Chantry - Henry II of England and The Chantry

Henry II of England and The Chantry

The family of King Henry II of England contributed greatly to religious patronage. Henry founded at least one daily mass for his soul in the endowment of the estate of Lingoed (Gwent) of Dore Abbey (Herefordshire); he endowed the services in perpetuity of four monk-priests. In 1183 the king lost his eldest son, Henry the Young King of England. In 1185 his third son, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, died in a tournament near Paris. Henry II commemorated his sons by founding what resembled the classic institutional chantry. He endowed altars and priests at Rouen Cathedral in perpetuity for the soul of the Young Henry. Philip II of France endowed priests at the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris for the soul of Duke Geoffrey. John count of Mortain, the youngest son of Henry II, also created chantry-like foundations. In 1192 he granted the collegiate church of Bakewell (Derbyshire) to create a prebend at Lichfield Cathedral. The holder was to celebrate mass perpetually for John's soul. The concept of the institutional chantry thus developed in the 1180s within English and French royal circles, who were wealthy enough to endow them.

Beyond them, the first perpetual mass was endowed by the London sheriff and patrician, Richard fitz Reiner, at the chapel of his manor of Broad Colney (Hertfordshire). He established it by the terms of his last testament in 1191, and the chantry was completed in 1212. In close association with the Angevin court, Richard may have adopted its religious practice.