ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the origins and diffusion of the religious orders sent from Rome and to convert the English after the collapse of the Roman Empire. It examines the role of the religious orders in the development of England's political, legal and religious institutions from Anglo-Saxon times to the late fourteenth century, and how religious orders and individual houses responded to the shifting mix of social, economic, political, demographic and environmental pressures which characterised the period. In order to better achieve his social, political and economic ambitions, William I created a powerful means of colonizing England which at once satisfied the need for military security, financial prosperity and religious conformity. A good example of the political, rather than economic, role which such endowments served was William's establishment of Battle Abbey at Hastings shortly after the Conquest. The chapter also reveals just how significant was the contribution made by mills and milling to medieval social and economic life.
