The English monastic experience, 15th - 21st centuries: Syon Abbey at 600

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Syon Abbey is the only English religious house that can trace its history in an unbroken line from the Middle Ages to the present day. The monastery, for 60 nuns and 12 priests under the authority of an abbess, was founded in 1415, the last foundation of medieval England, and one of the richest. The Abbey was not dissolved under Henry VIII. Instead the community went into exile, living at a succession of sites in Holland and France (as well as a short-lived restoration under Queen Mary) before settling in Lisbon (Portugal) in 1594. There they remained until the 19th century, when increased religious toleration allowed them to return to England. They stayed at several locations in South-West England, before settling near South Brent in Devon. The Abbey finally closed in 2011, though the three surviving sisters continue its traditions in retirement.That long and complicated narrative, that traverses much of northern Europe through periods of enormous religious, social and political change, presents a daunting challenge to anyone proposing a comprehensive history of England's last medieval monastery. But the opportunity Syon Abbey represents to bring together the whole, diverse range of scholarship on the English monastic experience across six centuries is not to be passed up.In Syon's sexcenentary year, the project will take substantial steps towards making that comprehensive history a reality. We will develop a research network that, collectively, has the expertise to encompass the whole of Syon's lengthy history, and that will foster conversations among scholars whose specialisms (in different disciplines and time periods) more commonly keep them apart. We will also bring people from outside the academic community into those conversations, including amateur historians, archivists and other custodians of Syon's material legacy, and current members of the religious orders. At the centre of the network will be a series of three workshops, to be held at the three principal sites associated with Syon Abbey: Syon House, Lisbon and Exeter. But the project will also face outward, through general-interest talks, exhibitions, and a public commemoration held in the meadows of Syon House (London), within the outline of the foundations of the medieval Abbey.