Eremitism is a broad movement and took many different forms during the course of the middle ages. This thesis is a comparative study of the eremitic life in England and France during the period when it had, arguably, reached the height of its popularity. While eremitism in both countries shared many common characteristics, there were also differing interpretations of how this ideal should be achieved. That is most noticeable in the way eremitic communities were structured and in the activities with which they engaged. Inevitably, modem perceptions of medieval eremitism are shaped by the sources available, notably the writings of the hagiographers, all of whom had their own objectives when choosing to write the Life of a particular hermit. Modem historians, therefore, view medieval eremitic practices through the words of these hagiographers rather than through the actions of the hermits themselves. Using extant Vitae and other relevant texts, this study begins with an assessment of the primary sources, and how the language they use has affected both medieval and modern perceptions of the hermit. The terminology adopted for differentiating between a hermit, recluse and anchorite, if indeed, this is necessary, is significant to this debate and is discussed in the first two chapters. The following three chapters (3-5) examine how hermits lived, the support structures they created and how these differed in England and France. While hermits established their own 3 networks, they were still reliant on sponsorship from both the Church and society, which helped them to lead lives in accordance with their high ideals. The final three chapters (6-8) offer an analysis of the broad range of activities which hermits undertook, both spiritual and temporal, and explores how they interacted with the Church and society through these activities. It was due to such interaction that they were seen as channels for divine power and regarded by contemporaries as 'living saints'.

Who were the Wydeviles? The family arrived with the Conqueror in 1066. As followers in the Conqueror’s army the Wydeviles rose through service with the Mowbray family. If we accept the definition given by Crouch and Turner for a brief period of time the Wydeviles qualified as barons in the twelfth century. This position was not maintained. By the thirteenth century the family had split into two distinct branches. The senior line settled in Yorkshire while the junior branch settled in Northamptonshire. The junior branch of the family gradually rose to prominence in the county through service as escheator, sheriff and knight of the shire. These roles enabled them to meet and work with men who had influence at court. The Wydevile that gave the family their entrée into royal service was Richard (ii), appointed steward to King Edward III’s daughter Isabella and then as steward at the king’s castle of Moor End. His son John (iii) maintained a similar pattern of service within the county and managed to negotiate the difficult years of Richard II’s reign and the usurpation of Henry IV without diminishing the family standing within the county. It was his sons who were to work closely with the royal family. Thomas and Richard (iii) served the Lancastrian royal princes loyally. Richard (iii)’s position led to a knighthood for his son Richard, so that by 1426 the family were at the highest level of the gentry, just below the aristocracy. Accused of being an ignoble family their status is traced from 1066 to the early fifteenth century. In 1448 Sir Richard Wydevile brought the family into the ranks of the nobility through an advantageous marriage. His secret marriage to Jacquetta of Luxembourg, widow of the duke of Bedford made him a member of the royal family, albeit a minor member. This connection led to his creation as lord Rivers in 1448. Rivers continued the family tradition of loyal service to the crown. His service in France and in England enabled him to find suitable marriages for three of his children by 1460/61 into baronial families. Like his great-grandfather Richard (ii), he managed to negotiate a change in king, moving smoothly from service to the Lancastrians to service with the Yorkists under Edward IV. In 1464 his daughter Elizabeth secretly married King Edward IV. It was this second secret marriage that led to the assault on the Wydeviles’ reputation and questioned their status. The political instability of the period required scapegoats each time a king was overthrown. The propaganda this generated is traced to establish if there is any truth in the charges of greed and covetousness made against the Wydeviles.

This thesis provides a detailed and interdisciplinary analysis of one of medieval England’s most enduring saints’ cults: that of St Edmund of East Anglia. Focussing largely on the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the surviving material, literary and visual evidence is examined through the twin lenses of matter and narrative, thus offering a novel means of perceiving medieval saintly devotion. Borrowing elements from Alfred Gell’s distributed agency theory, Michel Callon and Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) and notions of ‘object biography’, chapter one develops a bespoke means of modelling the spatial, temporal and material dimensions of cult. Saints’ cults are imagined as expansive and entangled phenomena, focussed around a central ‘relic nexus’. Following this, chapter two employs these ideas to analyse the historical and material growth of Bury St Edmunds as a cult centre. This chapter demonstrates that Edmund’s materiality both played a significant role in determining the form his cult took and positioned him within an elite cadre of incorrupt saints. Switching to the narrative lens, chapter three contrasts early chronicle texts with later hagiography and charter evidence. This chapter shows that, across succeeding generations, Edmund’s legend shifted in line with contemporary historical circumstances to become entwined with the institutional identity of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Chapter four expands the narrative analysis to consider the consequences of literary and oral dissemination. Tracing the literary transmission of a story implicating Edmund in the death of Swein Forkbeard, this chapter reveals how a series of twelfth-century, historical and political writers adapted this legend for their own purposes. Yet, far from being limited to literature, the chapter further argues that Edmund’s narrative was couched within a fluid oral context. Chapter four concludes by employing the theoretical structures developed in chapter one to model the narrative environment of Edmund’s cult. Chapter five focusses on how Edmund was visualised at his cult centre. A particular example of pictorial storytelling produced at Bury, the miniature sequence in Pierpont Morgan MS M.736, is analysed to reveal that visual representations provided a means of expounding both the material and narrative sensibilities of cult. Chapter six expands the visual and material discussion. A range of media, from large-scale wall art to small-scale archaeological finds, are used to show that Edmund and his narrative could be presenced in personal and idiosyncratic ways through a variety of objects. Chapter seven draws together the interrelated strands from the preceding sections and discusses what we can say about the relationship between matter and narrative in cult. It concludes that combinations of Edmund’s materiality and narrative could be combined, to create the unique truths that fashioned personal and corporate identities. Edmund’s cult, it is suggested, was a multi-faceted and expansive phenomenon which, although based around his shrine at Bury St Edmunds, held meaning well beyond. Following this, some concluding thoughts are offered on how the theoretical framework developed in this thesis might be adapted and applied to similar cult structures.

This thesis seeks to understand the impact of the locality on the lordships of the North-Sea world. Historians, previously, have focussed on aristocrats and lordship through a lord’s relationship to a central authority. Medievalists, moreover, have focussed on central Europe when investigating the aristocracy and nobility, the consequence of this is that lordships were fixed in central kingdoms, which have been perpetuated from a twentieth-century idea of nationhood. Also such a perception causes us to describe the period in structuralist terms and negates the possibility of a fluid society in the tenth and eleventh centuries. ‘Lords of the North-Sea World’ will, however, show that society was not ‘feudal’ or rigid, by contrast it was flexible and subject to change. This thesis intends to investigate lordships in a seascape that has been relatively untouched by historians. I use a comparative methodology which has remained an underused medium by medieval historians. I begin by outlining the topic and justifying my approach, which will explore the huge historiographical background of aristocratic studies. Four key themes will be examined; these are territory, solidarities, inheritances and ‘Noble Texts’. All will reveal how important the locality was to the identity, relationships and perception of the aristocracy in medieval society. The thesis, moreover, will suggest that local factors were a key component in the decision making of lords when they had choices. This has been achieved by drawing on narrative and documentary evidence to consider the levels of regional distinctiveness in lordships. The thesis also appeals to the global versus local debates throughout academic disciplines by suggesting that in the early middle ages, global vehicles of power were attempting to blunt the unmistakable authority of localism.

This thesis employs a gendered reading of contemporary accounts in order to investigate the Angevin royal family within the framework of medieval concepts of masculinity. The primary focus is the processes involved in the transition from childhood to youth to fully masculine adulthood as experienced by male members of the royal family over two generations. It examines the lived experiences of Henry II and his four sons as well as the ideologies within which their activities and conduct was understood. The aim is to discover any patterns of behaviour that can be seen either to be repeated by other family members or that might have directly or indirectly affected the behaviour of others. This could work either positively or negatively as they went about establishing an adult male status. The emphasis is on the processes by which young males of the royal family established an adult male identity, any problems that might have hampered that process and any events that may have expedited their progression into adult society. Researching not only the kings but also other male members of the royal family allows comparisons between ideal kingly masculinity and the masculine behaviours expected of lesser royal males. There were a wide variety of masculine models including those associated with kingship, royalty, nobility and family relationships. Becoming a man in medieval noble or royal society was not a simple matter of becoming old enough, or physically large or mature enough. Instead it required a display of correct behaviour patterns that persisted throughout adult life. As such it was possible that an individual may never be seen as an adult by his peers or his subjects. This would be detrimental to his ability to perform his social role as a leader. Therefore gender, masculinity or manliness, are vital to our understanding of the every day lives of the men under investigation.

The Gilbertine order was unusual in that it was founded for both men and women who lived in adjacent enclosures. The order had its origins in the Lincolnshire village of Sempringham where St Gilbert founded the order in the 1130s. The canons followed the rule of St Augustine and the nuns the rule of St Benedict. The history of the order has been extensively researched by Brian Golding from its foundation until the beginning of the fourteenth century. However, there has been little substantial research on the order in the period from the fourteenth century until its dissolution in 1539. This dissertation continues the work carried out by Golding and examines the later years of the order’s history and its dissolution. The main themes of this work are the recruitment of men and women into the order during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the spiritual lives of the nuns, the impact of the dissolution on the lives of the men and women of the order, and their careers after the dissolution. The study will show that in common with other religious orders there was a decline in the popularity of the Gilbertines in the later Middle Ages, and also a relaxation of the rules the nuns followed. In the period after the dissolution, the thesis will demonstrate that the social and economic position of former Gilbertine canons was much better than that of former nuns.

This thesis examines French efforts to project their power onto Britain during the Middle Ages, engaging the Welsh as their partners. The subsequent chapters contribute fresh analysis on a range of leaders and periods. This has been done using new theories, particularly military ones, and pushes the boundaries of this area of studies. The concepts of ‘bracketing alliances’ and the strategy of ‘cultivate and eradicate’ have been introduced and applied to this research. In addition, the thesis includes works not commonly found in such a study; reaching outside the field to help clarify points of analysis. For example, Sun Tzu has been included to demonstrate that medieval rulers were practising the most effective methods of warfare, as we recognise them today. Also, by applying modern diplomatic theory, such as ‘Soft Power’, this research not only gives these ideas a wider conceptual use but also connects and makes relevant medieval events to the modern world. On a broader level, these French-Welsh links demand wider exposure, whether from the perspective of the French attempting to articulate their power within Britain or the Welsh playing a role on the continental stage. This thesis presents new perceptions of these leaders, the conflicts of their times, their diplomatic initiatives and the power relations of the age. Its primary thrusts, therefore, are the dissection of the form and impact of these diplomatic and military relations, focussing on French efforts to project their power onto Britain at moments when friendship was co-ordinated with Welsh leaders. In recognition of the many subjects researched, and to borrow shamelessly from William of Malmesbury, and certainly others, I give note; ‘uolo enim hoc opus esse multarum historiarum breuiarium.’1

The episcopal office, and the individuals who held it, were fundamental to the political, religious, social and cultural development of ducal Normandy. Not only men of great political power, many strove to create vibrant centres of learning in their dioceses, and accounts of their efforts to reform the Norman Church spread throughout Europe. However, while the episcopate of twelfth-century Normandy continues to be the subject of various studies, such as that published recently by Jörg Peltzer, there are few works, especially in English, which examine the careers of their predecessors in any real detail. This thesis is intended, therefore, as the first comprehensive analysis of the tenth and eleventh-century episcopate, and their role in the emergence of the Norman and Anglo-Norman realms. Using chronicles, ducal and episcopal acta, published conciliar records, architecture, and a wide variety of unpublished material in both French and English archives, this thesis traces the origins of the bishops, their recruitment and relations with the dukes of Normandy, their role in Normandy before the Conquest of England and in the governance of the Anglo-Norman realm, their secular role and connections, and their role as cultural patrons. It also includes, in various appendices, critical editions of texts either associated with, or created by, members of the episcopate, including the texts of over eighty episcopal acta.

The House of Gospatric was established in Scotland by Malcolm III after 1072 and endowed with lands surrounding the stronghold of Dunbar, in Lothian. The descendants of Gospatric accumulated vast estates in Lothian and the Merse, assuming the title ‘earl of Dunbar’ by c. 1200. Their charters, of which the earliest surviving dates to the earldom of Gospatric, brother of Dolfin (died c. 1138), belong to the mainstream of European charter culture and exemplify many of the changes in diplomatic observable elsewhere. They are rich in evidence which can be used with that of the chronicles, and of the English and later Scottish public records, concerning the extent of the Dunbar estate in south-east Scotland. They indicate a variety of forms of lay tenure, with land used flexibly by the earls to endow the family, to install associates as tenants and dependants, and to elicit service and revenue; and they show these patterns of land use to have been replicated by those to whom Dunbar land was granted. Women were part of the process, making and assenting to grants. Links with the religious orders were forged and re-forged through benefaction, but dispute settlement and control mechanisms lay at the heart of much of the charter production of the period. Patterns of witnessing varied, according to the context of the charter. The people who served the earl - his family and his dependants, his employees in his estate and household, his associates in aristocratic society - can be identified, grouped and analysed through studies of the witness lists, and the origins and offshoots of their families explored. These formed a network of both dependency and support which was crucial to the functioning of the Dunbar lordship. Whether the structure can be termed feudal is more problematic. The comital economy was based on arable and pastoral farming, and in the charters there are land management agreements which suggest a heavy involvement in the wool trade. The importance of the maritime economy is glimpsed in arrangements linking to fishing and shipping, and ancillary industries such as salting. There are references to an infrastructure sophisticated enough to sustain extensive trade and commerce. Moreover the developing sense of the cohesiveness of the earldom to which aspects of the Dunbar charters testify connects well with the impression of an active lordship with a coherent economic strategy at a time of growth and expansion. In an era of change also in the relationship between the Church and lay society, the charters tell of issues of patronage and the control of teinds, of the foundation and endowment of religious houses with land and churches, the competing jurisdiction of lay and ecclesiastical courts. When its power was challenged, the Dunbar lordship responded flexibly, standing its ground in some areas, yielding or seeming to yield in others. Similarly on the national stage the earls played a prominent role, but one which had to be adapted to the growth of royal justice and the evolution and systematisation or judicial processes. They intermarried with the royal house and from earliest times were close associates of the Scottish kings whose charters they witnessed. Though cross-border lords with extensive English lands and particular frontier responsibilities, they undoubtedly played primarily on the Scottish stage.

This thesis examines the political and social responses of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy between 1087 and 1106 to the issue of divided lordship. The central theme is the importance of the concept of political legitimacy in shaping the political culture and actions of the aristocracy during this period. The exclusion of significant sections of the cross-Channel aristocracy from the consultation process in selecting a king in 1087 and 1100, ran contrary to the accepted political norms and created doubts over the legitimacy of Rufus’ and Henry I’s regimes that could be revived at moments of crisis. This found expression in the support given to Robert Curthose’s challenge for the English throne in 1088 and 1101, but also in open rebellion in 1095. However, the limitations of violence as a means of effecting long-term change necessitated a search for a negotiated political settlement that would open the way for Normandy and England to enjoy co-existence as a permanent solution to the problem of divided lordship. This approach locates the Anglo-Norman aristocracy firmly within the recent scholarship of the early and late medieval aristocracy, where political discourse is analysed primarily in terms of succession and legitimacy. Therefore, at the centre of this analysis are the contemporary and near-contemporary narrative sources, which display a firm understanding of contemporary theories of kingship and the politics. When brought into focus with charter evidence, specific aspects of the wider socio-political culture of the aristocracy, in particular religious patronage, marital strategies and inheritance patterns, can then be read as both responses to the wider question of the succession, and also as a commentary on contemporary politics.