The Church Reforms
The Anglo-Saxon church was rich but not as needful of reform as Norman propaganda had suggested, though corruption was a problem. Stigand, the excommunicate archbishop of Canterbury, may well have crowned Harold, but there were worthy prelates in England. After the Conquest, increasing numbers of foreigners were placed in posts vacated by Englishmen. The wealth of the church was a magnet for potential recruits.
Though Stigand and two other bishops were deposed, William did not forcibly remove churchmen. However, he was a keen reformer, and replacements for vacant sees were inevitably found from across the Channel. Most notable was Lanfranc of Bec, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. A close friend of William, the two men had a partnership that would not be repeated for centuries.
Lanfranc brought a group of followers and pupils, all worthy of office. Ecclesiastical councils were revived, separate ecclesiastical jurisdiction allowed, and the church began to regard itself as a separate body from the state. While Lanfranc and the group of Norman prelates felt bound to William (often by feudal ties for knight service) and co-operated with his reforming zeal, this course would eventually cause problems, with the church regarding itself as beyond state control.
The monasteries also received new blood. Lanfranc had been Prior of Bec and so it is not surprising that he was keen to see improvements in English monasticism. He compiled his Consuetudines for his monks at Christ Church but this spread to many other houses. Monks were drawn from the new ruling classes, and two major new houses were founded, at Battle, site of William’s victory, and at Lewes in Sussex. There was also a great upsurge in monasticism in the north. From France came books and learning which had been somewhat lacking in England, and a familiarity with the Latin language that allowed far better intercourse with the continent.
Numerous ecclesiastical buildings survive with Romanesque work preserved in their fabric. English architecture had not been particularly remarkable for its size, and had often been constructed in timber. The Normans used stone far more than their predecessors. These buildings, like the castles, left an indelible stamp on the landscape. Except for Westminster and Waltham in Essex, nearly every major church was rebuilt by the Normans, now larger and on a more impressive scale than formerly.
The nobility poured money into pious foundations and building programmes,
on a scale not known before the Conquest. Even the Anglo-Saxon Wulfstan of Worcester felt it necessary to pull down his old church and rebuild in the new style, though he wept to see it done.