Rainald of Abingdon

Last updated October 05, 2019

Rainald (also Reginald) (died 1097) was a prominent Abbot of Abingdon.

William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. He was a descendant of Rollo and was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. His hold was secure on Normandy by 1060, following a long struggle to establish his throne, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.

Abingdon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery also known as St Mary's Abbey located in Abingdon, historically in the county of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire, England.

Life

He was a secular clerk and one of the chaplains of William, Duke of Normandy. He became a monk of Jumièges, and Duke William, then king of England, gave him at Rouen the abbacy of Abingdon on 19 June 1084, his predecessor Æthelhelm, also formerly a monk of Jumièges, having died on 10 September 1083. The king sent him to Walkelin, bishop of Winchester, to be installed in his office. He was received at Abingdon on 18 July, and on 15 August was hallowed by Osmund, bishop of Salisbury.^[1]^[2]

Rouen is a city on the River Seine in the north of France. It is the capital of the region of Normandy. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries.

Walkelin 11th-century Bishop of Winchester

Walkelin was the first Norman bishop of Winchester.

The tenants of the abbey had resisted the Conqueror's rule, and the house had accordingly suffered; but some return to prosperity seems to have begun under Abbot Æthelhelm, and it increased during the earlier years of Rainald's abbacy. In 1087 Gilbert of Ghent presented the monastery with a house in the Strand, London, with a chapel dedicated to the Holy Innocents, which he had given to it in Æthelhelm's time, but had resumed at his death. It became the abbot's London lodging On the accession of William Rufus, Reginald helped him in the distribution of his father's treasure among the minsters and other churches of England and the poor. At this time the king held him in high esteem, and gave a charter to him and his house.^[1]

Strand is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. It runs just over ³⁄₄ mile (1,200 m) from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street inside the City of London, and is part of the A4, a main road running west from inner London.

Though Rainald disposed of some of the convent's property to his son and personal friends, he set about rebuilding the church of the monastery, using materials and treasure collected by his predecessor; and, in order to ensure the co-operation of the villeins on the conventual estates, gathered them together and announced that several oppressive customs would be done away, provided that they gave the full tithes of their harvest for the restoration of the church. Robert d'Oilgi was led by a dream to restore certain land that he had unjustly taken from the house in Abbot Æthelhelm's time, and also gave a large sum towards the building.^[1]

A villein, otherwise known as cottar, crofter, is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them from the freeman.

After a time, however, enemies of Abbot Rainald set the king against him; and he deprived the convent of much of its property. The king having crossed to Normandy in November 1097, Rainald followed him, probably on the convent's business, and died there before the end of the year.^[1]

Family

His son William Rainald had well educated, and took holy orders. He presented him to the convent living of Marcham, near Abingdon, with some of the convent property. When taken with his last sickness in the time of Abbot Faricius, he assumed the monastic habit at Abingdon, and restored to the convent the church and land that he had received from his father.^[1]

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References

Kelly, S. E. 2000. Charters of Abingdon, part 1. Anglo-Saxon Charters 7.

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Reginald (d.1097)" . Dictionary of National Biography . 47. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
↑ Costambeys, Marios. "Reginald". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23315.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Reginald (d.1097)". Dictionary of National Biography . 47. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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[DNB-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Reginald (d.1097)" . Dictionary of National Biography . 47. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[2] Costambeys, Marios. "Reginald". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23315.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)