The Abbey of St. Albans from 1300 to the dissolution of the monasteries

by V. H. Galbraith

The Abbey of St. Albans

The Abbey of St. Albans
from 1300 to the Dissolution
of the Monasteries

THE STANHOPE ESSAY
1911

BY
VIVIAN H. GALBRAITH
MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY
SCHOLAR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE

Oxford
B. H. BLACKWELL, BROAD STREET
London
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., LIMITED
MCMXI

CONTENTS.

		PAGE
Introductory			[3]
I.	The Revival within the Abbey during the 14th Century		[11]
II.	The Necessity for Dissolution		[35]
	(A) Sketch of the Economic History, 1300–1539		[36]
	(B) Decay of the Monastic Spirit in the 15th Century		[47]
Appendix.		The Account of William Wallingford in the ‘Lives and Benefactions of the Later Abbots’	[73]
List of the Abbots of St. Albans from 1300 to 1539			[75]
A List of the Chief Authorities			[76]

Introductory.

In the later Middle Ages the Abbey of St. Albans was the most brilliant, though by no means the wealthiest,[1] of the English monasteries. There was ample reason for this pre-eminence. Proximity to London kept its members abreast of the times and freed them from the stain of provincialism, and its position on the Great North Road ensured as its frequent guests the greatest men in the kingdom. Its hospitality became proverbial, and Matthew Paris records that there was room in the monastic stables for three hundred horses at one time. Always, too, there was the glamour of literary greatness as well as its association with St. Alban,[2] England’s proto-martyr, whose genuine relics by universal consent it was admitted to possess. Besides these special traits the Abbey bore the usual insignia of exempt houses—royal foundation, a wide franchise with episcopal jurisdiction, and a place for its abbot among the Lords in Parliament. The homage of some twelve daughter houses or cells, while not increasing its material prosperity, added considerably to its dignity.

Growth of St. Albans Legend.