An edition of the cartulary of Alvingham Priory (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 642)

The subject of this thesis is an edition of the cartulary of Alvingham Priory, a Gilbertine house of nuns and canons situated in the Lindsey district of Lincolnshire. The documents, written in Latin with a few Anglo-Norman or English exceptions and with one line of Hebrew, have been edited in full and supplied with an English caption. An attempt has been made to date every document and explanatory notes have been supplied where appropriate. The edition is accompanied by an introduction, five chapters and a conclusion. Chapter 1 gives a brief description of the Gilbertine order and discusses the possible date and circumstances of the foundation of Alvingham Priory and the identity of its founders and those inmates recorded in the cartulary and elsewhere. Chapter 2 explores the relationship between the priory and its benefactors; those who may have helped to found the community are described in some detail and examples are provided of those who gave land and some of their reasons for doing so. The first section of Chapter 3 examines the kinds of temporal property held by the house and how it was managed; the second section offers a case study of the priory's grange at Grainthorpe. Chapter 4 surveys the spiritual endowment of the priory which consisted of nine parish churches; a summary is given of the acquisition of each church and, where known, the nature of the priory's relationship with its benefactors and clergy. Chapter 5 is a study of the manuscript itself and a suggested history of its ownership after the Dissolution is provided. Its construction and organization are described and its creation and purpose are investigated.