English Regular Canons and the Continent in the Twelfth Century

J. C. Dickinson

doi:10.2307/3678563

English Regular Canons and the Continent in the Twelfth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

J. C. Dickinson

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The ideal of the regular canons originated in the fumbling, sporadic response of public opinion in the Western Church to that programme of a complete common life for clerical communities to which the Lateran Councils of 1059 and 1063 had given oecumenical recognition. It had at that time taken root only in central Italy and the extreme south of France. Thereafter it spread rapidly in most of southern and north-eastern France, though in Normandy there was no house of regular canons until c. 1119 and none in Brittany till 1130. The order flourished in the Rheims area from an early date, and it is here, in the seventies of the eleventh century, that we find the first traces of the Rule of St. Augustine being adopted by regular canons. Yet it was long before regular canons uniformly served this Rule, and in the second and third decades of the following century writers as far apart as Liége and Ravenna would speak of it very cavalierly.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 1 , December 1951 , pp. 71 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678563 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1951

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^{page 71 note 1} The opening paragraphs are based on Dickinson, J. C., The Origins of the Austin Canons (1950), pp. 26 ffGoogle Scholar. I am much indebted to Mr. C. N. L. Brooke for calling my attention to several references.

^{page 72 note 1} The Origins of the Austin Canons (1950), pp. 98–105.

^{page 72 note 2} Ibid., p. 121.

^{page 72 note 3} Ibid., pp. 72 ff.

^{page 72 note 4} Graham, R., St. Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertines (1901)Google Scholar.

^{page 72 note 5} Farrer, W., Early Yorkshire Charters (1916), iii. 501Google Scholar; cf. Beck, Egerton in Eng. Hist. Rev., xxvi. 498–501CrossRef Google Scholar. As late as 1270 the prior was ordered to go to foreign parts by his abbot (ibid.).

^{page 73 note 1} Dickinson, , op. cit., pp. 83–4Google Scholar.

^{page 73 note 2} So Dictionary of National Biography under ‘Newburgh, Henry de’; cf. Dugdale, W., Monasticon Anglicanum (1830), vi. 602Google Scholar.

^{page 73 note 3} Cal. Charter Rolls, iv. 88. There are a few early deeds in Bodleian Lib. Oxford, MS. Dugdale F. 2.

^{page 73 note 4} Victoria County History, Suffolk, ii. 109.

^{page 73 note 5} Mon. Anglic, vii. 728.

^{page 73 note 6} Ibid., vi. 392.

^{page 73 note 7} Ibid., vi. 602.

^{page 73 note 8} Probably Cambridge: see V.C.H., Cambs., i. 146.

^{page 73 note 9} Annales Monastici, ed. Luard, H. R. (Rolls Series), iii. 39Google Scholar.

^{page 73 note 10} See V.C.H., Notts., ii. 168; V.C.H., Northants, ii. 165; V.C.H., Warwick, ii. 106. I am indebted to Prof. D. Knowles for these references.

^{page 74 note 1} The best available account of St. Victor is Bonnard, F., Histoire de l'abbaye royale et de l'ordre de St. Victor de Paris (2 vols., Paris, 1907)Google Scholar. The present writer hopes to copsider elsewhere the origins of the house.

^{page 74 notee 2} Historia Occidentalis (Douai, 1597), p. 327Google Scholar.

^{page 74 note 3} John Rylands Library, Manchester, MS. 215, fos. 1–16.

^{page 74 note 4} University Library Chicago, MS. 224; for some account of this see MissSmalley, B., ‘Andrew of St. Victor, abbot of Wigmore’ (Recherches de Thiol. anc. et med., x. 358–73)Google Scholar, a paper to which I am much indebted in the following paragraphs. The text of the History is printed in Dugdale, , Mon. Anglic. (1830), vi. 344–8Google Scholar, and a translation in Wright, T., History of Ludlow (1832), pp. 102–32Google Scholar. My account of the house is based on this History except where otherwise indicated.

^{page 75 note 1} Mon. Anglic., vi. 345A.

^{page 75 note 2} Ibid., 345B. Mr. C. N. L. Brooke points out that this occurred in 1143.

^{page 76 note 1} Smalley, op. cit.

^{page 76 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 76 note 3} John Rylands Lib., MS. 215, fo. 2v.

^{page 76 note 4} Mon. Anglic., vi. 347A.

^{page 76 note 5} John Rylands Lib., MS. 215, fo.3r.

^{page 76 note 6} Mon. Anglic., vi. 366.

^{page 76 note 7} Fosbrooke, T. D., Berkeley Manuscripts (1821), p. 71Google Scholar; Ricart's Calendar (Camden Soc), p. 22, and Leland's, JohnItinerary, v. 64Google Scholar, both ascribe the foundation of the house to 1142 and (erroneously) its. dedication to 1148.

^{page 77 note 1} Calendar of Charter Rolls, iii. 378.

^{page 77 note 2} Jeayes, I.H., Charters and Muniments at Berkeley Castle (Bristol, 1892)Google Scholar, nos. i, 2, 6, 7.

^{page 77 note 3} Ibid. no. 14.

^{page 77 note 4} ‘Non. Febr. Ob. Robertus filius Herdic (sic) ecclesie sancti Augustini de Bristo (sic) canonicus et fundator, de cuius beneficio habuimus x marcas argenti’ (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. lat. 14673, fo. 167V.)

^{page 77 note 5} But cf. above, pp. 75–6, and n. 2 above.

^{page 77 note 6} Col. Chart. Rolls, iii. 378.

^{page 77 note 7} See Rev. Hicks, F. W. Potto in Bristol and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans., lv (1934), PP. 257–60Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 8} See Jeayes, I. H., ‘Abbot Newland's Roll’ in Bristol and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, xiv (1889–1890), pp.117–30Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 9} See above, n. 7.

^{page 77 note 10} Bristol and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans., xiv. 125.

^{page 78 note 1} Fo. 229V.

^{page 78 note 2} Bodl. Lib. Oxford, MS. Dugdale 20, p. 5.

^{page 78 note 3} Mon. Anglic, vi. 452.

^{page 78 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 78 note 5} Ibid., vi. 453.

^{page 78 note 6} Ibid., vi. 415.

^{page 78 note 7} Ibid., vi. 415–16.

^{page 78 note 8} Vict. County Hist., Somerset, ii. 145.

^{page 79 note 1} Ibid., ii. 140.

^{page 79 note 2} Mon. Anglic., vii. 461 (n).

^{page 79 note 3} Brit. Mus., MS. Harl. 3586, fo. 67r–145v.

^{page 79 note 4} Ibid., fo. 24V; (new foliation).

^{page 79 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 79 note 6} Ibid., fo. 69V.

^{page 79 note 7} Gosse, M., Histoire de l'abbaye et de l'ordre d'Arrouaise (Lille, 1786)Google Scholar, on which the following paragraph is based. His main authority for the twelfth-century history of the house is the chronicle which prefaces the cartulary of the house drawn up under Abbot Gautier (1180–93), on which see Dickinson, , op. cit., p. 86Google Scholar, n. 3.

^{page 80 note 1} Gosse (p. 60 ff.) quotes from some thirteenth-century observances. A seventeenth-century transcript of others is now MS. 562, ff. 20–140, in the Bibliothèque Municipale of Amiens. M. C. Dereine informs me that he has discovered another set at Douai.

^{page 80 note 2} Speculum Ecclesiae, c. xii (Rolls Series, iv. 183).

^{page 80 note 3} Hist. Occid., pp. 325–6.

^{page 80 note 4} The bull of Gregory IX appointing commissioners to reform the order is given in Gosse, , op. cit., pp. 435–6Google Scholar. Cf.Mon. Germ. Hist. Script., xxiv. 771.

^{page 80 note 5} Ibid., xv. (2) 1121.

^{page 80 note 6} Ibid., 1115; Dunning, P. J., ‘The Arroasian order in medieval Ireland’, Irish Hist. Studies, 1945, pp. 297–315Google Scholar.

^{page 80 note 7} Op. cit., p. 57.

^{page 81 note 1} Ibid. Arras MS. 1077, fo. 45r., has a deed of Stephen involving a small gift to Arrouaise he had made ‘in my sickness at Northampton’.

^{page 81 note 2} This date is given in a note in the cartulary and in the foundation charter; see The Cartulary of Missenden abbey, Part I, ed. Jenkins, J. G. (Bucks. Rec. Soc., 1939), p. 37Google Scholar.

^{page 81 note 3} Ibid., nos. 7, 19. The customs of Arrouaise are mentioned in a bull of Innocent II to Missenden (MS. Harl. 3688, fo. I78r.).

^{page 81 note 4} Gosse, , op. cit., pp. 34 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 81 note 5} Lysons, D. (Magna Brittania, Bucks., i. 606)Google Scholar, quoting ‘an ancient court-book of the manor’, says that Missenden abbey was founded as a thanks-giving for escape from shipwreck.

^{page 81 note 6} Gosse, , op. cit., p. 385Google Scholar. Abbot Peter is commemorated in Lincoln cathedral MS. A.1.2, fo. 205r., his brother Hamo having been chancellor there.

^{page 81 note 7} Mon. Anglic, vii. 370–1.

^{page 81 note 8} V.C.H., Lines., i. 177.

^{page 81 note 9} Records of Harrold priory, ed. Fowler, G. H. (Bedf. Rec. Soc, xvii. 1935),p. 8Google Scholar.

^{page 82 note 1} Records of Harrold priory, p. 58.

^{page 82 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 82 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 82 note 4} Ibid., pp. 19, 53.

^{page 82 note 5} Op. cit., pp. 57–8.

^{page 82 note 6} Records of Harrold priory, p. 57.

^{page 83 note 1} Vict. County Hist., Oxford, ii. 87Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 2} Gosse, , op. cit., p.382Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 3} Mon. Anglic, vi. 262. See Eyton, R. W., ‘The monasteries of Shropshire, their origins and founders…Lilleshall Abbey’, in Shrops. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Trans., xi (1888), pp. 142–52Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 4} Mon. Anglic, vi. 263.

^{page 83 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 83 note 6} Ibid.; R. W. Eyton, loc cit.

^{page 83 note 7} Ibid.

^{page 83 note 8} Gosse, , op. cit., p. 384Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 9} John of Salisbury, Ep. 43; cf. Ep. 47.

^{page 83 note 10} Pantin, W. A., ‘Notley Abbey’, in Oxoniensia, vi (1941), 22–43Google Scholar; Complete Peerage, ii. 387.

^{page 83 note 11} Mon. Anglic, vi. 278.

^{page 84 note 1} Dickinson, J. C., ‘The Origins of the Cathedral of Carlisle’, in Cumberland and Westmorland Arch. Soc. Trans., N.S. xlv (1946), pp. 134–43Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 2} The text of his letter is printed by Salter, H. E., Chapters of the Augustinian Canons (1922), p. xlvGoogle Scholar.

^{page 84 note 3} Dickinson, , op. cit., p. 123Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 4} Salter, op. cit.; see also Young, N. Denholm in Yorks. Arch. Journ., xxxi (1934), PP 208–13Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 5} Salter, loc. cit.

^{page 84 note 6} Oxford, Bodl. Lib., MS. Fairfax 9, fo. 3r.

^{page 84 note 7} Ibid., fo. 20r.

^{page 84 note 8} Mon. Anglic., vi. 298.

^{page 84 note 9} Dunning, op. cit.; cf. Dickinson, , op. cit., p. 87Google Scholar.

^{page 84 note 10} Wilson, J., ‘St. Malachy in Scotland’, in Scot. Hist. Rev., xviii (1920), pp. 69–82Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 1} Quoted by Clapham, A. W., Lesnes Abbey, p. 5Google Scholar, where the early evidence is considered. The writer is incorrect in considering Lesnes to be a daughter house of Holy Trinity Aldgate; he has confused the parish church and the monastery.

^{page 85 note 2} Gosse, , op. cit., p. 420Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 3} Clapham, , op. cit., p. 7Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 4} Eyton, R. W., Itinerary of Henry II, pp. 87–8Google Scholar.

^{page 85 note 5} Mon. Anglic., vi. 436.

^{page 85 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 85 note 7} Ibid., vi. 484.

^{page 85 note 8} Salter, , op. cit., pp. 277–9Google Scholar. Arbury for a time masqueraded as Arrouaisian (Cal. Papal Letters, i. 149).

^{page 86 note 1} Brit. Mus., Cott. Ch. iv. 58.

^{page 86 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 86 note 3} Above, p. 83.

^{page 86 note 4} Dunning, op. cit.

^{page 86 note 5} Gosse, , op. cit., p. 150Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 6} Dunning, op. cit.; Gosse, , op. cit., p. 44Google Scholar.

^{page 87 note 1} Bonnard, , op. cit., i. 116Google Scholar; Migne, Pat. Lat., cxcix, col. ix.

^{page 87 note 2} Smalley, B., The Bible in the Middle Ages, p. 42Google Scholar.

^{page 88 note 1} Above, pp. 75–6.

^{page 88 note 2} Bonnard, , op. cit., i. 201–4Google Scholar. He notes there were ‘many others’, ibid. 55.

^{page 88 note 3} See Kuttner, S., ‘Pierre de Roissy and Robert of Flamborough’, in Traditio, ii. (1944–1945), 492–9Google Scholar. I am indebted to Dr. W. Ullmann for this reference.

^{page 88 note 4} Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. lat. 14673, fo. 251r. (5 Id. Nov.). Dickinson, , op. cit., p. 119Google Scholar.

^{page 88 note 5} MS. lat. 14673, fo. 262V. (119 Kal. Jan.).

^{page 88 note 6} Ibid., fo. I59r. (6 Id. Jan.).

^{page 88 note 7} Fo. 160v. (Id. Jan.).

^{page 88 note 8} Fo. 212r. (3 Non. Jul).

^{page 88 note 9} Fo. 188v. (16 Kal. Mai).

^{page 88 note 10} Fo. 165r. (5 Kal. Feb.).

^{page 88 note 11} Fo. 167r. (2 Non. Feb.).

^{page 88 note 12} MS. lat. 14525, fos. 251V.–259V.; a late note adds that the bishop was in exile in France c. 1212 (ibid., fo. 25 IV.).

^{page 88 note 13} MS. lat. 14673, fo. 235r. (13 Kal. Oct.).

^{page 88 note 14} MS. lat. 14777.

^{page 88 note 15} Durham Cathed. MS. A. III. 16 (Catalogue, ed. Mynors, R. A. B., pp. 78–9)Google Scholar.

^{page 89 note 1} On this see Wilmart, A. in Rev. Bénéd., ii (1920), 15–84Google Scholar; I owe this reference to Sir F. M. Powicke.

^{page 89 note 2} MS. lat. 14673, fo. 272r.

^{page 89 note 3} Gosse, , op. cit., pp. 140 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 89 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 89 note 5} Ibid.

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English Regular Canons and the Continent in the Twelfth Century

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