1100-1154: Cathedral Building and Abbey Foundations

Archbishop Anselm died in 1109. His see remained vacant until Ralph, Bishop of Rochester, was appointed to it in 1114.We will not otherwise list the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and will only refer to those who are the most prominent or interesting from a political point of view. The accession of Henry II in 1154 will eventually bring out the inherent tension between Crown and Church. This would be expressed in the tense and ultimately violent relationship with Thomas A Becket and the King which we will review in a later posting. Until then, the symbiotic relationship between national Church and the miltary Norman aristocracy continued regardless of civil strife. Indeed, it is the return of a strong Kingship that precipitates a crisis - and we should remember that the Church was largely staffed at the highest levels from the literate members of the same international class whose Anglo-Norman branch ran England.

As we have noted in our posting on Henry I, cathedral and church building began again after a long gap following the start of construction of Durham Cathedral in 1093: Southwark Priory (1106 - the basis of the later Southwark Cathedral), Southwell Minster (1108), Exeter (1112), Peterborough (1117) and with Llandaff and Bangor asserting Church authority in Normanised Wales (1120). Building work then shifted to Abbey foundations within a couple of decades: Hexham (1113), Tintern (1131), Quarr (1131), Buildwas (1135) and Jervaulx (1145), all but the first Cistercian in origin.

These buildings are not to be assumed to be under direct royal patronage by any means (for example, the Cistercians were introduced to England by Walter Fitz Richard, of the powerful Clare family who funded Tintern Abbey) but there is always a political aspect to the foundations if only in terms of aristocratic status. It is not accidental that the last two of the new cathedral foundations were in the borderlands with Wales which were in the process of being 'tamed'. The slowing down of cathedral foundation after 1120 was both a sign of internal civil strife but also of the natural expansion of Norman power to its English and Welsh limits at that time. Internal strife (as we will see in the next posting) was as much a sign of the collapse of any form of English alternative to Norman rule as of the potential for anarchy arising from a warlord Norman aristocracy during periods of central weakness. Similarly the abbey foundations represent the exploitation of the conquest by aristocrats and churchmen alike.

An example of the growing militarisation (albeit defensive) of religion and its close marriage of interest to the Anglo-Norman aristocracy and their English subjects comes from the Battle of the Standard in 1138 where it is Archbishop Thurston of York who organises an army to counter a Scottish invasion. The Archbishop himself carried into battle the banner of St. John of Beverley alongside those of St. Cuthbert, St. Peter of York and St. Wilfred, all hung from a large pole 'like the mast of a ship' on a four wheeled cart on which the Archbishop stood. The Battle was a resounding victory for the English.

This is also the period of the Second Crusade (1147-1149) which offers us yet another example of the militarisation of religion as if the civilising influence of the Church on barbarian use of unbridled force had been bought at the cost of the Catholic Church itself becoming an agent for the redirection of that violence onto the 'other', in this case the Muslims and often the Eastern Orthodox Church. The period is also notable for having the first and only English Pope in Nicholas Breakspear, elected in December 1154 as Adrian IV, although this only tells us what we knew already - that the Catholic Church was a Universal Church (at least in Western Europe). What is more interesting perhaps is that there was no English Pope after the middle of the Twelfth Century.

Cathedrals and Minsters under Henry I

[Please note, once again that, the Norman element in these buildings, unless specified, is usually well hidden under later accretions. Many Cathedrals, such as Exeter, were fundamentally rebuilt later in the Middle Ages.]

Norman Nave of Peterborough Cathedral started after 1117

The Nave of Southwell Minster started in 1108

Norman Arch in Llandaff Cathedral started after 1120

Norman Nave of Durham Cathedral started in 1133

Abbey Building in the First Half of the Twelfth Century

Hexham Abbey rebuilt as an Augustinian Priory in 1117

Tintern Abbey founded in 1131

Ruins of Quarr Abbey founded in 1131

The Norman Holcroft of Fountains Abbey started in 1132

Rievaulx Abbey founded in 1133

Buildwas Abbey founded in 1135

1100-1135: Henry I

Henry, fourth son of William the Conqueror, was quick to seize the English treasury at Winchester and was crowned at Westminister Abbey within a few days of his brother William Rufus' death. You may recall William's agreement with their elder brother Duke Robert of Normandy that the domains of the first to die would go to the other so it is no surprise to find Robert landing at Portsmouth in July 1101 to claim his inheritance. The barons of Norman England took different sides according to interest and allegiance but a negotiated settlement at Alton saw Robert withdraw on a pension of £2,000 in return for renouncing his claim to the throne.

Henry's first major political act, in 1102, was a bit of a political theatre of the sort medieval kings loved to employ in order to establish their cultural legitimacy. Later it would be fun and games with King Arthur but at the start of the Twelfth Century, Norman Kings remained keen to establish their legitimate position as English Kings. The tomb of Edward the Confessor was opened and his body found 'miraculously' not to have decayed. Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, a significant figure in Norman construction works, was allegedly rebuked by Abbot Crispin for a rather unseemly attempt to pull out some tufts of King Edward's beard to add to his relic collection. This was not the only act of respect to the English past. In 1104, the bones of Saint Cuthbert were buried in the yet-to-be completed Durham Cathedral. From 1106, another round of cathedral building began in a pattern familiar from the previous reigns. We will outline these foundations in a later posting.

Henry is, however, disinclined to shell out £2,000 per annum on what probably appeared to him to be an unnecessary extortion so he brought the matter to a head by invading Normandy in 1106, defeating Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai, acquiring the Duchy for himself and imprisoning his brother (for the rest of his life which lasted until 1134) in Cardiff Castle. What he has acquired, he must defend so, for example, he is forced to spend the entire of 1118 in Normandy successfully fighting off the King of France, the Count of Anjou and the Count of Flanders.

This is still defensive activity. We are not yet beginning that long history of dynastic involvement in imperial adventures on the Continent of Europe - an extension of the gangsterdom we have seen as at the heart of early medieval state formation but one that was also to became central to the myth of English nationalism and the formation in response of its French counterpart. However, the seeds of that story are about to be planted in the manouevres over the succession required to maintain the integrity of the family business.

Tiverton Castle begun under Henry I in 1106

While Henry was away in France, England was governed by a Vice-Regal Council but Henry was always a strong and effective King. Unfortunately, following the loss of his Queen in 1118, the 'family firm' suffered a further and more significant tragedy when Henry's heir and only legitimate son, William, drowned when the ship he was travelling in (The White Ship) was wrecked in the English Channel. Henry remarried in 1122 but this second marriage was childless leaving him with a succession problem and his domains with the prospect of anarchy.

Only a very strong and ruthless King would be capable of controlling the barons. Henry had only one legitimate heir, a daughter Matilda, who was married off at 14 to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. The barons were forced to swear that they would recognise Matilda as Queen on his death in 1128. Henry forced the issue again with another such ceremony in 1131 showing just how problematic her acceptance would be. Matilda's son (later to be Henry II and first of the Plantagenet Kings) was born in Le Mans in 1133. In December 1135, Henry I died leaving an unstable situation with the Norman barons in England restive, a woman as heir and a two year old male grandson.

We should note here the death in 1125 of Edgar the Atheling, grandson of Edmund II Ironside, last member of the Royal House of Wessex, probably in Scotland. It cannot be said that Edgar was ever really a threat to the Norman hold over England. He was even released and pardoned by Henry I after his involvement against the King in his struggles with Robert Curthose. Thus ended the line of Wessex and 'authentic' English Kingship although we should really see Edgar as less of an English figure and more of an aristocratic figure who lost the game.