Walter | |
---|---|
Abbot of Evesham [1] | |
Church | Evesham Abbey |
Installed | 1077/8 |
Predecessor | Æthelwig |
Successor | Maurice |
Orders | |
Consecration | 1078 |
Personal details | |
Born | unknown Cerisy, France |
Died | 1104 |
Walter, Abbot of Evesham or Walter de Cerisy, Gauthier de Cerisy was an 11th-century abbot and church leader in England under the Norman conquest. [2] [3] He is known from the Domesday Book and several legal documents.
He is known variously as Walter de Cerisy, or more simply as Walter, a monk of Cerisy , [4] a small village to the west of Bayeux in France. It is not known if he was born in the village or had lived in the abbey at Cerisy-la-Forêt.
Walter succeeded Æthelwig as abbot of Evesham, Worcestershire in 1077. He began the building of the new church, which had been designed by Æthelwig, and increased the number of monks. He incurred disapproval by granting abbey lands and offices to his relatives, especially by instituting a secular dean and steward, and making the office of steward hereditary within his own family. [3]
Walter is known for his varied legal actions, at a time that the newly established Norman kings were taking lands from the nobility and ecclesiastical estates.
There was a court case between himself and Bishop Wulfstan, who pleaded before the king and established that "4 hides in Bengeworth, Worcester, and houses in the city of Worcester belonged to his holding, so that the abbot ought to do him service from them like his other tenants". The bishop also argued that
the sake and soke of Hampton, Worcestershire should belong to his hundred of Oswaldslow, so that the people of Hampton should plead there, pay geld there, do military service and the other royal services required from these hides, and pay church and burial dues there. [5]
Wulfstan argued that these rights which Walter had refused to provide had been set in the time of Edward the Confessor. [6] The witnesses were called, but before proceeding to trial Walter (on the advice of friends) confessed and accessed to Wulfstan.
In 1077 Odo of Bayeux, the brother of William the Conqueror brought an action against Walter as the Abbot of Evesham Abbey, claiming that certain lands were obtained illegally under the prior abbot, [7] Æthelwig, whom he had recently succeeded. [8]
Æthelwig had been a deputy of Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester, and, prior to being appointed abbot, Æthelwig had administered estates for Ealdred. Then, as abbot, Æthelwig had worked to recover estates that had been lost to Evesham, as well as acquiring more estates.
Although the charge of Æthelwig misappropriating lands is possible, Odo had already been in court actions with Ealdred over occasions where Odo had confiscated of lands held by Worcester, and this action could equally be seen as part of both the ongoing acquisition of estates by Odo and his continuing disagreement with Ealdred.
The court cases are part of a large collection of pleadings, at this time, against a process of Normanization that within a decade saw 64% of land in England consolidated into the hands of just 150 individuals, and many of the nobility deprived of their estates.
Walter appears to have been involved with the dispute between Urse d'Abetot, Sheriff of Worcestershire and the Bishops Wulfstan and Ealdred, of York. This dispute was also over land, in this case the misappropriation of bishopric estates by Urse, in his role as Sheriff.
Walter was a witness of a charter wherein Queen Matilda granted three hides at Garsdon in Wiltshire to Malmesbury Abbey. [9]
He was recorded in the Domesday Book, [10] where he is listed as a tenant-in-chief of several properties. [11]
He was a witness to a charter of William the Conqueror that Bishop Wulfstan should "have fully his sake and soke, his services, and all the customs belonging to his hundreds of Oswaldslow".
The Domesday Book seems to indicate that, by 1088, Odo of Bayeux and Urse d'Abitôt had been successful in acquiring the lands they had claimed. [12]
Walter died in 1104, according to the chronicle ascribed to Florence of Worcester. [3]
Ealdred was Abbot of Tavistock, Bishop of Worcester, and Archbishop of York in early medieval England. He was related to a number of other ecclesiastics of the period. After becoming a monk at the monastery at Winchester, he was appointed Abbot of Tavistock Abbey in around 1027. In 1046 he was named to the Bishopric of Worcester. Ealdred, besides his episcopal duties, served Edward the Confessor, the King of England, as a diplomat and as a military leader. He worked to bring one of the king's relatives, Edward the Exile, back to England from Hungary to secure an heir for the childless king.
Wulfstan was an English Benedictine monk who served as Bishop of Worcester from 1062 to 1095. He was the last surviving pre-Conquest bishop. Wulfstan is a saint in the Western Christian churches.
Thomas of Bayeux was Archbishop of York from 1070 until 1100. He was educated at Liège and became a royal chaplain to Duke William of Normandy, who later became King William I of England. After the Norman Conquest, the king nominated Thomas to succeed Ealdred as Archbishop of York. After Thomas' election, Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, demanded an oath from Thomas to obey him and any future Archbishops of Canterbury; this was part of Lanfranc's claim that Canterbury was the primary bishopric, and its holder the head of the English Church. Thomas countered that York had never made such an oath. As a result, Lanfranc refused to consecrate him. The King eventually persuaded Thomas to submit, but Thomas and Lanfranc continued to clash over ecclesiastical issues, including the primacy of Canterbury, which dioceses belonged to the province of York, and the question of how York's obedience to Canterbury would be expressed.
Oswald of Worcester was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry, but brought up by his uncle, Oda of Canterbury, who sent him to France to the abbey of Fleury to become a monk. After a number of years at Fleury, Oswald returned to England at the request of his uncle, who died before Oswald returned. With his uncle's death, Oswald needed a patron and turned to another kinsman, Oskytel, who had recently become Archbishop of York. His activity for Oskytel attracted the notice of Archbishop Dunstan who had Oswald consecrated as Bishop of Worcester in 961. In 972, Oswald was promoted to the see of York, although he continued to hold Worcester also.
The Accord of Winchester is the 11th-century document that establishes the primacy of the archbishop of Canterbury over the archbishop of York.
Randulf of Evesham was a medieval Bishop of Worcester-elect and Abbot of Evesham.
Events from the 1080s in England.
Bengeworth is a locality in the civil parish of Evesham, in the Wychavon district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. In 1887 it had a population of 1,311. Today it has a school and an Anglican church.
Urse d'Abetot was a Norman who followed King William I to England, and became Sheriff of Worcestershire and a royal official under him and Kings William II and Henry I. He was a native of Normandy and moved to England shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, and was appointed sheriff in about 1069. Little is known of his family in Normandy, who were not prominent, but he probably got his name from the village Abetot. Although Urse's lord in Normandy was present at the Battle of Hastings, there is no evidence that Urse took part in the invasion of England in 1066.
The Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham or Chronicle of the Abbey of Evesham, sometimes the Evesham Chronicle, is a medieval chronicle written at and about Evesham Abbey in Worcestershire in western England.
Æthelwig was an Abbot of Evesham before and during the Norman Conquest of England. Born sometime around 1010 or 1015, he was elected abbot in 1058. Known for his legal expertise, he administered estates for Ealdred, the Bishop of Worcester prior to his election as abbot. After his election, he appears to have acted as Ealdred's deputy, and was considered as a possible successor when Ealdred was elected Archbishop of York. Æthelwig worked during his abbacy to recover estates that had been lost to Evesham, as well as acquiring more estates.
Dominic of Evesham was a medieval prior of Evesham Abbey in England and writer of religious texts. Probably a native Englishman, there is some confusion about when he became a monk, but by 1104 he was at Evesham and by 1125 he held the office of prior. He is chiefly known for his religious works, including one on the miracles of the Virgin Mary that was an important source for later writings on the subject. Four of his works are still extant.
The Abbot of Evesham was the head of Evesham Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Worcestershire founded in the Anglo-Saxon era of English history. The succession continued until the dissolution of the monastery in 1540.
Hemming's Cartulary is a manuscript cartulary, or collection of charters and other land records, collected by a monk named Hemming around the time of the Norman Conquest of England. The manuscript comprises two separate cartularies that were made at different times and later bound together; it is in the British Library as MS Cotton Tiberius A xiii. The first was composed at the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century. The second section was compiled by Hemming and was written around the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century. The first section, traditionally titled the Liber Wigorniensis, is a collection of Anglo-Saxon charters and other land records, most of which are organized geographically. The second section, Hemming's Cartulary proper, combines charters and other land records with a narrative of deprivation of property owned by the church of Worcester.
Cyneweard of Laughern or simply Cyneweard was a mid-11th century Anglo-Saxon thegn and sheriff in Worcestershire, England. Probably the son of Æthelric Kiu and grand-nephew of Wulfstan Lupus, Archbishop of York (1003–1023), he was one of the leading nobles of the county at the Norman Conquest of England. On the death of Edward the Confessor he held lands in Gloucestershire and Warwickshire as well as Worcestershire.
Walter de Lacy was a Norman nobleman who went to England after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. He received lands in Herefordshire and Shropshire, and served King William I of England by leading military forces during 1075. He died in 1085 and one son inherited his lands. Another son became an abbot.
Roger Norreis was Abbot of Evesham in England. He was a controversial figure, installed in several offices against opposition. In his appointment to Evesham, he was accused of immoral behaviour and failing to follow monastic rules. In 1202, Norreis became embroiled in a dispute with his monks and his episcopal superior the Bishop of Worcester; litigation and argumentation lasted until his deposition in 1213. He was then appointed prior of a subsidiary monastic house of Evesham, but was deposed within months, then re-appointed to the office five years later.
Wulfstan v Thomas was an early court case in English law. Bishop Wulstan, later Saint Wulfstan, was appealing to the new king against the taking of estates that had belonged to the Cathedral at Worcester.
'Abbot Scotland v Hamo the Sherrif' or more precisely versus Hamo the Steward, Sheriff of Kent as agent for Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the Earl of Kent (1076) was a determination by William the Conqueror of an English land law suit.
Mannig or Manni, also called Wulfmær, was an English monk and artist who became Abbot of Evesham in 1044. After suffering from paralysis, he resigned in 1058.