David Knowles (scholar) - Biography

Biography

He was born Michael Clive Knowles on 29 September 1896 in Studley, Warwickshire, England. He was educated at Downside School, operated by the monks of Downside Abbey, then attended Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1923 he became a member of the monastic community at Downside, being given the religious name of David, by which he was always known thereafter. After completing the novitiate, he was sent by the abbot to the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome for his theological studies. Returning to Downside, he was ordained a priest. His research into the early monastic history of England was assisted by the library built up at Downside by Dom Raymund Webster.

Knowles became the leader of a faction of the younger monks of the abbey who wanted to resist the growing demands of the school on the pattern of monastic life at the abbey. They advocated a more contemplative life as the goal of their lives as monks. This effort led to a period of major conflict within the community, and he was transferred to Ealing Abbey, another teaching establishment.

In 1944 Knowles came to be elected a Fellow in Medieval Studies of Peterhouse College, part of the University of Cambridge. He went on to spend the rest of his academic career in residence at this school. He served as president of the Royal Historical Society from 1957-61. He was eventually exclaustrated from the abbey and finally released from his vows. Before his death in November 1974, however, he was re-admitted to the Order.

An account of Knowles's personal life and conflicts, and an assessment of his four-volume magnum opus — The Monastic Order in England/The Religious Orders in England — can be found in Chapter 8 of Norman F. Cantor's book Inventing the Middle Ages (1991).