ABSTRACT
In his Mirror o f the Church, composed in the early years of the thirteenth century, Gerald of Wales mounted a specific attack on the great monastery of St Albans, rebuking it for its overweening pride and opulence.1 What particularly upset Gerald was the abbey’s seemingly arrogant attitude towards no less a figure than its own bishop, Hugh of Lincoln (11861200).2 Gerald recounts how, following his consecration in London in 1186, the saintly Hugh was making his way back to Lincoln for his enthronement when the monks of St Albans took it upon themselves to refuse him his right to celebrate Mass in the abbey church in order to safeguard their cherished exemption privilege. Bishop Hugh’s retribution was swift. Excommunicating both the monastery and the monks, he ordered that their churches should be placed under interdict with the result that the community was unable to buy or sell or obtain food and lodgings anywhere within the seven shires of the vast, diocese of Lincoln.3 According to Gerald, the community at St Albans was soon brought to heel and sought their bishop’s pardon. The attitude of the monks is, of course, understandable as they felt that right was on their side. In the course of the twelfth century, they had sought and obtained a variety of privileges and exemptions which had made St Albans one of the three most important abbeys in England. The pre-eminence of their house, according to Gerald, owed much to the English pope, Adrian IV (1154-59), whose favour towards the monks was such that he had not only granted them everything that they asked for but much more besides.4
