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Osbert of Clare was an English monastic writer, whose works extended from the mid-1120s to the mid-1150s. His Latin hagiography reflects a deep admiration for Anglo-Saxon saints and spirituality, while his letters provide a personal perspective on his turbulent career. As prior of Westminster Abbey, Osbert of Clare worked to strengthen the rights and prestige of his monastery. His production of forged or altered charters makes him one of England's most prolific medieval forgers. At times his passion for reform put him at odds with his abbots, and he was sent into exile under both Abbot Herbert (1121-c.1136) and Abbot Gervase (1138-c.1157). Also Osbert, as one of the first proponents of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, wrote about the feast, worked to legitimize its celebration, and provided us with the only significant narration of its introduction to England. This thesis is divided into two sections. The first section is principally historical and the second is principally literary. In the first section, I provide an overview of Osbert of Clare's career and examine in greater detail two of his most significant undertaking: his promotion of Westminster Abbey and his attempted canonization of Edward the Confessor. In the second section, I give a philological study of Osbert Latin style and examine themes that nm throughout his writings, such as virginity, exile and kingship. Osbert's promotion of the feast of the Immaculate Conception is included in the second section of the thesis because of its ties to the themes of virginity and femininity within his writings. There are also two appendices: the first is a survey of the extant manuscripts of Osbert's writings, and the second is an edition of Osbert's unpublished Life of St Ethelbert from Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek MS Memb. i. 8l.

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Three late Victorian novels provide significant insight into the Victorian crisis of faith because of their singleminded focus on an Anglican clergyman facing the issues that undermined received belief after 1860. William Winwood Reade's The Outcast (1875), Mrs. Humphry Ward's Robert Elsmere (1888), and George MacDonald's Thomas Wingfold, Curate (1876) cast the theme of doubt in a fresh light by systematically exploring what happens when a clergyman entertains doubt and investigates issues of faith and the ideas of evolutionary theory and higher criticism.Each novelist's distinctive perspective on the Victorian crisis of faith clearly shapes the delineation of the protagonist's crisis, determines which aspects of his crisis receive emphasis, and reflects the novelist's purpose for exploring doubt in a clergyman. Of deep interest is what these novelists achieve by exploring an Anglican clergyman's crisis of faith. First, using an Anglican clergyman as protagonist allows the novelists to explore the impact of doubt on the Established Church and the ramifications of doubt for a clergyman. Second, exploring a clergyman's crisis of faith allows the novelists to comment on how the Church failed to respond adequately to the Victorian crisis of faith. Third, the redefinition of faith advocated by all three novelists is best portrayed through an Anglican clergyman.In The Outcast Edward Mordaunt loses his traditional faith because of science, and through him, Reade suggests that the rejection of orthodoxy is the natural result of accepting the scientists' claims. He offers natural religion as a substitute for Christianity and uses the experience of his protagonist to criticize orthodox belief and intolerance. In Robert Elsmere Mrs. Ward defends intellectuals who accommodated their belief to new knowledge. She uses Robert Elsmere to show that accommodation is both possible and necessary and to accentuate the potential for social change when a sincere clergyman comes to terms with the claims of historical criticism. In Thomas Wingfold, Curate MacDonald acknowledges that the claims of science and higher criticism should be considered but suggests that they are not enough reason not to believe. He uses Thomas Wingfold to demonstrate a desirable approach to doubt and to argue for change from within the Church. / Department of English

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