ABSTRACT
By1216themonasticmapofEnglandwas,withtheexceptionofoneimportant group,virtuallyset.Theeleventhandtwelfthcenturieshadbeentheeraofgreat expansion,withreligioushousesgrowinginbothnumberandvariety.Theexception wasthemendicantorders,newarrivalsonthemonasticsceneatjustthetimewhen theFourthLateranCouncilbannedthecreationofnewreligiousordersandrules.The DominicanswhoarrivedinCanterburyin1221andquicklyspreadtoLondonand Oxford,andtheFranciscanswhofollowedin1224,broughtanewconceptofthe religiouslifeaswellasnewmonasticsettlementtoEngland,primarilytoitstowns. DespitetheimportanceofthemendicantordersinEnglishreligiousculture,society, politicsandacademiclife,thisessaywillmakelittlementionofthefriars,but concentratesonwhatmaybetermedthemoretraditionalmonasticorders,andon formalandconstitutionallinkswiththecontinent.By1216,therewereseveral hundredmonasteriesandnunneriesinEngland. 1ThereweretheBenedictinehouses, boththevenerableAnglo-SaxonfoundationssuchasStAlbansandGlastonbury,and thepost-ConquestnewcomerslikeShrewsburyandBattle;therewereprioriesand cellsofNormanandFrenchabbeys,andthereweretheCluniachouses,whose expansiononEnglishsoilbeganwiththefoundationofLewesin1077.Fromthe reignofHenryI,theywerejoinedbytheAugustiniancanons,fusingthelifeofthe monkwiththatofthepriest,andfromthe1120sbythe'new'orders:theTironensians, theSavigniacsandwhatwasarguablythegreatestofmedievalmonasticorders,the Cistercians.TheaustereorderofLaGrandeChartreusehadafootholdatWitham (1178-1179),althoughitsfloweringwastooccurmuchlater,intheaftermathofthe BlackDeath.Finally,fromtheearlypartofthetwelfthcenturyonwardsthesmall numberofAnglo-SaxonnunneriesoftheSouthandtheEastwasaugmentedby varioustypesoffemalemonasteries,addingtotheprovisionforreligiouswomen.
