The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and StudiesTaylor, Thomas
History
The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and Studies
Taylor, Thomas
Cornwall (England : County) -- Church history
The composite character of the postscript to which also Leofric’s
signature is appended is seen in the wild statement to which it bears
witness. In it we are informed that by command and counsel of Pope
Gregory and of the King, Queen and Nobles of England, the bishop grants
immunity from all episcopal control to the church of Blessed Michael the
Archangel of Cornwall, and a remission of one-third of their penance to
all who shall enrich, endow or visit it. Pope Gregory (Hildebrand) was
not elected till 1073, the year after Leofric’s death, and the
indulgence which the postscript contains and which constitutes its
_raison d’être_ was manifestly only an expedient to foster pilgrimages
to St. Michael’s Mount which, supposing the monastery to have been
founded after the Conquest, would have been too obvious to achieve its
object. Something more will be said under this head when dealing with
the testimony of William of Worcester.
When allowance has been made for clerical errors and for the
interpolations and additions to which attention has been drawn, there is
no sufficient reason to reject either the literal interpretation of
Domesday or the authenticity of Edward’s charter, or the substantial
accuracy of Count Robert’s. The date of the latter would probably be
1086, or a little later, probably in the last year of the Conqueror’s
reign. A third charter of the reign of William Rufus records the grant
to the Norman St. Michael, by Count Robert of Mortain and Almodis his
Countess of the manor of Ludgvan held by Richard Fitz Turold, also that
which Bloyou formerly held in Truthwall (Treiuhalo), and both the fairs
(_ferias_) of the Mount, the monks paying to the grantors the sum of
sixty pounds.
Now it is worthy of remark that neither of these manors ever became
permanently attached to either religious house. Though it is impossible
to speak with certainty, it looks as if the Count had wrested Ludgvan
from Richard, had claimed Truthwall on the death of Bloyou and had sold
them both to the Norman abbot, who afterwards found it impossible to
resist the claims of the rightful heirs.
The Cornish St. Michael had assuredly no cause to hold the Count in
grateful remembrance. From first to last he acted the part of a robber.
On this occasion one is inclined to suspect that the possessions of the
brethren serving God at the Mount were much more extensive before than
after the Norman Conquest. Assuming the Confessor’s charter to be
genuine it would almost appear that the Meneage district had, at a
remote period, become attached to a Celtic monastery at the Mount, and
that he was merely ratifying the title while perhaps limiting the extent
of its possessions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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