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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Enlighten: Theses Gerrard, Daniel M.G. (2011) The military activities of bishops, abbots and other clergy in England c.900-1200. PhD thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2671/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Military Activities of Bishops, Abbots and other Clergy in England c.900- 1200 Daniel Gerrard Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts School of Humanities September 2010 © Daniel Gerrard September 2010 Abstract This thesis examines the evidence for the involvement in warfare of clerks and religious in England between the beginning of the tenth century and the end of the twelfth. It focuses on bishops and abbots, whose military activities were recorded more frequently than lesser clergy, though these too are considered where appropriate. From the era of Christian conversion until long after the close of the middle ages, clergy were involved in the prosecution of warfare. In this period, they built fortresses and organised communities of warriors in time of peace and war. Some were slain in battle, while others were given promotion or lands for their martial exploits. A series of canonical pronouncements aimed to forbid or restrict the involvement of Christian clergy in organised bloodshed, and some writers branded militant clergy as corrupted by the lure of earthly power or even as having surrendered their sacerdotal status. This study therefore approaches the military practices of clergy alongside the legal and narrative treatments, and treats the latter as reactions to, not the background of, the former. This requires consideration of a wide range of narrative, diplomatic and legal source material. A broad approach shows that clerics’ military activities cannot be separated from their spiritual powers, that canonical treatment was more fragmented and less influential than has been assumed, and that the condemnations of some authors existed alongside others’ praise for clerics’ valour, loyalty, or commitment to defending their flocks. In consequence, the extended study of clerical participation in warfare is shown to have significant consequences for our conception of the bounds of military history, the construction of the licit and the illicit, and the nature of clerical identity itself. 1 Pro Genovefe, carissima mea 2 Acknowledgements I offer my thanks to the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, who generously funded three years of research. Without the help and camaraderie of the postgraduate community and staff at the University of Glasgow, this project could never have been completed. In particular, among the staff, I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Matthew Strickland, who conceived of this project and Dr Stephen Marritt, whose assistance was untiring, especially in my last dash towards submission. For their good-humoured support and advice on countless occasions, I thank Professor Julia Smith, Dr Stuart Airlie and Dr Mary Duckworth. My office-mates and the other PhD students in the department were essential in contributing good ideas, restraining most of my more outlandish notions and reminding me to keep working and to enjoy myself while I did so. In particular, I thank Ms Colette Bowie, Ms Laura Crombie, Ms Katy Dutton, Dr Joanna Royle and Ms Vanessa Traill for their patience, friendship and confectionary. I would also like to thank Dr Martin Brett for his generous assistance on several occasions and Professors Robert Bartlett and Chris Given-Wilson for convincing me that the medievalists really do have all the best tunes. I offer my thanks to my family for their unfailing encouragement, support and love, especially my father, Tim, my mother, Heather, and my brother Matthew. Above all, I thank my wife, Genevieve, who has had to live with a medievalist for the better part of a decade and the problem of militant clergy for almost half that time. She has been of great help in preparing the final draft of the manuscript. Professor Anne Duggan and Dr Andrew Roach examined the thesis and their kind advice has corrected many of my infelicities. The remaining errors, omissions, repetitions, misinterpretations and tedious chapters are entirely my own responsibility. 3 Contents Abbreviations 6 Introduction 8 Introduction II: Canonical Restrictions on Clerical Participation in Warfare from Nicaea (325) to Tribur (895) 19 Part 1: Clergy in Battle and On Campaign 33 Part 2: Military Power and Practice 58 Chapter 1: Prelates, Knights and Constables 58 Chapter 2: Warriors in Attendance 77 Chapter 3: Prelates and Fortresses 86 Chapter 4: Spiritual Weapons in Secular Warfare 105 Chapter 5: Delegated Powers and Local Defence 127 Part 3: Responses 141 Chapter 1: Canonical Responses 142 Chapter 2: Narrative Responses 169 Chapter 3: Political and Judicial Responses 221 Conclusions 235 Appendices 240 Bibliography 267 4 Tables and Figures Appendix 1 Table 1: Clerics present in battles and sieges in England before 1066 242 Appendix 2 Table 2: ‘Constables’ and ‘Marshals’ in the service of English Prelates 246 Table 3: Castles controlled by prelates 253 Table 4: Fortified Churches 256 Figure 1: The Banner of St Edmund (Harley 2278) 260 Figure 2: St Edmund in Battle (Harley 2278) 261 Table 5: St Oswald’s tenants: Terms of Service 262 5 Abbreviations AHR The American Historical Review AND David Rollason, Margaret Harvey, Michael Prestwich (eds), Anglo- Norman Durham 1093-1193. Woodbridge: Boydell. (1994). ANS Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies ASC The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles – New Edition. Michael Swanton (ed/trans). London: Dent. (1996). Bates RRAN Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum I 1066-1087, David Bates (ed). Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1998). Bede Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. Bertrand Colgrave, R.A.B Mynors (eds/trans). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1991). C&S Councils & Synods, with other documents relating to the English church. 1, A.D. 871-1204. Dorothy Whitelock, M. Brett, C.N.L. Brooke (eds). 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1981). CRSHR Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I. Richard Howlett (ed). 4 vols, London: Longman. (1884-1889). EEA English Episcopal Acta, David Smith et al (eds). London, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1980-). EHR The English Historical Review GCO Giraldus Cambrensis Opera, J.S. Brewer (ed). 8 vols, London: Longman. (1861-1891). GP William of Malmesbury – Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, M. Winterbottom, R.M. Thomson (eds/trans). 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (2007). GR William of Malmesbury – Gesta Regum Anglorum – the History of the English Kings, R.A.B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, M. Winterbottom (eds/trans). 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1998-1999). GS Gesta Stephani, K.R. Potter (ed/trans), Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1976). HEA Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis – The History of the Church of Abingdon, John Hudson (ed/trans). 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (2002-2007). Hemming Hemmingi Chartularium Ecclesiae Wigorniensis Thomas Hearne (ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1723). 6 Jaffé Regesta Pontificum Romanorum (2nd edition) Philip Jaffé (ed), 2 vols, Graz: Akademische Druck- U. Verlagsanstalt. (1956). HN William of Malmesbury – Historia Novella – The Contemporary History, Edmund King, K.R. Potter (ed/trans), Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1998). Holtzmann Decretales Ineditae Saeculi XII, ed. And rev. S. Chodorow, C. Duggan, from the papers of W. Holtzmann. Vatican City: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. (1982). HSJ The Haskins Society Journal: Studies in Medieval History Huntingdon Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum – The History of the English People, Diana Greenway (ed/trans), Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1996). JH ‘Continuation by John of Hexham’, in SMO II. Jocelin Chronica Jocelini de Brakelonda de rebus gestis Samsonis Abbatis Monasterii Sancti Edmundi. H.E. Butler (ed/trans). London: Camden Society. (1949). JWC The Chronicle of John of Worcester R.R. Darlington, Patrick McGurk, Jennifer Bray (ed/trans). 3 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1995-). MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica OV Orderic Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History, Marjorie Chibnall (ed/trans). 6 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1969-1980). PL Patrologia Latina, Jacques-Paul Migne (ed), (217 Vols, Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey (1844-1865); http://pld.chadwyck.co.uk/ RH ‘Historia Ricardi, Prioris Ecclesiae Haugustaldensis’, in CRSHR III. RRAN Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1056-1154, H.W.C Davis, R.J. Whitwell (eds). 3 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1913-1969). SMO Symeonis Monachi Opera, Thomas Arnold (ed), 2 vols, London: Longman. (1882-1885). TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society VST ‘Vita Sancti Thomae, Cantuarensis Archiepiscopi et Martyris, Auctore Willelmo Filio Stephani’, in James Craigie Robertson (ed), Materials for the Study of Thomas Becket,