Discover the lives of the monks and lay brethren of St Albans Abbey 1349-1539

Until now, St Albans has lacked an overarching list of its monks in the later medieval period, on account of the loss of most of its administrative records after the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539.

A recent research project now fills that gap. It identifies the individuals who are known to have been members of the community between the Black Death in 1349 and the final surrender to Henry VIII’s commissioners. By trawling through published reference works and manuscript sources a matrix has been compiled with basic biographical information on over five hundred individuals. 

By tracking members - from the spiritual director Thomas Fishbourne and the beatified Thomas Marshall to the opportunistic Robert Blakeney and John Rothbury, whose attempt to eject the Prioress of Sopwell led to accusations of assault - the later community of England’s premier Benedictine house has been largely reconstituted. For some monks fuller biographies can be written unfolding a rich variety of medieval lives. Watch this space!

'Who Were The Monks?' Matrix

You can also find here an introduction to the project, and a list of abbreviations referred to in the matrix. 

Introduction & Context

Abbreviations & References

Special thanks go to Dr NW James, Peter Godwin and Valerie James their work researching, compiling and editing this database.