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English Monasteries

Chapter 16: § 12.
By A. Hamilton Thompson
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About This Book

The text surveys medieval monasticism in England, outlining major religious orders and their rules, the evolution of communal life, and the rise and decline of different houses. It analyzes architectural plans of conventual churches, cloisters, and ancillary buildings—showing how liturgy, daily routines, and practical needs shaped church, chapter-house, dorter, frater, infirmary, and gatehouse arrangements. Special attention is given to Cistercian and Benedictine variations, the role of lay brothers, and adaptations for canons, friars, and nuns. The manual closes with discussion of discipline, the daily cycle of offices and work, estate management, and the surviving ruins and archaeological evidence, supported by plans and illustrations.

§ 12.

One of the many off-shoots of the Benedictine order was a congregation of monks and lay brothers founded in 1114 in the diocese of Chartres. The name of Thiron (Tiro) was given to the abbey from the tirones or apprentices whom the founder united there, to pursue their trades in the service of God. Closely akin to this was the abbey of Savigny in the diocese of Avranches, founded in 1112, which between that date and 1147 planted some thirteen houses in England and Wales. When the order of Savigny was merged about 1147 in that of Cîteaux, its monasteries were said to belong to the Tironensian order. This, however, was not because of any definite affiliation to Thiron, but on account of similarity of observances between the two congregations. English Tironensian houses, such as Humberston abbey in Lincolnshire, became identical with the ordinary Benedictine monasteries, although a nominal distinction was recognised. Important remains of a Tironensian house exist at Caldey, a priory of St Dogmaels, on an island near Tenby. Such Savigniac houses as Buildwas and Furness became famous as Cistercian monasteries. Neither of these congregations possessed the organising capacity which the founders of the Cistercian order brought to their work. The same may be said of the Grandimontine order, founded in 1046 at Grandmont in the diocese of Limoges, which during the twelfth century founded three small priories in England.