--Library, v. 2 (1893).
From Lanfranc to the close of the thirteenth century,
was the summer-time of the English religious houses. The
Cluniac or reformed Benedictines settled here about 1077.
In 1105 the Austin Canons first planted a house in this
country. The White Monks, another reformed Benedictine
order, entered England in 1128, and in the course of four
and twenty years founded fifty houses. Soon after, in 1139,
the English Gilbertines were established, then came the
White Canons, and in 1180 the Carthusian monks. The land
was peppered with houses. In less than a century and a half,
from the Conquest to about 1200, it is estimated that no
fewer than 430 houses were founded, making, with 130
founded before the Conquest, 560 in all.[1] Many were
wealthy: some were powerful, because they owned much
property, and popular because, like Malmesbury, they were
"distinguished for their delightful hospitality' to guests
who, arriving every hour, consume more than the inmates
themselves."[2] The Cluniacs could almost be called a
fashionable order.
[1] Stevenson, Grosseteste, 149.
[2] Gesta R. Angl.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92