DOCSLIB.ORG

II the Abbey's Foundation and Initial Endowment

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
II the Abbey's Foundation and Initial Endowment INTRODUCTION 13 ginally ran,1 continuously from i on the present f6 to 231 on f223 and thus covers the whole of the two parts, excluding the probable extension of the second part. As far as number 71, however, it is written over an erased but exactly equivalent foliation in Roman numerals. Though difficult to date precisely, the Arabic foliation appears to belong to the late fourteenth century, suggesting that the two parts were put together not many decades after each was writ- ten. It also suggests that the missing sections of the main part had been removed for some reason by the end of the fourteenth century. The same Arabic numerals are used in the incomplete table of con- tents, mostly in index-form, which appears on ff 2V-5V, that is, on the folios subsequently bound in at the front of the cartulary preced- ing the commencement of the Arabic foliation. // The abbey's foundation and initial endowment This necessarily brief introduction is not the place in which to attempt either a general history of the abbey or a detailed account of the growth of its endowment. Nevertheless, some preliminary remarks on the circumstances of its foundation are called for, since they provide both the context for its early charters in general and, more particularly, the background against which discussions of pos- sible forgery must be set. No valid interpretation or criticism of its charters can be complete without an appreciation of the founder's overall scheme for the house, from the type of monasticism he se- lected to the scale of privilege he granted. Reading Abbey was founded by King Henry I in 1121, although for nearly two years it existed as a priory. It was among the last Black Monk houses of first rank to appear in England in the Middle Ages and owed its origins to the king's desire to establish a rich, respected and highly privileged monastic community befitting the royal dignity and charged with special obligations in relief of the poor and reception of pilgrims and guests.2 More than this on his 1 Parts of the medieval Arabic sequence are missing, indicating losses of folios since it was provided, namely, the numerals 145 (after the present f 150), either 149 or 150 (after f 153), 153-156 (after f 156), and 158-163 (after f 157). In the last case physical evidence remains of the removal of some folios after the present f 157, which bears also the medieval Arabic numeral 157. •A passage in the foundation charter (below, no. 1) specifically requires the abbot to devote the resources of the monastery to this end: '... non cum suis secularibus consanguineis seu quibuslibet aliis elemosinas monasterii male utendo disperdat, sed pauperibus et peregrinis et hospitibus suscipiendis curam gerat.' Moreover, in estab- lishing a hospital at the abbey gate 'ad relevandam pauperum inopiam et subsidium peregrinorum' in the late 12th century, Abbot Hugh II cited 'susceptionem hospitum transeuntium, precipue tamen pauperum Christi ac peregrinorum' as one of Henry Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.34.90, on 25 Sep 2021 at 12:22:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068690500005808 14 READING ABBEY CARTULARIES I aims one cannot say with certainty, but since the king's body was eventually to be brought from Normandy in very difficult winter conditions for burial in the abbey,1 and since both his father, William I, and his nephew and successor, Stephen, were each laid to rest in their favourite foundations,2 it is highly probable that Henry intended from the first to be buried at Reading. If such was the case, then the monastery was to be not simply a new royal abbey but more particularly a royal mausoleum.3 The loss of Henry's only legitimate son in the wreck of the White Ship in November, 1120, which affected him deeply, may well have given a spur to his plans, but is unlikely by itself to have been the cause of so ambitious a project as the king undertook at Reading.4 For his new foundation Henry chose monks of the Cluniac ob- servance. Given his links with Cluny and the high reputation which Cluniac monasticism then enjoyed in the Anglo-Norman world,5 the choice was a natural one, but it was also one singularly well suited Fs main purposes in founding the abbey (below, no. 224). See also William of Malmesbury's elaborate tribute to the hospitality of Reading in its early years (Gesta Regum, ed. W. Stubbs. (RS, 1887-9), '• 4^9) and, for further discussion, see K. Leyser, 'Frederick Barbarossa, Henry II and the hand of St James', EHR xc (1975), 494-5. 1 Henry died at Lyons-la-Foret, in eastern Normandy, on 1 December 1135, having given instructions on his death-bed that his body was to be buried at Reading. It was taken first to Rouen for disembowelling and embalming, and thence to Caen where, the winds being contrary, it was lodged in St Stephen's abbey until after Christmas, when a crossing to England became possible (Orderic Vitalis, vi. 448-50; William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, ed. K. R. Potter (1955), 12-14, 16; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. T. Arnold (RS, 1879), 256-8; The Letters of Peter the Venerable, ed. G. Constable (Harvard, 1967), i. 22). The king was buried at Reading on 5 January 1136 ('Annales Radingenses', 11; continuator of Florence of Worcester, in Florentii Wigorniensis ... Chronicon ex Chronicis, ed. B. Thorpe (Eng. Hist. Soc, 1848-9), ii. 95; 'Winchcombe Annals', ed. R. R. Darlington, Med. Misc. for D.M. Stenton, 127). The date usually given for his burial is 4 January, which is derived from Gervase of Canterbury (Historical Works, ed. W. Stubbs (RS, 1879-80), i. 95), but this is strictly the date which Gervase gives for the bringing of the body from Normandy to England. 2 For William I's burial at St Stephen's, Caen, see Orderic Vitalis, iv, 102-6. Stephen was buried at Faversham, where the original plan of the abbey church included what appears to have been a large royal funerary chapel occupying much of its eastern arm (E. M. Hallam, 'The burial places of English kings', History Today (July 1981), 46; B. Philp, Excavations at Faversham, igfc<j (Kent Archaeol. Research Group's Council, 1968), 15-17, 37). 3 For evidence of Henry's concern that royal burials should only take place in suitably noble churches, see E. M. Hallam, 'Royal burial and the cult of kingship in France and England, 1060-1330', Journ. of Medieval History, viii (1982), 360. 4 For a detailed account of the wreck of the White Ship and the king's grief at his son's death, see Orderic Vitalis, vi. 294-306. It is interesting in this respect that, according to the foundation charter, among the souls for whose welfare Reading Abbey was founded was that of Henry's son, William (below, no. 1). 5D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England. (2nd edn, Cambridge, 1963), 174. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.34.90, on 25 Sep 2021 at 12:22:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068690500005808 INTRODUCTION 15 to his purpose. Although Henry was later to patronize both the Cistercians and the Austin canons,1 it was the typically Cluniac combination of reform and splendour which evidently appealed to him for his most important foundation. The first monks arrived in Reading on 18 June 1121. Of the initial community seven monks with a prior, Peter, had been sent from Cluny in response to Henry's request to Abbot Pons, and had been joined on their arrival in England by several others from the Cluniac priory of St Pancras at Lewes.2 The community lived under the rule of Prior Peter until 15 April 1123, when Hugh of Amiens, formerly prior of Lewes, was appointed first abbot and Peter returned to Cluny.3 It is clear that, whatever had been the case in the first two years, the appointment of an abbot entailed the liberation of the house from juridical de- pendence on Cluny.4 Reading was the first Cluniac house in Eng- land to achieve independent abbatial status and the change was undoubtedly made at the king's insistence. He seems to have desired the best of two worlds, namely, all the benefits of the Cluniac ob- servance but without the juridical ties to Cluny. That the final solution took nearly two years to achieve may indicate either a gradual development of the king's ideas in this respect or an element of resistance from Cluny, but the result was later to serve as a convenient model for King Stephen's foundation at Faversham, which was similarly colonized by Cluniac monks but was designated an abbey ab initio.b Shortly after the appointment of its first abbot, Reading received a papal confirmation from Calixtus II, dated 19 •For the Cistercians, see Knowles, ibid., 175; Gallia Christiana, xi, 307-8 (for Mor- temer in Normandy, although this did not become a full member of the Order until after Henry's death). For the Austin canons, see Knowles and Hadcock, 2nd edn, 156 (for Dunstable); The Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey, ed. CD. Ross (1964), i. 21; The Cartulary of the Priory of St Denys near Southampton, ed.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Late Anglo-Saxon Finds from the Site of St Edmund's Abbey R. Gem, L. Keen
    LATE ANGLO-SAXON FINDS FROM THE SITE OF ST EDMUND'S ABBEY by RICHARD GEM, M.A., PH.D., F.S.A. AND LAURENCE KEEN, M.PHIL., F.S.A., F.R.HIST.S. DURING SITE CLEARANCE of the eastern parts of the church of St Edmund's Abbey by the then Ministry of Works, followingtheir acceptance of the site into guardianship in 1955, two groups of important Anglo-Saxon material were found, but have remained unpublished until now. These comprise a series of fragments of moulded stone baluster shafts and a number of polychrome relief tiles. These are illustrated' and discussed here; it is concluded that the baluster shafts belong to around the second quarter of the 11th century or shortly thereafter; and that the tiles belong to the same period or, possibly, to the 10th century. HISTORY OF THE BUILDINGS OF ME LATE ANGLO-SAXON ABBEY The Tenth-Centwy Minster Whatever weight may be attached to the tradition that a minster was found at Boedericeswirdein the 7th century by King Sigberct, there can be little doubt that the ecclesiastical establishment there only rose to importance in the 10th century as a direct result of the translation to the royal vill of the relics of King Edmund (ob. 870);2this translation is recorded as having taken place in the reign of King Aethelstan (924 —39).3 Abbo of Fleury, writing in the late 10th century, saysthat the people of the place constructed a 'very large church of wonderful wooden plankwork' (permaxima miro ligneo tabulatu ecclesia) in which the relics were enshrined.' Nothing further is known about this building apart from this one tantalising reference.
    [Show full text]
  • Battle Abbey Archives: Finding Aid
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8rn3f7j No online items Battle Abbey Archives: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Huntington Library staff and Diann Benti. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © April 2018 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Battle Abbey Archives: Finding mssBA 1 Aid Overview of the Collection Title: Battle Abbey Archives Dates (inclusive): 1077-approximately 1830 Collection Number: mssBA Creator: Battle Abbey. Extent: Approximately 3,000 pieces Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection consists of two parts: the records of the Benedictine abbey of St. Martin at Battle, Sussex, England, dating before 1538, and the papers chiefly of the Browne and Webster families, who owned the Battle Abbey properties following the monastery's dissolution in 1538. The collection is particularly rich in monastic and estate accounts, court records, and deeds for lands possessed by Battle Abbey in Sussex and other counties. Language: English and Latin. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
    [Show full text]
  • Chertsey Abbey : an Existence of the Past
    iii^li.iin H.xik i ... l.t.l loolcsdlen and K.M kliin.l : .. Vil-rTii Str.-t. NOTTINGHAM. |. t . tft <6;ri0fence of Photo, by F. A. Monk. [Frontispiece. TRIPTYCH OF TILES FROM CHERTSEY ABBEY, THIRTEENTH CENTURY. of BY LUCY WHEELER. With. Preface by SIR SWINFEN EADY. ARMS OF THE MONASTERY OF S. PETER, ABBEY CHURCH, CHERTSEY. Bonbon : WELLS GARDNER, DARTON & CO., LTD., 3, Paternoster Buildings, E.C., and 44, Victoria Street, S. W. PREFACE THE History of Chertsey Abbey is of more than local interest. Its foundation carries us back to so remote a period that the date is uncertain. The exact date fixed in the is A.D. but Chertsey register 666 ; Reyner, from Capgrave's Life of S. Erkenwald, will have this Abbey to have been founded as early as A.D. 630. That Erken- wald, however, was the real founder, and before he became Bishop of London, admits of no doubt. Even the time of Erkenwald's death is not certain, some placing it in 685, while Stow says he died in 697. His splendid foundation lasted for some nine centuries, and in the following pages will be found a full history of the Abbey and its rulers and possessions until its dissolution by Henry VIII. is incessant is con- Change everywhere, and ; nothing stant or in a or less stable, except greater degree ; the Abbeys which in their time played so important a part in the history and development of the country, and as v houses of learning, have all passed away, but a study of the history of an important Abbey enables us to appre- ciate the part which these institutions played in the past, and some of the good they achieved, although they were not wholly free from abuses.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bretons and Normans of England 1066-1154: the Family, the Fief and the Feudal Monarchy*
    © K.S.B. Keats-Rohan 1991. Published Nottingham Mediaeval Studies 36 (1992), 42-78 The Bretons and Normans of England 1066-1154: the family, the fief and the feudal monarchy* In memoriam R.H.C.Davis 1. The Problem (i) the non-Norman Conquest Of all the available studies of the Norman Conquest none has been more than tangentially concerned with the fact, acknowledged by all, that the regional origin of those who participated in or benefited from that conquest was not exclusively Norman. The non-Norman element has generally been regarded as too small to warrant more than isolated comment. No more than a handful of Angevins and Poitevins remained to hold land in England from the new English king; only slightly greater was the number of Flemish mercenaries, while the presence of Germans and Danes can be counted in ones and twos. More striking is the existence of the fief of the count of Boulogne in eastern England. But it is the size of the Breton contingent that is generally agreed to be the most significant. Stenton devoted several illuminating pages of his English Feudalism to the Bretons, suggesting for them an importance which he was uncertain how to define.1 To be sure, isolated studies of these minority groups have appeared, such as that of George Beech on the Poitevins, or those of J.H.Round and more recently Michael Jones on the Bretons.2 But, invaluable as such studies undoubtedly are, they tend to achieve no more for their subjects than the status of feudal curiosities, because they detach their subjects from the wider question of just what was the nature of the post-1066 ruling class of which they formed an integral part.
    [Show full text]
  • English Monks Suppression of the Monasteries
    ENGLISH MONKS and the SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES ENGLISH MONKS and the SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES by GEOFFREY BAS KER VILLE M.A. (I) JONA THAN CAPE THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON FIRST PUBLISHED I937 JONATHAN CAPE LTD. JO BEDFORD SQUARE, LONDON AND 91 WELLINGTON STREET WEST, TORONTO PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN IN THE CITY OF OXFORD AT THE ALDEN PRESS PAPER MADE BY JOHN DICKINSON & CO. LTD. BOUND BY A. W. BAIN & CO. LTD. CONTENTS PREFACE 7 INTRODUCTION 9 I MONASTIC DUTIES AND ACTIVITIES I 9 II LAY INTERFERENCE IN MONASTIC AFFAIRS 45 III ECCLESIASTICAL INTERFERENCE IN MONASTIC AFFAIRS 72 IV PRECEDENTS FOR SUPPRESSION I 308- I 534 96 V THE ROYAL VISITATION OF THE MONASTERIES 1535 120 VI SUPPRESSION OF THE SMALLER MONASTERIES AND THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 1536-1537 144 VII FROM THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE TO THE FINAL SUPPRESSION 153 7- I 540 169 VIII NUNS 205 IX THE FRIARS 2 2 7 X THE FATE OF THE DISPOSSESSED RELIGIOUS 246 EPILOGUE 273 APPENDIX 293 INDEX 301 5 PREFACE THE four hundredth anniversary of the suppression of the English monasteries would seem a fit occasion on which to attempt a summary of the latest views on a thorny subject. This book cannot be expected to please everybody, and it makes no attempt to conciliate those who prefer sentiment to truth, or who allow their reading of historical events to be distorted by present-day controversies, whether ecclesiastical or political. In that respect it tries to live up to the dictum of Samuel Butler that 'he excels most who hits the golden mean most exactly in the middle'.
    [Show full text]
  • 'How the Corpse of a Most Mighty King…' the Use of the Death and Burial of the English Monarch
    1 Doctoral Dissertation ‘How the Corpse of a Most Mighty King…’ The Use of the Death and Burial of the English Monarch (From Edward to Henry I) by James Plumtree Supervisors: Gábor Klaniczay, Gerhard Jaritz Submitted to the Medieval Studies Department and the Doctoral School of History Central European University, Budapest in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy CEU eTD Collection Budapest 2014 2 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 3 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................ 4 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 6 1. ‘JOYFULLY TAKEN UP TO LIVE WITH GOD’ THE ALTERED PASSING OF EDWARD .......................................................................... 13 1. 1. The King’s Two Deaths in MS C and the Vita Ædwardi Regis .......................... 14 1. 2. Dead Ends: Sulcard’s Prologus and the Bayeux Tapestry .................................. 24 1. 3. The Smell of Sanctity, A Whiff of Fraud: Osbert and the 1102 Translation ....... 31 1. 4. The Death in Histories: Orderic, Malmesbury, and Huntingdon ......................... 36 1. 5. ‘We Have Him’: The King’s Cadaver at Westminster .......................................
    [Show full text]
  • Battle Abbey School at a Glance
    Battle Abbey School at a glance The• School100 Years old • Set in a 1,000 year old building • 360 pupils • 60 Boarders from 15 different countries • A registered charity The• EducationOver 20 GCSE Subjects • Over 20 A Level Subjects • National reputation in creative arts, music, drama, maths and science • Small class sizes • Broad Curriculum: BTEC and EPQ offered • Recent University Destinations include: Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter, Imperial College London, Warwick, Southampton, Bath, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Royal Holloway, Kings College London, Durham and Nottingham. The• StudentA traditional EnglishExperience Education • A Headmaster who knows every pupil • Extensive Extra Curricular Programme • Dedicated Sixth Form Centre • Enthusiastic, supportive staff • Fantastic Food Battle • Set in a beautiful English market town • Direct train to London Chatham Ramsgate • Site of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 LONDON M26 M2 Canterbury M25 Royal Maidstone A20 Reigate Tunbridge Dover Wells A21 M20 ( Folkestone Extra• Approximately Curricular 50 free clubs and activities Gatwick Airport KENT • Approximately 25 sports played M23 Train Service London to Hastings • Indoor Swimming Pool via Tunbridge Wells • Five Choirs and a School Orchestra A2100 BATTLE choo ey S l 19 EAST SUSSEX bb 12 • Performing Arts Centre A - Hastings e 2 l 0 t 1 t Battle 2 a B • Gym Abbey 1 0 BEXHILL y r 0 o Y Brighton t Battle School e s • Five Annual Music Concerts i a r H Eastbourne s f Abbey o o f s Ed ar • Young Engineers uc Ye Prep ation, 1000 School Academic Results Summer 2020 GCSE Results 2020 A Level Results 2020 • 93% A*- B grades • 87% of all grades at A* - C • 99.5% A*- C grades • 76% of all grades at A*- B • 64% of all grades at A* and A • 57% of all grades at A* and A • 100% A* grades in Classics • 76% A*- A grades Art and Music • 90% grade 5 and above in Maths • 85% A* - B in Maths • 84% A*- A grades in Fine Art • 100% A* – B in History • 100% grade 5 and above in Chemistry, Biology and Physics • 100% A* – B in Further Maths.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading Abbey
    INTRODUCTION TO THIS SPECIAL EDITION ON READING ABBEY Reading Abbey: Intellectual and Artistic Culture in an International Context Lindy Grant University of Reading Reading Abbey rarely receives the attention it deserves.1 Its physical remains are a battered shell, in what until fairly recently was an unsympathetic urban environment, and it simply cannot compete with the cluttered grandeur of Westminster, or the magnificence and completeness of Canterbury, or the romantic ruin of so many of our great Cistercian abbeys. But it should attract our attention, for when it was founded, Reading was one of the most important religious institutions in northern Europe. It should be studied and understood within a broad European context. This is what the papers in this collection aim to do. Reading Abbey had close connections with the Anglo-Norman and Angevin kings. It was founded by Henry I around 1121 as his mausoleum. Henry died in Normandy, but his body was brought back for burial at Reading, as he intended, and was buried before the high altar in January 1136. When Henry founded the abbey, he was still mourning the death of his revered wife, Matilda of Scotland, and of his son and heir, William Adelin, who had drowned in the White Ship disaster. He had just remarried – to Adeliza of Louvain, in the hope that this would bring him a new heir. So from the start, Reading Abbey was intimately linked to death, birth and commemoration of the English royal family.2 The abbey was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the intercessor for mankind at death.
    [Show full text]
  • The Origins of the Crown
    proceedings of the British Academy, 89, 171-214 The Origins of the Crown GEORGE GARNETT SECRETEDAWAY IN THE MIDST OF his posthumously published lectures on English constitutional history is one of those thought-provoking observations by Maitland which have lain largely undisturbed for ninety years: There is one term against which I wish to warn you, and that term is ‘the crown’. You will certainly read that the crown does this and the crown does that. As a matter of fact we know that the crown does nothing but lie in the Tower of London to be gazed at by sight-seers. No, the crown is a convenient cover for ignorance: it saves us from asking difficult questions.. Partly under the influence of his reading of German scholars, most notably Gierke, Maitland had begun to address questions of this nature in a series of essays on corporate personality, and in a few luminous, tantalizing pages in the History of English Law? Plucknett conceded that the issues raised by these questions, which he characterized as metaphysical, formed the foundations of legal history, but added, severely, that ‘prolonged contemplation of them may warp the judge- ment.’ Not, of course, that Maitland had been found wanting: Plucknett thought him acutely aware of the potential dangers of abstraction. But less well-seasoned timbers would scarcely bear up under the strain? Plucknett need not have worried. The judgements of Enghsh his- 0 neBritish Academy 1996 Maitland, Constitutional History, p. 418; cf. Pollock and Maitland, i 525: ‘that “metaphor kept in the Tower,” as Tom Paine called it’; E W.
    [Show full text]
  • The Anglo-Saxon and Norman "Eigenkirche" and the Ecclesiastical Policy of William I
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1981 The Anglo-Saxon and Norman "Eigenkirche" and the Ecclesiastical Policy of William I. Albert Simeon Cote Jr Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Cote, Albert Simeon Jr, "The Anglo-Saxon and Norman "Eigenkirche" and the Ecclesiastical Policy of William I." (1981). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3675. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3675 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or “target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is “ Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy.
    [Show full text]
  • OXFORDSHIRE's PART in the ENGLISH MILITARY CAMPAIGN in FRANCE of 1415 TABLE of CONTENTS ​: Page INTRODU
    OXFORDSHIRE’S PART IN THE ENGLISH MILITARY CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE OF 1415 TABLE OF CONTENTS : ​ Page INTRODUCTION 1 METHODOLOGY 1 PICTURE OF THE COUNTY IN 1415 3 MEN IDENTIFIED 4 LOCAL LEADERS 5 LOCAL TOPOGRAPHICAL SURNAMES 5 DATES OF CIVILIAN ACTIVITY 6 IDENTIFICATION OF GENTRY 6 IDENTIFICATION OF YEOMEN 7 SOCIAL STATUS OF MEN AT ARMS AND ARCHERS 7 WHO DID MEN SERVE WITH? 8 RETINUE GROUPINGS 9 RESIDENT MEN AND TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES 11 COMPOSITION OF RETINUES 11 TRADITION OF FAMILY SERVICE 12 SERVICE FEES 14 LOCALITIES THAT PROVIDE MORE SOLDIERS 15 COUNTY ARRAYS AND HUNDRED COURTS 16 GENERAL FINDINGS 17 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 18 LIST OF STRONGEST CANDIDATES 18 FURTHER WORK 19 Ken Wise, July 2015 1. INTRODUCTION An unguarded curiosity about whether the men of Oxfordshire went to war with Henry V in 1415 and the chance finding of the medieval soldier database (www.medievalsoldier.org), ​ ​ led to this investigation of the known community in the county at the time and the gradual listing of possible participants1. In so doing, some local evidence has been found which may throw light on issues of wider interest to military and social historians. This includes some possible indicators for the motivations behind individuals’ involvement in military service, some comments on the family traditions of such participation and the degree to which local networks operated in the formation of retinues. This study is a work still in progress designed to test the usefulness of the database as a tool for prosopographical investigation of this area of English military history. Not all areas discussed are fully developed yet but it is hoped they are of sufficient interest to be worth sharing at this stage.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Propaganda Against Female Rulers in Medieval Chronicles in the Twelfth Nda Fifteenth Centuries Elizabeth Anne Wiedenheft University of Northern Iowa
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Northern Iowa University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Honors Program Theses University Honors Program 2011 With a woman's bitterness: Early propaganda against female rulers in medieval chronicles in the twelfth nda fifteenth centuries Elizabeth Anne Wiedenheft University of Northern Iowa Copyright © 2011 Elizabeth Anne Wiedenheft Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/hpt Part of the European History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits oy u Recommended Citation Wiedenheft, Elizabeth Anne, "With a woman's bitterness: Early propaganda against female rulers in medieval chronicles in the twelfth and fifteenth centuries" (2011). Honors Program Theses. 60. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/hpt/60 This Open Access Honors Program Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the University Honors Program at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Program Theses by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "WITH A WOMAN'S BITTERNESS": EARLY PROPAGANDA AGAINST FEMALE RULERS IN MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES IN THE TWELFTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES A Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Designation University Honors with Distinction Elizabeth Anne Wiedenheft University of Northern Iowa May 2011 This Study by: Elizabeth Anne Wiedenheft Entitled: "With A Woman's Bitterness": Early Propaganda Against Female Rulers in Medieval Chronicles in the Twelfth and Fifteenth Centuries Has been approved as meeting the thesis requirement for the Designation University Honors with Distinction _________ _____________________________________________________ Date Dr.
    [Show full text]