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The Impact of Anarchy on English Monasticism, 1135-1154

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Thomas Callahan Jr.
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Extract

King Stephen's reign has long been recognized as a crucial period for monasticism in England. Many authors have written about alleged anarchical conditions during those nineteen years, and scholars have done a great deal of work on twelfth century English monasticism; nevertheless, comparatively little attention has been paid to the impact of this supposed anarchy on the monastic establishment. This impact is the concern of this essay. Due to the limitation of space, I will confine myself to the material damages suffered by monastic houses during Stephen's reign and will offer an extended summary of my findings.

The traditional picture of anarchy in England during Stephen's reign is that the civil wars wreaked havoc with nearly all aspects of life and inflicted massive and long lasting material damages. Medieval writers—most memorably the Peterborough chronicler— emotionally depicted scenes of terror and devastation, and the majority of later scholars—most notably H. W. C. Davis—upheld the basic validity of this picture. During the past century, however, historians have somewhat modified the traditional view. Whereas most medieval writers described an England embroiled in internal warfare for nearly all of Stephen's nineteen year reign, modern scholars have realized that the area of active fighting was more limited and that actual warfare lasted less than half of the reign. Also, modern scholars have shown that many of the occurrences in Stephen's reign were not characterized by aimless chaos and confusion, but rather by purposeful actions directed towards specific ends.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , Fall 1974 , pp. 218 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1974

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References

1 Whitelock, Dorothy, et al., eds., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (New Brunswick, N. J., 1961), pp. 199–200Google Scholar; Davis, H. W. C., “The Anarchy of Stephen's Reign,” English Historical Review, XVIII (1903): 630–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 See, for example, Howlett, R., ed., Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, Rolls Series, 82 (4 vols.; London, 1884–1889), III: xlvii-iii, liGoogle Scholar; Poole, A. L., From Domesday Book to Magna Carta (2d. ed.; Oxford, 1955), pp. 151–54Google Scholar; Cronne, H. A., The Reign of Stephen, p. 3.Google Scholar

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4 Cronne, , Reign of Stephen, p. 225.Google Scholar

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7 Ibid., p. 269.

8 Ibid., pp. 269, 296.

9 H. W. C. Davis, “Anarchy,” 641.

10 Poole, , Domesday Book, pp. 151–54Google Scholar. R. H. C. Davis disputes Poole's interpretation, King Stephen, p. 88.

11 Knowles, D. and Hadcock, R., Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales (2d. ed.; London, 1971), p. 494Google Scholar. A count of the actual listings under each order reveals an even higher total; the table does not include many of the smaller black monk houses.

12 See Appendix for a listing of damaged houses.

13 For example, Knowles claims that Thorney, Bath, Cerne, Worcester and Tewkesbury were damaged, although he cites no evidence for this assertion: Monastic Order, pp. 269-71.

14 See Appendix.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

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24 See Appendix.

25 Cronne, , Reign of Stephen. p. 3.Google Scholar

26 Dugdale, W., ed., Monasticon Anglicanum (6 vols, in 8; London, 1817–1830), VI: 873.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., p. 955.

28 Ibid., V: 560. In fact, I know of no example of a black monk house being founded as an aci of reparation.

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37 See Appendix.

38 See Knowles, , Monastic Order, p. 269.Google Scholar