John Jenkins | University of York (original) (raw)

Books by John Jenkins

Arc Humanities Press, 2022

The shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral was one of the most popular pilgrim destin... more The shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral was one of the most popular pilgrim destinations in medieval Europe, as well as the focal point for the liturgy of the cathedral’s monastic community. In 1428 the keepers of the shrine composed a customary detailing its day-to-day operation, including the opening hours, decoration, maintenance, and staffing. This unique survival offers a rare glimpse into the realities of organizing a pilgrimage site in a major medieval church, and the Latin text with facing English translation is provided for the first time. A comprehensive introduction and extensive notes set the Customary within the context of the cathedral, its liturgy, and pilgrim practice more widely.

This book looks at England's cathedrals and their relationship with pilgrimage throughout history... more This book looks at England's cathedrals and their relationship with pilgrimage throughout history and in the present day. The volume brings together historians, social scientists, and cathedral practitioners to provide groundbreaking work, comprising a historical overview of the topic, thematic studies, and individual views from prominent clergy discussing how they see pilgrimage as part of the contemporary cathedral experience.

Torre Abbey was a rural Premonstratensian monastery in south-east Devon. Although in many ways at... more Torre Abbey was a rural Premonstratensian monastery in south-east Devon. Although in many ways atypical of its order, not least in the quality and quantity of its surviving source material, Torre provides an excellent case study of how a medium-sized medieval monastery interacted with the world around it, and how the abbey itself was affected by that interaction. Divided into three broad sections, this thesis first examines the role of local landowners and others as patrons of the house in the most obvious sense, that of the bestowal of lands or other assets upon the house. Torre was relatively successful in this regard, and an examination of the architectural and archaeological record indicates a continuation of that relationship after the thirteenth century. The second section notes areas of conflict with the laity. Disputes could and did arise over both temporal and spiritual affairs, as well as through the involvement of a number of lay figures in the administration and patronage of the house. In both respects, notable incidents in the mid-fourteenth century highlight the complexities of the canons’ relationships with the secular world. These are further explored in an analysis of the abbey’s role during the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses, two conflicts which greatly affected the locality, but required vastly differing approaches by the canons. Finally, the effect of society on the canons themselves is considered. It is possible to recover some picture of their origins, both social and geographic, as well as some idea of the size of the community in the fifteenth century, and discuss the repercussions for an understanding of monastic recruitment. Finally, the dynamic of the community over the entire history of the abbey is considered in terms of the scattered source material, utilising both architectural and documentary evidence

Articles by John Jenkins

Open Library of Humanities, 2023

This article examines the history of Becket’s name from his birth to c. 1800, through detailed co... more This article examines the history of Becket’s name from his birth to c. 1800, through detailed corpus analysis, with a particular focus on the varying popularity of the ‘Becket’ and ‘a Becket’ forms from the 16th to 18th centuries. The analysis goes beyond positivist attempts to decide on the ‘correct’ name to look instead at naming conventions in the context of their use. There is some evidence to suggest that, until his ordination at least, Thomas was known by the family surname ‘Beket’ during his lifetime, and this name for him occurs in some medieval chronicle traditions. Yet for the most part he was ‘St Thomas of Canterbury’, and the ‘Becket’ surname was revived by Protestants at the Reformation as a slur to emphasise his unworthiness. The form ‘a Becket’ was invented by the satirist Thomas Nashe in the 1590s to turn the archbishop into a figure of fun, and by the 1700s may have been the predominant form in popular, verbal, use, largely thanks to its more appealing rhythmic form. By the 1760s the ‘a Becket’ form had also become the academically accepted ‘correct’ form. This in turn gave rise to debate, continuing to this day, about the correct nomenclature and to a host of theories about the etymology of both ‘types’.

This paper investigates the important medieval Hospitaller preceptory of Slebech, Pembrokeshire a... more This paper investigates the important medieval Hospitaller preceptory of Slebech, Pembrokeshire and its place and function within its immediate and regional social landscape. The analysis identifies potential future archaeological work which might be carried out, particularly in terms of the surviving medieval church and its surrounding burial ground. This approach interrogates Hospitaller burial practices through the lens of a single site. The authors propose that the parochial function of the church, the predominantly lay staff of the Hospital, and the potential presence of a late medieval female community characterised the burial record within the cemetery. In addition, named high-status lay burials within the church point to a relationship between local patronage and interment at the preceptory. More 'unusual' burials often associated with the Hospitallers, such as pilgrims, confraters, and felons, are more likely to have taken place at the Order's appropriated churches rather than at the preceptory itself.

History, 2020

Thomas Becket was born in London, and throughout his life had a close if chequered relationship w... more Thomas Becket was born in London, and throughout his life had a close if chequered relationship with the city. After his death, while his body lay in its shrine at Canterbury, the citizens of London made great efforts to reclaim his memory for themselves by seeding his commemoration throughout the city. He was swiftly adopted as London's patron saint, the ‘Light of Londoners’, and the strength of devotion to him was made manifest in such construction programmes as the first stone London Bridge, the hospital on his birth site and the city‐wide waterworks. By comparison with Canterbury's focus on Becket's martyrdom, London fostered a dynamic and vibrant cult based upon his birth and rebirth, centralising this element of the cult in their pageants and giving genesis to central elements of the wider Becket mythos such as the ‘Saracen mother’ story. The purpose of this article is to fill a lacuna in the historiography of both the saint and the city, and provide an overview of the importance of St Thomas Becket to medieval Londoners, and of London to the cult of St Thomas.

Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 2020

As part of an AHRC project, a team at the University of York created digital models of the major ... more As part of an AHRC project, a team at the University of York created digital models of the major spaces of St Thomas Becket’s cult in Canterbury Cathedral in the early 15th century. This article explains the reasoning behind the choices made in planning and constructing the models, and details much of the underpinning research. The models offer as much, if not more, an argument about the use and experience of space within the cathedral, as they do ‘accurate’ depictions of architecture and furnishings. Focusing particularly on the shrine in the Trinity Chapel, but also explicating the scenes in the Corona, Martyrdom and tomb chapels, the article explores the ways in which access and exclusion, in both physical and sensory terms, shaped the nature of the cult and pilgrimage experience in medieval Canterbury.

Religion, 2019

In 1170 the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in his own Cathedral sent shockwaves through Europ... more In 1170 the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in his own Cathedral sent shockwaves through Europe, yet few could have foreseen the spectacular expansion of his cult throughout Christendom in the following decade. While many of the individual structural and performative aspects of his hagiolatry were hardly new, the ‘Becket model’ was to shape the nature of cult within and beyond English cathedrals for the remainder of the Middle Ages. Following the initial burst of pilgrim activity, the monks of Canterbury carefully curated the shape of, and access to, the cult within the Cathedral in order to confirm their role as sole custodians and to promote their political influence. This article provides new readings of the use of sacred space in the cathedrals of Canterbury, Durham, and York, and foregrounds the significance of Becket’s cult in understandings of both medieval and modern constructions of the English pilgrimage experience.

Religion, 2019

Westminster Cathedral, the Metropolitan church of English Roman Catholicism since 1903, occupies ... more Westminster Cathedral, the Metropolitan church of English Roman Catholicism since 1903, occupies an ambivalent space in the heart of the modern metropolis. It was intended as a repository and symbol of a national, very English, Catholic heritage in central London, replicating and re-using medieval signs and rituals to lay claim to a history that stretched back to the original conversion of England in the late 6th century. Drawing on studies of cultural memory, the authors examine how successive Cardinals of Westminster from the late 19th century onwards designed, constructed, and used the Cathedral to define Catholic identity in the first decades of the 20th century. In this they steered a difficult and often contested course between twin loyalties to the nation and to Rome. The limits of institutional power to reshape cultural memory are also explored through a case study of the Cathedral's resident martyr-saint, John Southworth, acquired in 1930 and similarly revealing the uneasiness of English Catholicism regarding its ‘otherness’ within a national culture.

Book Chapters by John Jenkins

The Church and Northern English Society in the Fourteenth Century The Archbishops of York and their Records, 2024

Episcopal registers can be frustrating hunting grounds for historians of pilgrimage. These regist... more Episcopal registers can be frustrating hunting grounds for historians of pilgrimage. These registers contain, largely, documents concerned with the administrative machinery of the diocese, with the property rights of the Church and with personal title to ecclesiastical office. Pilgrimage, on the other hand, is usually seen as a personal devotional matter largely in the realm of ‘popular religion’, albeit one that could be trammelled or encouraged by ecclesiastical authorities. Yet diocesan records often provide the only evidence for the existence of a local pilgrimage site, either through attempts to control an unsanctioned or politically unsavoury cult, or through the granting of indulgences to devotional focal points. As this chapter will show, the registers do provide some evidence of official approval or disapproval of pilgrimage sites, whether through indulgences or enjoined penitential pilgrimages, and occasionally of the condemnation of unapproved cults. Yet historians should be wary of interpreting these as evidence for trends in the actual practice of pilgrimage. Rather we should see episcopal interventions as part of a contested landscape of pilgrimage, a point at which ecclesiastical and secular politics interact with personal and communal religious practice.

Late Medieval Devotion to Saints from the North of England: New Directions, 2022

Between 1223 and 1312 five male English saints in an eighty-mile area around York began to emit o... more Between 1223 and 1312 five male English saints in an eighty-mile area around York began to emit oil from their bodies and tombs. Starting with William of York, the phenomenon spread to Knaresborough, Lincoln, and finally Beverley, in
contradistinction to Continental fashions where, by this time, the emission of oil was mainly considered to be a female saintly attribute. In this north-easterly area of England, however, the long-standing episcopal symbolism of oil had a range of ecclesiastical and devotional functions within the institutions of the Church. The miraculous oil was a draw for pilgrims, with its healing and protective qualities. Yet for the ‘spiritual republics’ at York and Beverley Minsters in particular, the active production of oil by a sainted archbishop in their possession was also a potent symbol of institutional independence from their living archbishop. By tracing the ‘flow’ of the oil, it is possible to discern a very regional, York-centred religious phenomenon which throws much light on the connections between devotion and ecclesiastical politics in the later medieval north of England.

The Lay Experience of the Medieval Cathedral: Proceedings of the Ecclesiological Society Conference 3, London Conference, 2021, 2023

It a commonplace that the liturgical and devotional life of medieval cathedral chapters followed ... more It a commonplace that the liturgical and devotional life of medieval cathedral chapters followed established daily, weekly, and yearly cycles, similar to those of any medieval monastery or collegiate church. What is far less well understood, however, is the impact of this sacred chronology on the lay experience of cathedral visiting. This paper argues that lay presences in the cathedral were in fact not only highly seasonal in the year, but that activities were concentrated around particular times of day, and that at many later medieval cathedrals 'opening hours' were carefully regulated to manage the lay experience within the church space. Individual case studies from Durham and Canterbury show how this understanding of seasonality enhances our ability to reconstruct lay experiences of cathedrals.

Episcopal Power and Local Society in Medieval Europe, 1000-1400, 2017

John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcoun... more John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcountry as a vigorous and effective administrator, disciplinarian, and patron of the arts. Much of this picture is based upon his own voluminous surviving writings and registers, as well as his conspicuous acts of patronage both in the cathedral and beyond – the fundamentals of what we understand as episcopal authority. Yet a close study reveals that the trappings of power may be misleading. Grandisson’s education, and especially his time with a group of like-minded clerics in the court of John XXII at Avignon, gave him strong ideas about the elevated nature of his authority. His ability to realise his ambitions in a medieval diocese remote from centralised authority and largely controlled by one noble family is analysed in a number of case studies, as well as more general terms. The picture that emerges is one of a bishop who is not particularly effective outside his cathedral precinct in either the short or long term, but who through lofty ambition and careful management of his own image was able to cultivate an illusion of power for posterity.

Talks by John Jenkins

This paper seeks to question the utility of surnames for the analysis of community demographies. ... more This paper seeks to question the utility of surnames for the analysis of community demographies. It is accepted that monks often but not invariably took new names on entering a house, but there has been no attempt at any analysis of the practice. It was by no means universal in medieval England and even within houses rates of renaming could vary widely across the period from 1300. This paper thus looks at the chronology and geography of monastic surnames; why some monks chose a new name and others did not; what adopted surnames (not always locative) referred to; and finally the reliability of surnames for creating geographies of monastic recruitment and/or community demographies based on status.

John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcoun... more John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcountry as a vigorous and effective administrator, disciplinarian, and patron of the arts. Unusual amongst the fourteenth and fifteenth century bishops of Exeter in his devotion to his see, he was lauded in the nineteenth century as the greatest of all those to have held the office. Yet this paper argues that Grandisson’s powers and capabilities within the diocese have been largely overstated, much of the analysis of his rule necessarily having been based on the voluminous writings of the bishop himself. Based on a number of case studies, it is possible to show this period of close episcopal control as being anything but, and that Grandisson was reliant on an often turbulent relationship with the Courtenay Earls of Devon, his kinsmen, to enact much of his legislation. This paper thus fundamentally seeks to analyse the mechanism of ecclesiastical control, as opposed to episcopal ambitions, in a medieval diocese remote from centralised authority.

Arc Humanities Press, 2022

The shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral was one of the most popular pilgrim destin... more The shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral was one of the most popular pilgrim destinations in medieval Europe, as well as the focal point for the liturgy of the cathedral’s monastic community. In 1428 the keepers of the shrine composed a customary detailing its day-to-day operation, including the opening hours, decoration, maintenance, and staffing. This unique survival offers a rare glimpse into the realities of organizing a pilgrimage site in a major medieval church, and the Latin text with facing English translation is provided for the first time. A comprehensive introduction and extensive notes set the Customary within the context of the cathedral, its liturgy, and pilgrim practice more widely.

This book looks at England's cathedrals and their relationship with pilgrimage throughout history... more This book looks at England's cathedrals and their relationship with pilgrimage throughout history and in the present day. The volume brings together historians, social scientists, and cathedral practitioners to provide groundbreaking work, comprising a historical overview of the topic, thematic studies, and individual views from prominent clergy discussing how they see pilgrimage as part of the contemporary cathedral experience.

Torre Abbey was a rural Premonstratensian monastery in south-east Devon. Although in many ways at... more Torre Abbey was a rural Premonstratensian monastery in south-east Devon. Although in many ways atypical of its order, not least in the quality and quantity of its surviving source material, Torre provides an excellent case study of how a medium-sized medieval monastery interacted with the world around it, and how the abbey itself was affected by that interaction. Divided into three broad sections, this thesis first examines the role of local landowners and others as patrons of the house in the most obvious sense, that of the bestowal of lands or other assets upon the house. Torre was relatively successful in this regard, and an examination of the architectural and archaeological record indicates a continuation of that relationship after the thirteenth century. The second section notes areas of conflict with the laity. Disputes could and did arise over both temporal and spiritual affairs, as well as through the involvement of a number of lay figures in the administration and patronage of the house. In both respects, notable incidents in the mid-fourteenth century highlight the complexities of the canons’ relationships with the secular world. These are further explored in an analysis of the abbey’s role during the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses, two conflicts which greatly affected the locality, but required vastly differing approaches by the canons. Finally, the effect of society on the canons themselves is considered. It is possible to recover some picture of their origins, both social and geographic, as well as some idea of the size of the community in the fifteenth century, and discuss the repercussions for an understanding of monastic recruitment. Finally, the dynamic of the community over the entire history of the abbey is considered in terms of the scattered source material, utilising both architectural and documentary evidence

Open Library of Humanities, 2023

This article examines the history of Becket’s name from his birth to c. 1800, through detailed co... more This article examines the history of Becket’s name from his birth to c. 1800, through detailed corpus analysis, with a particular focus on the varying popularity of the ‘Becket’ and ‘a Becket’ forms from the 16th to 18th centuries. The analysis goes beyond positivist attempts to decide on the ‘correct’ name to look instead at naming conventions in the context of their use. There is some evidence to suggest that, until his ordination at least, Thomas was known by the family surname ‘Beket’ during his lifetime, and this name for him occurs in some medieval chronicle traditions. Yet for the most part he was ‘St Thomas of Canterbury’, and the ‘Becket’ surname was revived by Protestants at the Reformation as a slur to emphasise his unworthiness. The form ‘a Becket’ was invented by the satirist Thomas Nashe in the 1590s to turn the archbishop into a figure of fun, and by the 1700s may have been the predominant form in popular, verbal, use, largely thanks to its more appealing rhythmic form. By the 1760s the ‘a Becket’ form had also become the academically accepted ‘correct’ form. This in turn gave rise to debate, continuing to this day, about the correct nomenclature and to a host of theories about the etymology of both ‘types’.

This paper investigates the important medieval Hospitaller preceptory of Slebech, Pembrokeshire a... more This paper investigates the important medieval Hospitaller preceptory of Slebech, Pembrokeshire and its place and function within its immediate and regional social landscape. The analysis identifies potential future archaeological work which might be carried out, particularly in terms of the surviving medieval church and its surrounding burial ground. This approach interrogates Hospitaller burial practices through the lens of a single site. The authors propose that the parochial function of the church, the predominantly lay staff of the Hospital, and the potential presence of a late medieval female community characterised the burial record within the cemetery. In addition, named high-status lay burials within the church point to a relationship between local patronage and interment at the preceptory. More 'unusual' burials often associated with the Hospitallers, such as pilgrims, confraters, and felons, are more likely to have taken place at the Order's appropriated churches rather than at the preceptory itself.

History, 2020

Thomas Becket was born in London, and throughout his life had a close if chequered relationship w... more Thomas Becket was born in London, and throughout his life had a close if chequered relationship with the city. After his death, while his body lay in its shrine at Canterbury, the citizens of London made great efforts to reclaim his memory for themselves by seeding his commemoration throughout the city. He was swiftly adopted as London's patron saint, the ‘Light of Londoners’, and the strength of devotion to him was made manifest in such construction programmes as the first stone London Bridge, the hospital on his birth site and the city‐wide waterworks. By comparison with Canterbury's focus on Becket's martyrdom, London fostered a dynamic and vibrant cult based upon his birth and rebirth, centralising this element of the cult in their pageants and giving genesis to central elements of the wider Becket mythos such as the ‘Saracen mother’ story. The purpose of this article is to fill a lacuna in the historiography of both the saint and the city, and provide an overview of the importance of St Thomas Becket to medieval Londoners, and of London to the cult of St Thomas.

Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 2020

As part of an AHRC project, a team at the University of York created digital models of the major ... more As part of an AHRC project, a team at the University of York created digital models of the major spaces of St Thomas Becket’s cult in Canterbury Cathedral in the early 15th century. This article explains the reasoning behind the choices made in planning and constructing the models, and details much of the underpinning research. The models offer as much, if not more, an argument about the use and experience of space within the cathedral, as they do ‘accurate’ depictions of architecture and furnishings. Focusing particularly on the shrine in the Trinity Chapel, but also explicating the scenes in the Corona, Martyrdom and tomb chapels, the article explores the ways in which access and exclusion, in both physical and sensory terms, shaped the nature of the cult and pilgrimage experience in medieval Canterbury.

Religion, 2019

In 1170 the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in his own Cathedral sent shockwaves through Europ... more In 1170 the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in his own Cathedral sent shockwaves through Europe, yet few could have foreseen the spectacular expansion of his cult throughout Christendom in the following decade. While many of the individual structural and performative aspects of his hagiolatry were hardly new, the ‘Becket model’ was to shape the nature of cult within and beyond English cathedrals for the remainder of the Middle Ages. Following the initial burst of pilgrim activity, the monks of Canterbury carefully curated the shape of, and access to, the cult within the Cathedral in order to confirm their role as sole custodians and to promote their political influence. This article provides new readings of the use of sacred space in the cathedrals of Canterbury, Durham, and York, and foregrounds the significance of Becket’s cult in understandings of both medieval and modern constructions of the English pilgrimage experience.

Religion, 2019

Westminster Cathedral, the Metropolitan church of English Roman Catholicism since 1903, occupies ... more Westminster Cathedral, the Metropolitan church of English Roman Catholicism since 1903, occupies an ambivalent space in the heart of the modern metropolis. It was intended as a repository and symbol of a national, very English, Catholic heritage in central London, replicating and re-using medieval signs and rituals to lay claim to a history that stretched back to the original conversion of England in the late 6th century. Drawing on studies of cultural memory, the authors examine how successive Cardinals of Westminster from the late 19th century onwards designed, constructed, and used the Cathedral to define Catholic identity in the first decades of the 20th century. In this they steered a difficult and often contested course between twin loyalties to the nation and to Rome. The limits of institutional power to reshape cultural memory are also explored through a case study of the Cathedral's resident martyr-saint, John Southworth, acquired in 1930 and similarly revealing the uneasiness of English Catholicism regarding its ‘otherness’ within a national culture.

The Church and Northern English Society in the Fourteenth Century The Archbishops of York and their Records, 2024

Episcopal registers can be frustrating hunting grounds for historians of pilgrimage. These regist... more Episcopal registers can be frustrating hunting grounds for historians of pilgrimage. These registers contain, largely, documents concerned with the administrative machinery of the diocese, with the property rights of the Church and with personal title to ecclesiastical office. Pilgrimage, on the other hand, is usually seen as a personal devotional matter largely in the realm of ‘popular religion’, albeit one that could be trammelled or encouraged by ecclesiastical authorities. Yet diocesan records often provide the only evidence for the existence of a local pilgrimage site, either through attempts to control an unsanctioned or politically unsavoury cult, or through the granting of indulgences to devotional focal points. As this chapter will show, the registers do provide some evidence of official approval or disapproval of pilgrimage sites, whether through indulgences or enjoined penitential pilgrimages, and occasionally of the condemnation of unapproved cults. Yet historians should be wary of interpreting these as evidence for trends in the actual practice of pilgrimage. Rather we should see episcopal interventions as part of a contested landscape of pilgrimage, a point at which ecclesiastical and secular politics interact with personal and communal religious practice.

Late Medieval Devotion to Saints from the North of England: New Directions, 2022

Between 1223 and 1312 five male English saints in an eighty-mile area around York began to emit o... more Between 1223 and 1312 five male English saints in an eighty-mile area around York began to emit oil from their bodies and tombs. Starting with William of York, the phenomenon spread to Knaresborough, Lincoln, and finally Beverley, in
contradistinction to Continental fashions where, by this time, the emission of oil was mainly considered to be a female saintly attribute. In this north-easterly area of England, however, the long-standing episcopal symbolism of oil had a range of ecclesiastical and devotional functions within the institutions of the Church. The miraculous oil was a draw for pilgrims, with its healing and protective qualities. Yet for the ‘spiritual republics’ at York and Beverley Minsters in particular, the active production of oil by a sainted archbishop in their possession was also a potent symbol of institutional independence from their living archbishop. By tracing the ‘flow’ of the oil, it is possible to discern a very regional, York-centred religious phenomenon which throws much light on the connections between devotion and ecclesiastical politics in the later medieval north of England.

The Lay Experience of the Medieval Cathedral: Proceedings of the Ecclesiological Society Conference 3, London Conference, 2021, 2023

It a commonplace that the liturgical and devotional life of medieval cathedral chapters followed ... more It a commonplace that the liturgical and devotional life of medieval cathedral chapters followed established daily, weekly, and yearly cycles, similar to those of any medieval monastery or collegiate church. What is far less well understood, however, is the impact of this sacred chronology on the lay experience of cathedral visiting. This paper argues that lay presences in the cathedral were in fact not only highly seasonal in the year, but that activities were concentrated around particular times of day, and that at many later medieval cathedrals 'opening hours' were carefully regulated to manage the lay experience within the church space. Individual case studies from Durham and Canterbury show how this understanding of seasonality enhances our ability to reconstruct lay experiences of cathedrals.

Episcopal Power and Local Society in Medieval Europe, 1000-1400, 2017

John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcoun... more John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcountry as a vigorous and effective administrator, disciplinarian, and patron of the arts. Much of this picture is based upon his own voluminous surviving writings and registers, as well as his conspicuous acts of patronage both in the cathedral and beyond – the fundamentals of what we understand as episcopal authority. Yet a close study reveals that the trappings of power may be misleading. Grandisson’s education, and especially his time with a group of like-minded clerics in the court of John XXII at Avignon, gave him strong ideas about the elevated nature of his authority. His ability to realise his ambitions in a medieval diocese remote from centralised authority and largely controlled by one noble family is analysed in a number of case studies, as well as more general terms. The picture that emerges is one of a bishop who is not particularly effective outside his cathedral precinct in either the short or long term, but who through lofty ambition and careful management of his own image was able to cultivate an illusion of power for posterity.

This paper seeks to question the utility of surnames for the analysis of community demographies. ... more This paper seeks to question the utility of surnames for the analysis of community demographies. It is accepted that monks often but not invariably took new names on entering a house, but there has been no attempt at any analysis of the practice. It was by no means universal in medieval England and even within houses rates of renaming could vary widely across the period from 1300. This paper thus looks at the chronology and geography of monastic surnames; why some monks chose a new name and others did not; what adopted surnames (not always locative) referred to; and finally the reliability of surnames for creating geographies of monastic recruitment and/or community demographies based on status.

John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcoun... more John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327-69, stands tall in most histories of the medieval Westcountry as a vigorous and effective administrator, disciplinarian, and patron of the arts. Unusual amongst the fourteenth and fifteenth century bishops of Exeter in his devotion to his see, he was lauded in the nineteenth century as the greatest of all those to have held the office. Yet this paper argues that Grandisson’s powers and capabilities within the diocese have been largely overstated, much of the analysis of his rule necessarily having been based on the voluminous writings of the bishop himself. Based on a number of case studies, it is possible to show this period of close episcopal control as being anything but, and that Grandisson was reliant on an often turbulent relationship with the Courtenay Earls of Devon, his kinsmen, to enact much of his legislation. This paper thus fundamentally seeks to analyse the mechanism of ecclesiastical control, as opposed to episcopal ambitions, in a medieval diocese remote from centralised authority.

The Premonstratensian abbey of Torre, in Torquay, Devon is unusual in being both the only house o... more The Premonstratensian abbey of Torre, in Torquay, Devon is unusual in being both the only house of its order and the only house in the county to have been the subject of a prolonged archaeological investigation. The excavation of the nave and north transept of the monastic church revealed around 140 graves from the thirteenth to early-sixteenth centuries, and an analysis of their distribution, date, and treatment reveals much about medieval attitudes to the body and burial. The importance of grants of notable bodies for burial as a commodity in monastic patronage, cum corpore meo, has long been recognised. Yet historians have a tendency to focus on documentary evidence for monastic patronage, at the expense of ‘physical’ sources, and as such a great deal of the relevant historiography confines itself to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It has thus become something of a commonplace to suggest that monastic patronage had declined severely by the turn of the fourteenth century, never to recover. The archaeological record, however, indicates that notable lay bodies were still highly-prized by monastic communities, and still utilised as instruments of monastic patronage by the laity. Furthermore, it also reveals the apparent commoditisation of space in the monastic church. Certain areas were seen as loci of sanctity, and were correspondingly more desirable as spaces for burial and commemoration. The treatment of graves in these areas suggests that, frequently, perpetual interment at a given site was dependent on no better offer being subsequently received. In terms of monastic history more generally, historians ignore the body at their peril. While evidence of grants of cash or services from the laity have generally not survived, the physical body can provide a clear indication of the continued patronage of monasteries by the laity.

Journal of Historical Geography, 2013

eprints.ouls.ox.ac.uk

Torre Abbey was a rural Premonstratensian monastery in southeast Devon. Although in many ways aty... more Torre Abbey was a rural Premonstratensian monastery in southeast Devon. Although in many ways atypical of its order, not least in the quality and quantity of its surviving source material, Torre provides an excellent case study of how a medium-sized medieval monastery interacted with the world around it, and how the abbey itself was affected by that interaction. Divided into three broad sections, this thesis first examines the role of local landowners and others as patrons of the house in the most obvious sense, that of the bestowal of lands or other assets upon the house. Torre was relatively successful in this regard, and an examination of the architectural and archaeological record indicates a continuation of that relationship after the thirteenth century. The second section notes areas of conflict with the laity. Disputes could and did arise over both temporal and spiritual affairs, as well as through the involvement of a number of lay figures in the administration and patronage of the house. In both respects, notable incidents in the mid-fourteenth century highlight the complexities of the canons" relationships with the secular world. These are further explored in an analysis of the abbey"s role during the Hundred Years" War and the Wars of the Roses, two conflicts which greatly affected the locality, but required vastly differing approaches by the canons. Finally, the effect of society on the canons themselves is considered. It is possible to recover some picture of their origins, both social and geographic, as well as some idea of the size of the community in the fifteenth century, and discuss the repercussions for an understanding of monastic recruitment. Finally, the dynamic of the community over the entire history of the abbey is considered in terms of the scattered source material, utilising both architectural and documentary evidence.

Arts

The triple anniversary in 2020 of Thomas Becket’s birth, death and translation has been an occasi... more The triple anniversary in 2020 of Thomas Becket’s birth, death and translation has been an occasion to review and revisit many of the artefacts associated with the saint and his cult in England and across Europe. Many of these are items directly associated with his veneration in churches or in private devotions, but one object which served in neither capacity is an instrument case currently in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Barbers in London. This unusual object has been studied for its fine silver work, and possible royal associations, but little academic attention has so far been paid to the some of the iconography, particularly that of the scene of the murder of Thomas Becket depicted on the back of the box, the side to be worn against the body. In this article, we show how seemingly unusual elements in the iconography draw on particularly Flemish representations of Becket’s murder that, to date, have received little attention in Anglophone scholarship. From this, we...