Rochester Cathedral 1066-1137: A Saxo-Norman Synthesis

Frances Arnold explores the cultural synthesis behind the Cathedral and collections from the Norman Conquest until the major fire of 1137. Extract from The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1985.

Rochester Cathedral - though a Saxon foundation - survived the Norman Conquest. But it did not merely survive. It went from weakness to strength. Shortly after he became Bishop, Gundulf (1077-1108), himself a monk, replaced the secular canons who had hitherto formed the Chapter by Benedictine regulars' and began to build a new cathedral in the Norman style? in place of the old Saxon building which had become ruinous. Fifty years later at Ascensiontide 1130 an impressive, sturdy and functional cathedral and priory church, richly ornamented by Bishop Ernulf (1115-25), was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This important occasion was attended by a host of dignitaries headed by King Henry I himself and it was mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, perhaps as a direct consequence of the royal presence.

The presence of Norman monk-bishops in the see of Rochester after 1066 reflects William the conqueror's procedure of nominating monks from across the channel as simultaneously bishops and heads of English monasteries. The first foreign bishop of each of the existing Anglo-Saxon cathedral priories (Worcester, Durham and Winchester) imposed a foreign prior of his own choice; but after that the monks normally secured a prior elected e gremio and resisted changes forced on them by new bishops. They developed a strong sense of continuity. Worcester and Durham remained very English in tone; and Winchester, which had non-monastic bishops until 1129 and had to struggle to avoid disbandment, was not far behind?. The survival of old-English traditions in these three pre-Norman cathedral priories highlights the Normanization of Christ Church Canterbury and Rochester, both secular foundations colonized from Bec and ruled by the primate.

Since their foundation, Benedictine houses had each gone their own way unfettered by an official code. However, a number of private agreements and unions were framed between individual abbeys, mostly on a regional basis. Engagements concerned simply with the mutual discharge of spiritual good offices appear to have been particularly common in the years immediately following the conquest'. By a charter of 1077, written in old-English, a group of monasteries in Wulfstan of Worcester's diocese, together with two others outside, agreed to foster the religious spirit, to intercede for the king and queen; and to pray for each other's dead. The Abbots of Chertsey, Evesham, Bath and Pershore and the Bishop and Prior of Worcester were the last old-English rulers of their houses.

'Rawulf' of Winchcombe and 'Saerle' of Gloucester, formerly canon of Avranches and monk of St Michel, were the first Norman incumbents. Unfortunately the document breaks off after reciting the names of the monks at Evesham, Chertsey, and Bath; but they at least are all English. A similar engagement was made between Worcester and its original mother house Ramsey? and another was already in existence between the two Minsters at Winchester".

The Cathedral Church of Rochester also formed a network of confraternities under its first four monk-bishops. In the second part of the 'Textus Roffensis', twenty-eight Benedictine communities are listed geographically. Heading the list are the three other Kentish houses, Christ Church and St Augustine's. Canterbury, and the nunnery at Malling, followed by Battle, Bermondsey and Westminster. A large group from the East Midlands (possibly the interest of Ernulf, formerly Abbot of Peterborough), St. John's, Colchester, Bury, Ely, Norwich, St. Alban's and Eynsham, is balanced by a group of west country monasteries, Bath Malmesbury, Gloucester, Winchcombe, Tewkesbury, Worcester and Pershore. (The latter is essentially the Worcester group, and Rochester may well have taken it on as a unit). Abingdon brings up the English rear. Finally there are eight French communities, led by Bec. followed by six other Norman houses, Fécamp, Rouen (St Ouen). Sées (St Martin), Troarn, Preaux (St Peter) and Evreux (St Taurin), and finally Melun (? St Peter), perhaps the personal choice of Ernulf, who had been a monk of Beauvais. This is probably the itinerary to be followed round England and Normandy by the porter of the Rochester breve roll, which was concerned with suffrages for the dead. The engagements fall into nine classes, varying each from the other as to the number of prayers and masses to be offered; and the total sum must have represented a considerable burden upon the house. The most privileged class is of three houses - Christ Church. Norwich and Malling nunnery. There are many more instances of this kind and no doubt almost every abbey had some undertaking of a similar nature. This document is a striking example of the unofficial brotherhood which existed between communities of Anglo-Saxon foundation, even when they were headed by Normans. Bishop Ernulf continues the work of Wulfstan by producing in the 'Textus Roffensis' a great old-English document.

'Perhaps owing to his French (not Norman) nationality, Ernulf had a feeling for the antiquity of the Anglo-Saxons. Under him the Anglo- Saxon Eadmer became Precentor of Christ Church; under him the last Anglo-Saxon historical phrases were penned in Christ Church; under him Peterborough finished the string of the Anglo-Saxon annals. The prayer of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicler for him is touching indeed 'May Almighty God ever dwell with him'10, It is remarkable that Rochester, a Norman monastic foundation governed by foreigners, combined its Norman characteristics with these underlying Saxon sympathies and, furthermore, extended them across the Channel.

A short twelfth century treatise 'Miracula Sancti Ithamari Episcopi' contains further illuminating information11, This composition resulted from the growth of a cult round the saintly bishop and his translation to an imposing shrine. The development of a twelfth century cult round so obscure an old-English saint is notable, for 'The Norman abbots, it seems, frequently outraged the feelings of their monks by their disrespectful attitude towards the old-English saints'12, The clash between Lanfranc and St. Anselm over the cult of St. Alfheah13 is well known and there are other similar instances. Yet fifty years later abbeys and cathedrals are to be found translating these saints to magnificent new shrines.

The impetus for the cult of Ithamar came from the translation of his remains after the destruction of the old-English church where he had been buried. The 'Vita Gundulfi' gives a rich description of the translation of the bones and relics of the Roman St Paulinus but does not mention the fate of the bones of Ithamar. They also were moved to the new church14, Bishop John I (1125-37), who was cured by the saint of a sickness of the eyes, ordered that his relics should be transferred to a newer and better shrine15 and that his day should be kept annually with due solemnity16, The feast day of Rochester's local saint is still celebrated annually in the cathedral on 10th June.

This shows the same pattern as the development of confraternity networks: neglect, a slight revival of the cult after the conquest, a greatly revived cult in the 1120's or 1130's17; and they acquire a greater significance when seen as part of the widespread urge amongst the conquered to recover the heritage of old-English Christianity.

Above the entrance to the Norman dormitory is a weathered tympanum, depicting the story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah. Part of the Latin inscription in Saxon characters is still visible

= ARIESPERCORNVA =

It is this mingling of cultures, the Hebrew scriptures in a Latin translation, worked by Anglo-Saxon hands under a Norman master on imported stone from Caen, which gives the clue to the survival of Rochester Cathedral through the period of the Norman Conquest and, indeed, up to the present day18,

Frances Arnold

Extract from The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1985

Notes

'Vita Gundulfi' (The Life of Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, ed. R Thomson, Toronto Medieval Latin texts; 7), p. 40.

'Textus Roffensis', fo. 172.

F. Barlow The English Church 1066-1154', who bases his work on this subject principally on 'The Heads of Religious Houses 940-1216', ed.

D. Knowles, C. N. L. Brooke, Vera London.

Barlow, pp. 186-188; D. Knowles, 'The Monastic Order in England', Do.

472-4.

'Vita Wulfstani', ed. Darlington, p. 191. Cited by D. Knowles in The Monastic Order in England, p. 473

B. Thorpe, 'Diplomatarium Anglicum AEvi Saxonici' (1865), p. 615. cited by Barlow, p. 187.

'Vita Wulfstani', p. 191 c.f.

Durham 'Liber Vitae', ss. (1923) XVIII - XIX, p. 48. Cited by Knowles, p.

474.

V. 'Hyde Liber Vitae', p. 47. Cited ibid.

This was a cartulary written in Anglo-Saxon. It was completed between 20th October 1122 and 18th February 1123 and is traditionally associated with Bishop Ernulf. The first part contains copies of Anglo-Saxon laws; the second spurious and genuine charters from before the conquest and later. p. 321.

A. I. Pearman, 'Rochester' (Diocesan Histories; 1897). p. 64.

St Ithamar (644-55), fourth bishop of Rochester and the first who was an Englishman by birth (Bede, III, 14), was much revered.

The only known surviving manuscript of the 'Miracula' is incorporated in Corpus Christi College Cambridge M.S. 161, a collection of saints' lives written in the late 12th or early 13th century.

'The Miracles of St. Ithamar has been edited by Denis Bethell in

'Analecta Bollandiana', vol. 89 (1971), pp. 421-37. Bethell places the composition of the text no earlier than the 12th century, and not much later than the 1150's (pp. 424-5).

Knowles, 'The Monastic Order in England, p. 118.

ibid. p. 119.

He was buried in the church where Gundulf was bishop, in the sanctuary next to the blessed Paulinus' (Miracula', p. 429) i.e. later than him.

Then a monk of the new Rochester community had a vision of the saint and, 'On hearing what had been said, the bishop (Gundulf) instructed that the previous relics of the saint (Ithamar) should be taken into the presbytery and the coffin placed in a more respectable place with all the inestimable and accessible items of the treasury. In this place, God being present, many manifest signs of miracles were performed on those suppliants who asked in faith' (p. 430).

See also list of benefactors of Rochester, 'Registrum', p. 21.

'Miracula' p. 432. The material on St. Ithamar is drawn from an unpublished paper entitled Tombs, Shrines and Research presented by Anneliese Arnoidt te che Rochester Cathedral Archaeological

Symposium, November 1984.

ibid. p. 425.

Taken from a longer essay entitled The Cathedral Church and community of St. Andrew at Rochester. Survival and Growth

(604-1154).