page_title: Halesowen Abbey
section_title: Foundation and early years
hierarchical_section_title: Halesowen Abbey / Foundation and early years
caption_attribution_description: Tomb of Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, in Winchester Cathedral
context_page_description: Halesowen Abbey was a Premonstratensian abbey in Halesowen, England of which only ruins remain. Founded by Peter des Roches with a grant of land from King John, the abbey's official year of inauguration was 1218. It acquired two daughter abbeys and a dependent priory. It also acquired a considerable range of estates, mostly concentrated within the region, and a number of churches, which it appropriated after being granted the advowsons. It's manorial court records have survived in large part, portraying a discontented community, driven to many acts of resistance and at one point to challenge the abbey's very existence. The abbey played no great part in the affairs of its order, although it was represented at all levels. At least one abbot attracted serious criticism from within the order, which attempted to remove him. Its canons observed the Rule of St Augustine to a varying degree, with some serious lapses, at least in the late 15th century, when the order's visitor uncovered widespread sexual exploitation of local women. The abbey was moderately prosperous and survived the suppression of the lesser monasteries. It was dissolved in 1538.
context_section_description: Halesowen Abbey originated in a grant of the manor of Halesowen in 1214 by King John to Peter des Roches, then Bishop of Winchester, intended to allow the Peter to found a religious house "of whatever order he pleased." On 27 October of that year the king issued instructions through letters close to the Sheriff of Staffordshire to give the bishop full seisin of the manor and all that pertained to it. The following year John issued a charter confirming the manor in frankalmoin to the "canons of the Premonstratensian order resident at Hales" (apud Hales).
  However, the official date for the foundation of Halesowen Abbey, as given by the Premonstratensian order, is 1218, at least three years after the canons regular, known as "White Canons" because of their habit, had set up a community at Halesowen. Such apparent disparities were common with Premonstratensian houses and stem from religious and theological attitudes specific to the order. In monastic orders generally an abbey requires a chapter of at least 13, so that there can be an abbot or "father" and twelve canons. Moreover, it seems likely that the Premonstratensians did not count an abbey as fully established until there was an abbey church to consecrate. Finally, several of the later abbeys were dedicated not simply to Mary, mother of Jesus, but specifically, as at Dale (Stanley Park) Abbey ad festum Assumptionis — "for the Feast of the Assumption," so the abbey would not be inaugurated until the next occurrence of the festival (15 August) after the gathering of a sufficient number in church. All of this could lead to considerable delays. The basic facts about the foundation and dedication of an abbey were established in advance by Bishop Redman, abbot of Shap Abbey, before he carried out regular canonical visitations of Premonstratensian houses in 1478. The text of replies to his preliminary enquiries for that year's visitation of Halesowen:
  Cenobium de Hales Owen
  in [comitatu Salop, et] diocesi Wygornie.
  Anno Domini MCCXVIII.
  A domino Petro de Rupibus, episcopo Wyntonie fundatum est.
  In honore B. Marie Virginia ad festum Assumptionis, et S. Johannis Evangeliste.
  Abbas de Welbek est pater abbas.
  Et sexto kalendas Maii, feria quinta, eodem anno, venerunt canonici de Welbek ad monasterium de Hales.
  Filia eius est cenobium de Tychfeilde.
  Tres habet ecclesias quarum canonici sunt vicarii perpetui.
  Episcopus Wyntonie est fundator.
  "Community of Halesowen
  in the county of Shropshire and the diocese of Worcester
  A.D. 1218
  It was founded by Master Peter of the Rocks, Bishop of Winchester,
  in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Feast of the Assumption, and of St John the Evangelist.
  The abbot of Welbeck is the father abbot,
  and on the sixth of May (the fifth weekday) of that year canons from Welbeck came to Hales.
  Its daughter house is the community of Titchfield.
  It has three churches, of which canons are the perpetual vicars.
  
  The bishop of Winchester is the founder/patron."
  The acceptance of the abbot of Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire as the father abbot of Halesowen, and its basis in a colonisation from that abbey on 6 May 1218, suggest a reason for the delayed formal foundation of the abbey. King John's confirmatory charter of 1215 had implied that there was already a Premonstratensian community at Halesowen, although it did not mention where the canons had come from. If there was an early Premonstratensian settlement of the site by 1215, it seems that a further colonisation from Welbeck was needed to bring the numbers up to the requisite level. Certainly substantial building work was being carried out in 1218, as Peter des Roches received a royal grant of £17 3s. 4d. to meet the costs of it. Although the exact date of the foundation is nowhere stated, it is likely that Halesowen was consecrated on the Feast of the Assumption in 1218, early in the reign of Henry III.
  Building and possibly rebuilding continued for some years, as early in 1223 Brian de Lisle was instructed to have made for the bishop sixty copula de cablecio from the royal Forest of Kinver for the
caption: Tomb of Peter des Roches in Winchester Cathedral.
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