Ecclesiastical Lordship, Seigneurial Power and the Commercialization of Milling in Medieval England

Adam Lucas

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780367600334
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317146469
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia dell'Europa medievale

This is the first detailed study of the role of the Church in the commercialization of milling in medieval England. Focusing on the period from the late eleventh to the mid sixteenth centuries, it examines the estate management practices of more than thirty English religious houses founded by the Benedictines, Cistercians, Augustinians and other minor orders, with an emphasis on the role played by mills and milling in the establishment and development of a range of different sized episcopal and conventual foundations. Contrary to the views espoused by a number of prominent historians of technology since the 1930s, the book demonstrates that patterns of mill acquisition, innovation and exploitation were shaped not only by the size, wealth and distribution of a house's estates, but also by environmental and demographic factors, changing cultural attitudes and legal conventions, prevailing and emergent technical traditions, the personal relations of a house with its patrons, tenants, servants and neighbours, and the entrepreneurial and administrative flair of bishops, abbots, priors and other ecclesiastical officials.

Chapter 1
The Social and Economic Foundations of English Monasticism, c.600–1450

It is difficult for those living today to fully appreciate the power and wealth of the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Controlling vast areas of land and other property throughout most of Continental Europe and Britain, church authorities exercised an extensive and enduring influence over the spiritual, economic and cultural lives of medieval people. Foremost amongst the wealthy church landowners were the great Benedictine monasteries, of which there were hundreds throughout Europe by the eleventh century and more than a dozen in England alone. These houses had already amassed enormous wealth by the time William of Normandy crossed the English Channel, and as we will see in the pages to follow, many of them were able to further expand and consolidate that wealth over the subsequent four centuries.

As many as 20 religious orders were involved in the ecclesiastical affairs of England and Wales during the Middle Ages. The largest and best-documented of them were the Benedictines, Augustinians and Cistercians. We have records for the existence of at least 485 Benedictine abbeys, priories and nunneries; 251 Augustinian houses; and 76 Cistercian houses.¹ Distribution maps of their geographical coverage in the late fifteenth century reveal a cluster of Benedictine houses in south central England, and of Augustinian houses in eastern England, with Cistercian houses scattered across most of the country.²

At the height of English monasticism in the thirteenth century, there were more than a thousand religious houses throughout the country.³ By the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1540 there were only about 650 still functioning, many of which had survived the intervening period with far fewer monks and reduced revenues.⁴ Of those which survived to the Dissolution, 142 were Benedictine,⁵ 170 were Augustinian,⁶ and 76 were Cistercian,⁷ constituting respectively about 30 per cent, 70 per cent and 100 per cent of their numbers at their peak. Even though the Benedictines had fared worst of the major religious orders during the intervening period, at the time of the Dissolution, the 10 largest religious houses in England were all Benedictine. In order of wealth, they were Glastonbury, St Peter’s in Gloucester, Westminster, Christ Church (Canterbury), St Albans, Reading, the Priory of St John of Jerusalem, Abingdon, Bury St Edmunds, and Ramsey.⁸ The annual income of each of these establishments was in the order of several thousand pounds. The richest of the houses only numbered two or three dozen, while many nunneries and friaries spent much of their existence on the verge of poverty.⁹ According to A.N. Savine, the net total of annual monastic incomes for the year 1535 was more than £103,132, and of this, a little over 80 per cent was derived from temporalities, at approximately £80,084.¹⁰ David Robinson points out that considering Augustinian houses derived 40 per cent or more of their income from spiritualities, the other orders must have derived significantly more than 80 per cent of their income from temporalities, which is not, perhaps, what most people who are unfamiliar with this subject would expect.¹¹ Such wealth ensured that the monks of the larger houses enjoyed a pampered and lavish existence, and one which was not frequently interrupted by the general poverty of the peasantry surrounding them.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, an enduring concern of those who dealt with the clergy as a matter of course was the extent to which they demonstrated the Christian virtues of mercy, charity, compassion and generosity. Although few religious houses were obligated by custom to distribute any significant proportion of their wealth to the poor or needy within their estates, or to provide anything but moral guidance in support of the less privileged members of medieval society, the evidence discussed in the pages to follow suggests that those houses that were considered the most virtuous tended to attract the most patronage, while those which demonstrated concern for the well-being of their tenants, servants and retainers generally had the least acrimonious relations with them.

Nevertheless, the extent to which any religious house was considered virtuous or venal, benign or malign, varied greatly according to the size, wealth and location of the house concerned, as well as the character of those who occupied it. Many religious houses provided alms and legal defence for the poor, board and lodging for the disenfranchised and destitute, care for the sick and aged, and hospitality for travellers and pilgrims, but any examination of an ecclesiastical account book will soon reveal the relatively small sums generally devoted to such activities, even amongst the wealthier houses.¹²

One of the services which religious houses provided for their own households, servants, retainers and tenants were watermills and windmills to grind their grain. Traditionally, most households had ground their grain at home using a handmill. However, one of the outcomes of the extension of feudal services and obligations throughout medieval Europe between the ninth and thirteenth centuries was the creation of a demesne milling sector in which the lower orders were required to grind their grain at their lord’s mill.¹³ This obligation, known as ‘suit of mill’, generated significant revenues for lords throughout the latter half of the Middle Ages.

Contrary to the assertions of an earlier generation of historians of technology who claimed these mills were built to relieve tenants from the drudgery of grinding their own grain, medievalists have long argued that watermills and windmills were primarily acquired and built by religious houses to provide them with a reliable source of cash income, and were therefore considered valuable assets throughout the Middle Ages and well into the modern period.¹⁴ As we will see in the pages to follow, these observations are supported by a close examination of the surviving manuscript evidence from the best documented country: England. This evidence also reveals just how significant was the contribution made by mills and milling to medieval social and economic life.

In order to gain an adequate understanding of the role of English religious houses in the development of commercial milling in medieval England, it is necessary to be familiar with the histories of the more important religious orders, and their different and changing estate management practices. This chapter therefore begins with a brief outline of the origins and diffusion of the religious orders sent from Rome and elsewhere to convert the English after the collapse of the Roman Empire. It then examines the role of the religious orders in the development of England’s political, legal and religious institutions from Anglo-Saxon times to the late fourteenth century, and how religious orders and individual houses responded to the shifting mix of social, economic, political, demographic and environmental pressures which characterised the period. Where appropriate, the mill holdings and revenues of individual religious houses are cited to illustrate relevant points. This background provides a set of conceptual themes through which ecclesiastical involvement in milling will be examined in more detail in later chapters.

Pre-Conquest Foundations

Although organised Christianity arrived in Britain as early as the first half of the second century under Roman rule, the Roman and Celtic Churches, each with its own distinct forms of monasticism, sent their first missionaries into England almost simultaneously at the turn of the sixth and seventh centuries.¹⁵ Within a few decades, a number of churches and religious houses had been established throughout the country, from Kent to the Severn and Northumbria. By the end of the seventh century, the whole of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Sussex had been converted. Further growth was to be slow, however, until the tenth century and the monastic revival which took place throughout Europe.¹⁶

The Benedictines were the first order of monks to establish themselves in England, arriving in the person of St Augustine of Rome (d. 604–609) with a small group of monks in 597.¹⁷ Augustine and his monks had been sent to evangelize England by St Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 604. Augustine’s success was limited, however, leading to the foundation of only two monasteries for certain, the first in Canterbury in 597 at the site of the present cathedral of Christ Church, which was under the patronage of St Gregory (known as St Andrew’s), and another nearby, dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul (later St Augustine’s) about a year later.¹⁸ These were followed by a number of other foundations, including Rochester (604) and Sheppey (670).¹⁹ The first ‘true’ Benedictine monastery was founded by St Wilfred (d. 709) at Ripon around 661, followed soon afterwards by his foundation of Hexham in 674.²⁰ Wilfred’s friend St Benedict Biscop (d. 689) was also inspired to follow his example at Wearmouth (674) and Jarrow (685) in Northumbria.

Known as the ‘black monks’ owing to the colour of their habits, the order was founded by St Benedict of Nursia around 499 in Subiaco.²¹ Benedict (b. circa 480) had never been trained as a priest, founding his order as a community of laymen dedicated to the search for God. While priests and clerics had been welcome to join the order, his ‘Rule’ specified that there was to be no distinction between their status as monks and those of laymen. The monks’ status as priests gradually developed over the subsequent period, and was completed by around the middle of the twelfth century. Decisive in this process was...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Note on Currency
• Glossary of Medieval Terms
• List of Figures
• List of Charts
• List of Tables
• Introduction: The History and Historiography of Medieval Milling
• 1 The Social and Economic Foundations of English Monasticism, c.600–1450
• 2 Feudal Land Tenure, Ecclesiastical Patronage and Milling Monopolies
• 3 The Commercialization of English Milling, 1086–1450
• 4 Bishoprics and Archbishoprics
• 5 The Benedictines
• 6 The Augustinians
• 7 The Cistercians
• 8 The Minor Orders
• 9 English Mill Law, Seigneurial Rights and Ecclesiastical Lordship
• 10 Ecclesiastical Lordship and the Commercialization of Medieval Milling
• Appendix A: Abbey of Bec Computus Rolls, 1272–89
• Appendix B: Leases for 12 Mills on 11 Manors Held by Ramsey Abbey, 1398–1450
• Appendix C: Mills Held by the Bishops of Durham – Bishops Pudsey, Beck and Hatfield Rentals
• Appendix D: Tithe disputes between religious houses, 1200–1400
• Appendix E: Water rights and disputes between religious houses, 1200–1400
• Bibliography
• Index