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Westminster Abbey and the Monarchy between the Reigns of William I and John (1066–1216)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Emma Mason
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Extract

The lavish patronage bestowed on Westminster Abbey by Edward the Confessor, and later by Henry III, ensured its status as the church which pre-eminently enjoyed royal favour and was designated by each as his mausoleum. During the intervening reigns the prestige of the abbey was less assured. The present paper seeks to examine the extent to which the genuine charters issued from, or for, Westminster between 1066 and 1216 testify to any special relationship with the monarchy.

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Articles
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The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , April 1990 , pp. 199 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

1 On King Edward's decision, see the Vita Ædwardi regis, ed. and trans. Frank Barlow, London 1962, 44–6. On Henry, King, see Charter Rolls 1226–57, 306Google Scholar; Harvey, Barbara, Westminster Abbey audits Estates in the Middle Ages, Oxford 1977, 28–9Google Scholar; Wander, Steven H., ‘The Westminster Abbey sanctuary pavement’, Traditio xxxiv (1978), 137–56, esp. p. 153.Google Scholar

2 Many of the major forgeries arc discussed by Chaplais, Pierre, ‘The original charters of Herbert and Gervase, abbots of Westminster (1121–1157)’, in A Medieval Miscellany for Doris Mary Stenton, ed. Barnes, Patricia M. and Slade, C. F. (Pipe Roll Society, NS xxxvi, 1962), 89–99.Google Scholar See also Scholz, B. W., ‘Two forged charters from the Abbey of Westminster and their relationship with St-Denis’, EHR lxxvi (1961), 466–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Surviving charters for Westminster issued in the name of King Edward, or of those of his predecessors, are listed in chronological sequence, with comments on their authenticity, by Sawyer, P. H., Anglo-Saxon Charters: an annotated list and bibliography, London 1968.Google Scholar The charters of William 1 are being re-edited by Dr David Bates, and I concur with his views regarding the authenticity, or otherwise, of those documents issued for Westminster by both William I and William II. The Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum I: 1066–1100, ed. H. W. C. Davis with R. J. Whitewell, Oxford 1913, omits several charters issued for Westminster by William I, and its comments on others are erroneous. Editorial comment on the authenticity of Henry t's charters for Westminster in the Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum II: 1100–1131, ed. C. Johnson and H. A. Cronne, Oxford 1956, cannot invariably be sustained. Full texts of all King Stephen's charters for Westminster are printed in the Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum III: 1135–1154, ed. H. A. Cronne and R. H. G. Davis, Oxford 1968, where nos 928–9,939–41 are designated as forgeries. The editors appear undecided about no. 937, but this can also be shown to be a forgery on textual grounds.

3 Vita Ædwardi, 44–6. On Queen Edith's funeral, see The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, trans. and ed. Dorothy Whitelock, with D. C. Douglas and Susie I. Tucker, London 1961, D, E, 158. King Edward's rebuilding of Westminster was paralleled by Queen Edith's rebuilding of the nunnery of Wilton, where her namesake, the royal St Edith, was buried, Vita Ædwardi, 46–7. The queen retained an association with this house in her widowhood, ibid. 100, and perhaps intended that its church should be her mausoleum. By according her a ceremonious funeral at Westminster, King William ensured that Wilton would not become the focus of yet another tomb-cult of a member of the former royal house.

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14 See, however, Baker, Derek, ‘“A nursery of saints”: St Margaret of Scotland reconsidered’, in Medieval Women, ed. Baker, D., Oxford 1978, 122–5.Google Scholar

15 Vila Ædwardi, 124–8.

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21 Chaplais, , ‘Original charters’, 100–1Google Scholar; Monasticon i. 307 no. 50; ibid. iii. 426 no. 2. Ten charters survive in Abbot Herbert's name.

22 Ibid. i. 310 no. 61. WAD (Muniment Book 11), fo. 7gv.

23 WAD, fo. 79V; Monasticon i. 310 no. 63.

24 Ibid. iii. 427 nos 4 and 5. The texts of twenty-four writs and charters survive in the name of Abbot Gervase.

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29 WAM 2280. Abbot Laurence's surviving charters total twelve.

30 WAM 2270.

31 WAM 1767. Walter's surviving charters total twenty.

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33 Ibid. 79–80 no. 1; Rotuli chartarum in Turn Londoniensi osservati 1199–1216, ed. Duffus Hardy, T., London 1837, 49a, m.10.Google Scholar

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36 WAD, fo. 474V.

37 WAD, fo. 136r.

38 Miss Barbara Harvey's recent work on the monastic diet at Westminster confirms both the generous quantity of the pittances enjoyed on feast days and also the remarkable extent to which dishes were highly seasoned.

39 BL, MS Cotton Charter x. 1.

40 WAM 13844, 13845.

41 Mason, Emma, ‘The Mauduits and their chamberlainship of the Exchequer’, BIHR xlix (1976), 23.Google Scholar

42 Pipe Roll 34 Henry II, 17.

43 WAD, fos 48sv–6r.

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47 WAD, fos 570V-1r.

48 WAM 16737.

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52 WAD, fo. 393r.

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57 WAD, fo. 388.

58 WAD, fo. 390v.

59 WAD, fo. 390r.

60 WAD, fo. 390r.

61 WAD, fo. 390.

62 Papsturkundm i. no. 25; The Acts of Malcolm IV King of Scots 1153–1165, ed. G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh i960, appendix, no. 319.

63 Papsturkunden i. nos 21, 47, 69; WAD, fo. 2.

64 Barlow, , Edward the Confessor, 323–4 no. 14Google Scholar; Flete, John, The History of Westminster Abbey, ed. Armitage Robinson, J., Cambridge 1909, 193.Google Scholar

65 Pope Alexander III's confirmation of the abbey's possessions, 6 Oct. 1163, Papsturkunden i. no. 101, is the only subsequent bull issued before the end of Innocent III's pontificate which even lists earlier named kings as benefactors.

66 Flete, op. cit. 34, 71; WAD, fo. 2; Papsturkunden i. nos 47,69, 101; Harvey, , Westminster Abbey, 27–8.Google Scholar

67 These figures derive from my own recent work on the abbey's charters and coincide with the findings of Dr David Bates. See also above n. 2.

68 E.g. BL, MS Cotton Faustina A iii, fo. 60; see also Robinson, Armitage, Gilbert Crispin, 140.Google Scholar

69 These figures are again derived from my own work and coincide with those reached by Dr Bates. See also above n. 2.

70 Flete, , Westminster Abbey, 87Google Scholar; Papsturkunden i. nos 47, 69, 101.

71 These figures are derived from my own work. The spurious texts are those which are calendared in the Regesta II as nos 489, 668 (which is, in fact, a conflation of two texts), 1177. 1240, 1883. See also above n. 2.

72 Robinson, Armitage, Gilbert Crispin, 141 no. 18Google Scholar; Round, J. H., The King's Sergeants, London 1911, 322.Google Scholar

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76 Ibid. ccccxcvi.

77 Reading Abbey Cartularies i. 13–19 and nos 1–2. Before Henry's body was taken to Reading, his entrails were buried in the priory church of Notre-Dame-du-Prć, outside Rouen. William of Malmesbury, reporting this, added that Henry's mother had founded the church and that he himself had been a benefactor, Historia Novella, trans, and intro. Potter, K. R., London 1955, 14.Google Scholar The parish church had been founded by Henry's parents, but the monastic cell, which was a dependency of Bee, was regarded by the monks of Bee as being of Henry's foundation. Orderic Vitalis, writing in Saint Evroul, reported that Notre-Dame-du-Pré had been begun by Henry's mother, and completed by him, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis vi, ed. and trans. Chibnall, Marjorie, Oxford 1978, 450.Google Scholar

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79 Ibid. 156 no. 39.

80 The Acts Malcolm IV, no. 6.

81 Eadmer, , Historia Novorum, ed. Rule, M. (Rolls Scries, 1884), 294–7.Google Scholar

82 Papslurkunden i. no. 12. See Brett, M., The English Church under Henry I, Oxford 1975, 41Google Scholar, n. 4; Councils and Synods, with other documents relating to the English Church, I: 871–1204, ed. Whitelock, D., Brett, M. and Brooke, C. N. L., Oxford 1981, ii. 724Google Scholar; Papsturkunden i. 234–5.

83 Ibid. i. no. 13. See Brett, op. cit. 41 n. 4; Councils and Synods I ii. 724; Papsturkunden i 237.

84 WAD, fo. 389v. The possibility remains that this text is a further fabrication, based on the earlier ones. On John of Crema's legatine visit and his convening of a council at Westminster, see Councils and Synods I ii. 731–41; Chronicle of John of Worcester, ed. Weaver, J. R. H. (Anecdota Oxoniensia, 1908), 20–2.Google Scholar

85 Barlow, , Edward the Confessor, 270 and n. 1, 272Google Scholar; Green, , Government of England, 11 and n. 53.Google Scholar Queen Matilda had been actively engaged in religious patronage and good works in London, Brooke, and Keir, , London 800–1216, 315–23Google Scholar, hence, perhaps, a degree of spontaneous popular enthusiasm for her cult.

86 Daniel, Walter, The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx, trans, and intro. Powieke, F. M., Oxford 1950, repr. 1978, pp. xlii, xlvi and n. 2Google Scholar; Baker, , ‘A nursery of saints’, 125Google Scholar; Squire, A., ‘Aelred and King David’, Collectanea Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensium Reformatorum xxii (1960), 356–77.Google Scholar

87 papsturkunden i. no. 25; Acts of Malcolm IV, appendix no. 319.

88 Ibid. no. 13.

89 Ibid. no. 12; cf. no. 14.

90 Ibid. no. 36.

91 Ibid. no. 154.

92 The Acts of William I, King of Scots 1163–1314, ed. Barrow, G. W. S. with Scott, W. W., Edinburgh 1971, no. 52.Google Scholar King David is not named individually.

93 Knowles, D., Brooke, C. N. L. and London, Vera C. M., The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 340–1216, Cambridge 1972, 77.Google Scholar

94 Regesta III, no. 930.

95 Barlow, , Edward the Confessor, 275.Google Scholar

96 Ibid.

97 Regesta III, no. 936.

98 Ibid. 932.

99 Ibid. no. 938.

100 Monasticon iv. 573 no. 3. A confirmation issued for Faversham by Henry II, at the request of Stephen's surviving son William, earl of Warennc, refers to the church ‘ubi requiescant cognati mei, vicelicet Rex Stephanus, et Matilda regina, uxor eius, et Eustacius filius eorum’. Henry's charter was issued for his own soul, and those of all his kindred and antecessores, kings of England, ibid. iv. 573 no. 2.

101 New Palaeographical Society: Facsimiles, 1st ser. ii (1904), plate 98 (a).

102 Curia regis Rolls i. 464–5. Gervase's reputation was perhaps damaged by this territorial loss. He was subsequently depicted at Westminster as an unworthy abbot, Flete, , Westminster Abbey, 88–91Google Scholar, but recent writers have demonstrated the falsity of most of the allegations against him, Richardson, H. G. and Sayles, G. O., The Governance of Medieval England, Edinburgh 1963, 413–21Google Scholar; Harvey, Barbara, ‘Abbot Gervase de Blois and the fee-farms of Westminster Abbey’, BIHR xl (1967), 127–41.Google Scholar Evidence of his concern for the abbey is reflected in his surviving charters, considerably more numerous than those of any other abbot in the period down to 1214.

103 WAD, fo. 58r.

104 Barlow, , Edward the Confessor, 279–80.Google Scholar Henry's letter supporting the canonisation describes Edward as his kinsman but does not mention Westminster, ibid. 310. See also Scholz, , ‘The canonization’, 49–57.Google Scholar

105 Barlow, , op. cit. 278–80.Google Scholar

106 Scholz, , op. cit. 50.Google Scholar

107 Ibid. 55–60.

108 WAM xlvi; WAD, fo. 59. Richard's charter of liberties for the abbey (WAM xlv), like those ascribed to Henry I, Stephen and Henry II, is almost certainly spurious.

109 WAD, fo. 59r.

110 WAM xlvii.

111 Rotuli chartarum in Turri Londoniensi asservati 119–1216, ed. Duffus Hardy, T., London 1837, 139b.Google Scholar

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113 Restoration of the goods of Westminster which had been unjustly dispersed cost Abbot Herbert a fine of 1,000 marks, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the thirty-first year of the reign of Henry I (Michaelmas 1130), ed. Hunter, J., London 1833, 150.Google Scholar

114 Rotuli chartarum, 165 b.

115 William I bequeathed to St-Étienne his crown and regalia, which were bought back by William II in 1096–7, Regesta I, no. 397. Caen lay at a focal point in William i's regnum, Mason, ‘Pro statu’, 104.Google Scholar

116 Barlow, Frank, William Rufus, London 1983, 114–15, 428.Google Scholar Gloucester was one of the churches where Christmas crown-wearings were sometimes held in the reigns of William I and II, Biddle, , ‘Seasonal festivals’, 64–5.Google Scholar On the benefactions of William II and his barons, see Bates, David, ‘The building of a great church: the abbey of St Peter's, Gloucester, and its early Norman benefactors’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society cii (1984), 129–32.Google Scholar On the scale of building operations in this reign, see Wilson, Christopher, ‘Abbot Serlo's church at Gloucester (1089–1100): its place in Romanesque architecture’, in Medieval Art and Architecture at Gloucester and Tewkesbury, (The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions for the year 1981, 1985), 52–83.Google Scholar

17 On the burials of Cnut and Harthacnut in the Old Minster, Winchester, see ASC, 102, 106. Winchester was the usual venue for Easter crown-wearings when William I and II were in England, Biddle, op. cit. 64–5. In conversation with the present writer, Professor Biddle suggested that William ii had a particular regard for Winchester, as evidenced by his donations, including his grant to Bishop Walkelin of the right to hold an annual three-day fair; cf. Regesta I, no. 377, Regesta II, no. 377a.

118 Hallam, Elizabeth M., ‘Henry ii, Richard 1 and the order of Grandmont’, JMH i (1975), 165–8.Google Scholar The tombs of Henry ii, Richard i, Henry's wife Eleanor and John's second wife Isabel can still be seen at Fontevraud. Those of John's sister Johanna and her son Raymond vii, count of Toulouse, were destroyed during the French Revolution.

119 Mason, , ‘St Wulfstan's staff’, 157.Google Scholar John was attended in his last illness by the abbot of the Premonstratensian house of Croxton (Leics.), Roger of Wendover, Flores Historiarum ii, ed. Hewlett, H. G. (Rolls Series, 1887), 196Google Scholar, and this abbey obtained his intestina, Annals, Barnwell, in Memoriale Fratris Walttri de Coventria, 2 vols, ed. Stubbs, W. (Rolls Series, 1872–1873), ii. 232.Google Scholar In 1257, Croxton claimed to have John's heart, Charter Rolls i. 463; although Fontevraud also claimed to have his heart-burial, together with those of his son Henry in and other members of the English royal house. The crypt which housed these heart-burials was filled in during the French Revolution.

120 Harvey, , Westminster Abbey, 27.Google Scholar

121 Flete, , Westminster Abbey, 89.Google Scholar See also Harvey, , ‘Abbot Gervase de Blois’, 131, 138.Google Scholar The manor of Chelsea was alienated to Damette by Gervase himself, but the extent of his father's prompting is unknown.

112 WAD, fos 378v-09r; PRO E. 164/20, fo. xiii; sec also Monasticon iv. 364 no. 7, 365 no. 8, 366 no. 15.

123 Curia Regis Rolls vi. 93.

124 E.g. Froger, formerly royal almoner, WAD, fo. 476r; cf. Eyton, R. W., Court Household and Itinerary of King Henry II, London 1878, 336Google Scholar; Ralph de Beaumont, royal physician, WAD, fo. 378. Cf. Lally, J. E., ‘Secular patronage at the court of King Henry II’, BIHR xlix (1976), 173.Google Scholar

125 Lukewarmness towards Edward's foundation perhaps originated in his vacillating dispositions for the succession to the throne. On these, see Williams, Ann, ‘Some notes and considerations on problems connected with the English royal succession, 860–1066’, Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies, I: 1978, ed. Allen Brown, R., Ipswich 1979, 164–6.Google Scholar An alternative interpretation of Edward's intentions, which depicts them as more constant, is that of John, Eric, ‘Edward the Confessor and the Norman succession’, EHR xciv (1979), 241–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

126 Pipe Roll 2 Henry II, 33; Rotuli de oblatis et finibus, 325.

127 Barlow, Frank, ‘The king's evil’, EHR xcv (1980), 3–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar, repr. in idem, The Norman Conquest and Beyond, London 1983, 23–47. See also Mason, , ‘St Wulfstan's staff’, 171.Google Scholar