page_title: Haughmond Abbey
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Haughmond Abbey / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Henry I of England
context_page_description: Haughmond Abbey is a ruined, medieval, Augustinian monastery a few miles from Shrewsbury, England. It was probably founded in the early 12th century and was closely associated with the FitzAlan family, who became Earls of Arundel, and some of their wealthier vassals and allies. It was a substantial, successful and wealthy house for most of its four centuries, although evidence of abuses appeared before its dissolution in 1539. The buildings fell into disrepair and the church was largely destroyed, although the remains of some of the domestic buildings remain impressive. The site is now in the care of English Heritage and is open to the public during the summer.
context_section_description: The cartulary of the abbey begins with a statement of its foundation story, as understood at the time it was written down, probably in the Late Middle Ages 
  Fundata est Abbathia de Haghmon anno domini millesimo centesimo et in anno ultimo regni Regis Willielmi Rufi et anno regni Regis Henrici primi primo, per Willielmum filium Alani, ut patet in pluribus, et specialiter in duobus Bullis sub plumbo Alexandri Papae Tercii vocantis eum Fundatorem predicti loci.
  “Haughmond Abbey was founded in AD 1100, the last year of the reign of King William Rufus and the first year of the reign of King Henry I, by William FitzAlan, as disclosed by many things, and especially in two papal bulls of Pope Alexander III designating him the founder of the aforementioned place.”
  R. W. Eyton, the assiduous Victorian historian of Shropshire, critically considered the cartulary evidence in his 1856 study of the Haughmond's origins, pointing out that it was impossible for all the facts asserted to be true, as William FitzAlan is known to have been still a youth in 1138, when he became involved in the Anarchy  of Stephen's reign. Moreover, of the two bulls concerning the abbey issued by Alexander III in 1172, one does not mention the foundation at all, while the other does attribute it to William FitzAlan but does not give a date. Around the time of the dissolution, the traveller and antiquary Leland repeated the cartulary's story of the foundation, with the slight variation of placing the date in 1101. A 13th century chronicle, written locally, gives the date as 1110. Eyton seized upon the earliest charter in the cartulary as giving a fairly secure date. In it, William FitzAlan grants to the community a fishery at Preston Boats, a member of the manor of Upton Magna, about 3 km south of the abbey on the River Severn – the first clear indication that the community existed. FitzAlan's grant names the leader of the community as Prior Fulk. Augustinian communities were generally counted as priories, although large, entirely independent houses were called abbeys. The grant also mentions that the monastery was dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist and this was to persist throughout its history: a statue of St John with his emblem can be found carved into the arches of the chapter house and his image also appeared on the Abbey's great seal. The witnesses were William FitzAlan's wife, Christiana, and his brother, Walter. The grant seems to date from the years around 1135, when Henry I died and a power contest broke out between Stephen and Empress Matilda.
  However, it is not certain that William FitzAlan founded or was the first to endow the community. Leland repeats the persistent story that “there was an hermitage and a chapell before the erectynge of the abbey.” This suggests some value in considering the founding of the FitzAlan fortunes by William FitzAlan's father, Alan fitz Flaad. He appeared in Henry I's company at least as early as September 1101, when he witnessed important grants to Norwich Cathedral. Thereafter, he is heard of with the king at Canterbury in 1103, in the New Forest in 1104, He seems to have taken an interest in donations of his own to religious houses, as at some point he gave a manor to Norwich Cathedral, a gift the king  promised “to confirm when Alan comes to my court” - evidently a regular occurrence. Only later does he appear as a witness to an order given to Richard de Belmeis I, the Bishop of London and the king's viceroy in Shropshire, to deal with a disputed  prebend at Morville, presumably a complication of the abolition of the collegiate church there in favour of Shrewsbury Abbey. Alan appears in this context among a group of Shropshire magnates, including Corbets and a Peverel, probably during Henry I's 1114 military expedition into Wales. It seems to have been around this time that he acquired the abbey site, along with other large estates in Shropshire and Sussex. The estates had been granted by William the Conqueror to Rainald de Bailleul, the Sheriff of Shropshire, in consideration of his shrievalty, and were give
caption: Seal of Henry I, showing the king on horseback. Alan FitzFlaad, founder of the FitzAlan family, seems to have made his fortune as part of Henry's military retinue.
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