Withering on the vine : the connectivity between the people of Lincolnshire and their monastic houses, 1500 to 1540

This thesis is a study of how the Lincolnshire population interacted with their monastic houses during the period 1500 to 1540, when the Tudor Church was witnessing considerable transformation. Lincolnshire was chosen because of the substantial number of religious houses, and the abundance of available sources, especially surviving wills on which the majority of the research was based. Data extracted from these testaments will uncover the destination of patronage not only towards monasteries, but also parish churches, the cathedral, religious guilds, charity to the poor and for the upkeep of the infrastructure. Maps, graphs and tables will illustrate from which of the numerous parishes patronage originated and its eventual destination. This information is linked into the theme of localism, revealing how restricted or otherwise monastic patronage was. Connectivity between monastery and parishioner will be analysed through monastic landholdings and activities such as land reclamation and salt extraction, both intertwined with the Lincolnshire landscape. A detailed study of one specific aspect of the transport infrastructure will also be undertaken, revealing financial problems that concerned a particular monastery, and its connections with the local population. Other documents consulted included the few surviving churchwarden’s accounts, but more importantly the episcopal visitation reports. These reveal the day-to-day workings within some of the county’s monasteries and the pressures that the close-knit communities had to overcome to retain stability, both financial and spiritual. In addition, the deanery visitations reveal interactions between not only clergy and congregation, but also between monastic proprietors and their tithe paying parishioners. The accumulated data will give a greater understanding of the connectivity between parishioner and monastery within the second largest county in England, during a period of considerable change within a belief system that had been sustained and largely cherished for nearly one thousand years.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo