Bourne Abbey
Encyclopedia
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
is a scheduled Grade I church in Bourne
Bourne, Lincolnshire
Bourne is a market town and civil parish on the western edge of the Fens, in the District of South Kesteven in southern Lincolnshire, England.-The town:...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The building remains in parochial use, despite the 16th century Dissolution
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, as the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
was used by the parish, probably from the time of the foundation of the abbey in 1138.
Monastic origins
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
makes it clear that there was a church in Bourne in 1066 and there is a suggestion that there was an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
abbey (see David Roffe's link below), as far as is firmly known, the abbey was founded as a monastic institution
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
, by a charter granted in 1138, by Baldwin fitz Gilbert de Clare (with the consent of Roger his son and Adelina his wife). He was a member of a post-conquest Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
family, settled in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, which later made its mark in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Adelina was a great-granddaughter of Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake , known in his own times as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an 11th-century leader of local resistance to the Norman conquest of England....
, though the connection with the Wake family was not made until the generation after Baldwin and Adelina, when their daughter, Emma married Hugh Wake. The house was for up to 14 canons of the Arrouaisian
Arrouaise (Abbey and Order)
The Abbey of Arrouaise was the centre of a form of the Augustinian monastic rule, the Arrouaisian Order, which was popular among the founders of abbeys during the decade of the 1130s. The community began to develop when Heldemar joined the hermit Ruggerius in 1090 but its first abbot, elected in...
reform of the Augustinian Rule. This was the height of the period of abbey foundation and castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
-building in England.
The foundation of the abbey was part of a general restructuring of the estate so that the current town centre was built as a new town at the entrance to Baldwin's new castle. The new main road passed between Baldwin's new castle and the abbey. The pre-Norman road lies under the junction between the nave and the chancel. This proximity to the road may have influenced Baldwin's thinking when choosing an order for the new abbey. By this time, Arrouaise itself was moving away from being a hermitage towards providing a service for travellers.
In the late 13th century, the estate associated with Bourne Castle
Bourne Castle
Bourne Castle was in the market town of Bourne in southern Lincolnshire .A Norman castle was built by Baldwin FitzGilbert. In medieval times there was motte and double bailey castle which formed an unusual concentric plan. The castle was destroyed after being used by Cromwell's troops in 1645 and...
was reorganised so that the main road was moved onto what had been part of the site of the castle and a little away from the abbey.
The abbey was dissolved in 1536 along with the other small monastic houses, in the first phase of Henry VIII's
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
suppression of monasteries.
Abbots
The following is a chronological list of the abbots as far as they are known. It is based on that in Swift's book.- Abbey charter 1138
- Gervaise of Arrouaise 1138
- David 1156
- Baldwin 1212
- Everard Gutt 1224
- William of ReptonReptonRepton is a village and civil parish on the edge of the River Trent floodplain in South Derbyshire, about north of Swadlincote. Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouring Staffordshire and about northeast of Burton upon Trent.-History:...
1236 - Robert of Hamme 1248
- Robert of Haceby 1260
- William of SpaldingSpalding, LincolnshireSpalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....
1275 - Nicholas 1287
- Alan of Waux 1292
- Thomas of ColsterworthColsterworthColsterworth is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The village, together with the hamlet of Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, had a population of 1,508 according to the 2001 census. It lies half a mile to the west of the A1, seven miles south of Grantham...
1295 - William of St AlbansSt AlbansSt Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
1313 - William of Abbotsley 1314
- John of Wytheton 1324
- Simon Watton 1350
- Thomas of GranthamGranthamGrantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...
1355 - Geffory of DeepingThe DeepingsThe Deepings is a collective term used to describe adjoining villages near the River Welland, 8 miles to the north of Peterborough and 10 miles or so east of Stamford in England. The area is just north of the Peterborough border in the Lincolnshire fens...
1369 - William of IrnhamIrnhamIrnham is a village in Lincolnshire in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. It is about ten miles south east of Grantham, To the north is Osgodby, to the south Swinstead, and to the west Corby Glen. The village is on a high limestone ridge that forms the southern part of the Lincolnshire...
1440 - Henry (died) 1500
- Thomas Ford 1500
- William Grisby 1512
- John Small 1534
- Dissolution 1536
- Simon Watton (15) was excommunicatedExcommunicationExcommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
, though we do not know how he had offended.
Abbots of Bourne
- David, occurs about 1156
- Baldwin, occurs 1212 to 1218
- Everard Gutt, occurs 1224, resigned 1237
- William of Ripton, elected 1237
- Robert de Hamme, 1248, died 1260
- Robert de Hasceby, elected 1260, resigned 1275
- William of Spalding, elected 1275
- Alan de Wauz, died 1292
- Thomas de Calstewith, elected 1292, died 1313
- William of St Albans, elected 1313, resigned 1314
- William of Abbotsley, elected 1314, died 1324
- John de Wytheton, elected 1324, died 1334
- Simon of Walton, elected 1334, died 1355
- Thomas of Grantham, elected 1355, died 1369
- Geoffrey of Deeping, elected 1369, occurs to 1406
- William Irnham, occurs 1440
- Henry, died 1500
- Thomas Fort, collated 1500
- William Grisby, died 1512
- John Small, last abbot, occurs 1534
Literary associations
The OrmulumOrmulum
The Ormulum or Orrmulum is a twelfth-century work of biblical exegesis, written by a monk named Orm and consisting of just under 19,000 lines of early Middle English verse...
, an important work in the form of a Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
gloss, helps bridge the gap between Old English and Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
in studies of the development of the language. It was probably written in Bourne Abbey by Orm the Preacher, in around 1175.
Robert Mannyng
Robert Mannyng
Robert Manning was an English chronicler and Gilbertine monk. Mannyng provides a surprising amount of information about himself in his two known works, Handlyng Synne and a Chronicle...
or Robert de Brunne, is well known among scholars of Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
for his works dating from the early 14th century. He led the writing of English out of its eclipse by Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
. He is often said to have been a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
in Bourne Abbey but he was a Gilbertine and the abbey was Arrouaisian or Augustinian. His name which associates him with 'Brunne', the form of 'Bourne' used in his time is likely to have arisen from his having originated in the town. Since the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
of the abbey was the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
, Robert, the boy will have known it well until he left for Sempringham
Sempringham
Sempringham is a hamlet in Lincolnshire, England that is located north of Bourne, on the Lincolnshire fen edge. Sempringham is now a very small hamlet consisting of a church, a house and a well, giving little clue to the history embodied within its parish boundary. Most of its houses are a...
in 1288.