Origins
The precise origins of the Abbey are unclear. It is known that it was put on a sound footing for the first time in the years around 1135, when Henry I died and the country passed into the Anarchy, in which Stephen and Empress Matilda competed for power. Around that time William Fitzalan granted a fishery at Preston Boats, about 3km south of the abbey on the River Severn - the first clear indication that the abbey existed. It is not certain that Wiliam Fitzalan founded or was the first to endow the community. His father, Alan fitz Flaad, acquired the abbey site, along with other large estates in Shropshire and Sussex from Rainald de Bailleul. It is possible that he was the founder, or even that it began before his time, as a small religious community towards the end of the 11th century. Augustinian communities often began as small gatherings around a noted hermit before growing into established monasteries, or even small religious orders: the Abbey of Arrouaise in northern France, which had a Shropshire community at nearby Lilleshall Abbey, is an example.
Fitzalan's grant names the leader of the community, Prior Fulk, although he may not have been the first. Augustinian communities were generally counted as priories, although large, entirely independent houses were called abbeys. The grant also mentions the dedication: to Saint John the Evangelist. A statue of St John with his emblem can be found carved into the arches of the chapter house. His image also appeared on the Abbey's great seal.
Haughmond's promotion to abbey status came as it continued to grow and prosper - even though William Fitzalan, its main benefactor, took the side of the Empress and was exiled from the region from 1138 until at least 1153. Endowments continued in Fitzalan's absence. In 1141-2 the Empress gave land and a mill in Walcot, Shropshire. The abbey took the precaution of getting Stephen's approval for this major gift - a strategy followed also at Lilleshall during the anarchy - as well as confirmation from Henry of Anjou Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, donated fishing rights in the Dee. Ranulf brought a number of Welsh magnates into the civil war, initially on the Angevin side. This brought gifts of some Welsh churches to the abbey, including that at Trefeglwys, in Arwystli, and at that at Nefyn, which was donated by Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd. In 1155, the year after Henry II took the throne, his faithful supporter William FitzAlan finally regained his Shropshire estates. He then donated the church at Wroxeter. This was a portionary church, a church staffed by a number of canons, dividing the income, but not forming a structured college. Fitzalan also declared he would increase the number of canons, thus benefitting Wroxeter and Haughmond simultaneously. He declared this was "so that they might have a full convent", implying that he intended the church to evolve into a college, probably as a family chantry. If that was his intention, it never materialised.
As the wealth of the abbey increased, the rebuilding of the church and abbey was begun. Over the next twenty years it was constructed in a late Romanesque style, funded mainly by Fitzalan, his descendants and their vassals, especially the Lestrange family. However there were donations from the King himself, signalling that the abbey was closely associated with the ruling dynasty. This was confirmed by the appointment of the king's former tutor, Alfred, as abbot, probably in the 1160s.
Read more about this topic: Haughmond Abbey
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