In 1135, six years after Pope Honorious II had bestowed papal approval upon the Templars at the Council of Troyes, Henry I of England died. He was succeeded by his nephew, Stephen of Blois, who was crowned at Westminster on 22 December 1135. Despite the tumultuous nature of Stephen's reign, monastic patronage flourished in the twelfth century, which was reflected in the growing influence of the Templars, particularly in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. However, the Templars were by no means the only monastic order to benefit. By 1139 the Benedictines had five abbeys, including Bardney and Croyland, and four priories in Lincolnshire. Between 2 February 1139 and 23 May 1147, five Cistercian abbeys were founded in the county. From small beginnings at Sempringham in 1131, by 1164 there were fourteen Gilbertine priories in Lincolnshire alone. The competition for patronage was fierce and the rate of monastic expansion rapid; in such circumstances it was quite usual for a benefactor to make donations to a number of houses to ensure adequate monastic intercession for the wellbeing of his or her soul. Gilbert de Gant, for example, was connected with the Gilbertine house of Sempringham and made benefactions to the Templars.

In 1185 a survey of Templar properties was undertaken by Geoffrey Fitz Stephen, the master of the Templars in England. The purpose of the Inquest was to establish the extent of Templar holdings in England, their value and the income they generated. It was, as Lees points out, ‘a terrier and rental, not an inventory’. By 1185 an ageing Henry II was concerned with the partition of his considerable empire between his three quarrelsome sons: Richard, Geoffrey and John. Further, Philip II Augustus, who had succeeded his father to the French throne in 1180, was intent upon the destruction of Henry's Angevin empire. This was a period of uncertainty. In addition, there was political instability in the Holy Land and the consequent need for financial and military support of the Latin states in the East. In such circumstances, it was prudent for the Templars to record the property they held and the income it generated.