 and 5134).

^{page 23 note 1} In that year Odda is described as ‘nobil’ (, Hickes, ‘Dissert.’, p. 17)Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 2} Hickes reads ‘Aelfstan's son’.

^{page 24 note 1} Perhaps the Ordwig of the two previous charters, and the father of Æthelwig, abbot of Evesham (Vesp. B. XXIV, f. 39).

^{page 24 note 2} Urse's predecessor as sheriff. Appears as vice-comes in the Covenant (Commemoratio placiti) between Bishop Wulstan and Abbot Walter of Evesham (H., p. 82) and in 1043 as praefectus (K.C.D. 767).

^{page 24 note 3} , Raine, Lives of the Archbishops of York, p. 137Google Scholar: ‘after the see had been retained for some time in the king's hands’.

^{page 24 note 4} Hemming, pp. 250, 256, 259 et passim.

^{page 24 note 5} Vita Wulfstani, bk. i. 5.

^{page 25 note 1} Hemming, pp. 261, 268, 279. In a Benedictine house the word appears to carry the meaning of second in command. It may, therefore, perhaps stand for sub-prior in these cases.

^{page 25 note 2} See Osbert's use of the word in , Williamson, Letters of Osbert of Clare, pp. 77, 79Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 3} Abbot of Abingdon c. 1052 (K.C.D. 792, 800).

^{page 25 note 4} Abbot of Malmesbury 1052–9.

^{page 25 note 5} Abbot of Evesham 1044–58.

^{page 25 note 6} Succeeded earl 1053.

^{page 26 note 1} The Ælfric minister whose name is seen at the end of the second charter must be identified with Ælfric of Comberton who figures in an earlier charter (c. 1049). After the death of Ælfric the brother of Earl Odda it was no longer necessary to distinguish the two.

^{page 27 note 1} Hemming, pp. 403–5.

^{page 27 note 2} Id., pp. 277–80.

^{page 27 note 3} Id., p. 259.

^{page 27 note 4} Abbot of Evesham.

^{page 27 note 5} Abbot of Winchcombe. This is the earliest record of this abbot.

^{page 27 note 6} Abbot of Pershore.

^{page 28 note 1} Bodl. Hatton MSS. 113 and 114. The kalendar is found in 113.

^{page 28 note 2} By the present , writer in Archaeologia, lviii, 219–54Google Scholar; Bannister, H. M. in , Turner'sEarly Worcester MSS., Oxford, pp. lx–lxijGoogle Scholar; Frere, W. H. in Leofric Collectar, vol. ii (H.B.S.). This volume contains the two Worcester kalendars here discussedGoogle Scholar.

^{page 29 note 1} , Frere, The Leofric Collector (H.B.S.), ii, 601–2Google Scholar. The kalendars of both Wulfstan's Homiliary and Collectar are printed at pp. 589–600 of the same volume.

^{page 30 note 1} Above the name is ‘… æfic’. He is so called in A.S. Chron. sub 1037.

^{page 30 note 2} In a cipher: for each vowel the succeeding consonant is substituted.

^{page 31 note 1} The name ægelβine is written over odda. See Florence of Worcester sub 1056.

^{page 31 note 2} Nothing more is known of Byrcstan. The name is rare; the only other instance of its occurrence in Worcester documents seems to be in grants made by Oswald in 989 and 990 to a thegn of that name.

^{page 31 note 3} They are given in the original chronological order in The Leofric Collectar, ii, 589–600.

^{page 31 note 4} See ‘Note on St. Wulstan's Prayer Book’, by the , Abbess of , Stanbrook, in Journal of Theological Studies, 01 1929Google Scholar.

^{page 32 note 1} Printed in Leofric Collectar (H.B.S. 1921), ii, 589–600Google Scholar.

^{page 32 note 2} In another hand.

^{page 32 note 3} In a later hand.

^{page 32 note 4} i.e. fratris Wulstani episcopi.

^{page 32 note 5} Chronicle of John, ed. Weaver, , p. 41, note 1Google Scholar .

^{page 33 note 1} Letters of Osbert of Clare, O.U.P. 1929, p. 188Google Scholar .

^{page 33 note 2} Robinson, Armitage, Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster, pp. 31, 32Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 3} Hemming, pp. 281, 368, 390, 395.

^{page 34 note 1} Roger d'Ivry is first heard of in England in 1069. He died in or about 1089. In Domesday the lands at Hampnet are entered amongst his possessions, and it is stated that they had been held by Ealdred, to whom part of them had been given by King Edward.

^{page 34 note 2} This perhaps refers to Wulstan's Visitation of Chester about the year 1072.

^{page 35 note 1} Hemming, p. 261.

^{page 35 note 2} Printed in , Bloom, Original Charters relating to tke City of Worcester (Worc. Hist. Soc., 1909, p. 169)Google Scholar.

^{page 35 note 3} Register I, fol. 2 b.

^{page 35 note 4} Printed with a modern English version in , Thorpe'sDiplomatorium, p. 615Google Scholar, and in Hist. et Cart. Glouc. (R.S.), vol. iii, p. xix. Only the names of Evesham, Chertsey, and Bath monks have been preserved.

^{page 36 note 1} , Thomas, Survey of the Cath. Ch. of Worcester, Appendix, p, 3Google Scholar.

^{page 36 note 2} Anglia Sacra, I, 547.

^{page 36 note 3} Memorials of Dunstan (R.S.), pp. 163–4.

^{page 36 note 4} The name of Ægelredus (Ailred) does not occur at this time in Worcester documents. Wharton thought that he might be identified with Ægelricus (Ailric) the archdeacon (c. 1086 or earlier), or that Ægelricus had changed his name when he came to Worcester, in which case he might have been either Thomas, or Nicholas, who became prior in 1113.

If it were possible to accept the suggestion that Eadmer's Ailred was Ailric the archdeacon (and we shall see later that the forms Theodred and Theodric seem to be interchangeable in two Evesham documents) this would offer a satisfactory solution of a difficult problem. For there seems no office in the monastery to which Ægelredus can have been promoted by Bishop Wulstan—Hemming was sub-prior, Colman, chancellor, Uhtred, precentor, and Ælfhere, sacrist. On the other hand, the office of archdeacon, an office of which there is no previous trace in Worcester documents, suddenly comes into prominence about 1086, and Ailric the archdeacon henceforth figures in most of the bishop's charters. It is not unlikely that the introduction of the office was due to the influence of Lanfranc. Whether this be so or not, it would be very natural for Bishop Wulstan to have taken for the first holder of so important an office a monk who had received his training from that archbishop. Of Wharton's other suggestions Nicholas is the more likely. There was a close friendship between the latter and Eadmer, which seems to have dated from the time which he spent as a youth at Canterbury under the training of Lanfranc. Correspondence between the two shows that as late as c. 1120 Eadmer consulted Nicholas upon matters touching old English history.

^{page 36 note 5} Hemming, ii, 404.

^{page 37 note 1} From other uses of the words in capitulo Wigorniensi I think this the meaning implied, rather than ‘in the Worcester Chapter’.

^{page 37 note 2} Register I (Worc. Cath.).

^{page 37 note 3} This date agrees with that given in Colman's Life of Wulstan, and in the Obit of Wulfstan's Homiliary.

^{page 37 note 4} Henry, abbot of Rheims 1074–95.

^{page 37 note 5} The Translation of 1089 (Oct. 8) must be implied.

^{page 38 note 1} V.C.H. Worcestershire, i, 252–6 and 268.

^{page 38 note 2} See later the Worcester returns given in the Savigny Roll.

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