ABSTRACT
This chapter examines that all of the Benedictine houses were founded before 1100 and most had a strong influence on the development of monastic life during the latter half of the middle ages. As the oldest and wealthiest of the major religious orders, the Benedictines were probably the first of the orders to become involved in milling in medieval England, and played an important but as yet difficult-to-specify role in the emergence of milling as a commercial activity. Following its initial establishment in the mid-seventh century, Glastonbury Abbey was re-founded as a Benedictine monastery in 943. The abbey quickly rose to become the wealthiest and most powerful religious house in England, and maintained its pre-eminent position until the Dissolution. In the early fourteenth century, Glastonbury Abbey held more than 40 mills on 32 manors, 13 of which were windmills and three of which were industrial mills. Bec-Hellouin's English estates were not engaged to any great extent in industrial milling.
