Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons was a missionary undertaking, therefore it encouraged the foundation of organizing centres; but these seem at first to have rather taken the form of bishoprics than abbeys; still, information as to the early Church in England does not exist sufficiently in detail to permit us to state clearly the actual religious work or its method of working. Later on the Saxon abbeys partook rather of the nature of large training colleges, where learning was carried on. The mission of St. Augustine extended the monastic system, and spread Christianity to a wider extent. It also encouraged the resort hither of foreign monks. Great rivalry existed between the English bishops and these foreign missionary priests, a feud which never seems entirely to have died out. The largest number of English abbeys sprang up after the Norman Conquest. The invaders manifested their religion by bestowing large grants of lands as votive offerings and in token of gratitude, while Duke William’s honest repayment of the loans given him for the equipment of his armada brought over hundreds of priests and monks to take possession of their new territories. Church building was a religious work often undertaken for the expiation of sins. Voluntary work is always the best of its kind. To this day the remains of the old Norman abbeys surprise us with their solidity of structure and elegance of design. They must, indeed, have been beautiful when the interiors were fitted up with corresponding magnificence. At first the monks were poor--they were given land, not always of the best, often in wild and unfrequented regions; but by frugality, skill and industry, they soon brought it into a fertile state, and lived on its produce and the gifts of their patrons. The Cistercians were great wool-dealers, and we know how much English cloth was prized at home and abroad for its goodness of quality. In course of time the monks, by their labours, became rich. The need for toil being over, they sank into indolent affluence; instead of hard-working communities, they became wealthy landowners. The abbots were miniature kings, ruling over their vassals and dependents, living in almost royal state, surrounded by their court. The history of monastic England extends over very many centuries, even if its commencement is only placed at the arrival of St. Augustine in A.D. 597, or later still, with the Norman invasion.