The recorded abbots of Shrewsbury run from c 1087, four years after Shrewsbury Abbey's foundation, to 1540, its dissolution under Thomas Cromwell. The abbey was large and well-endowed and the abbots were often important political figures as well as ecclesiastical leaders. They varied greatly over the centuries in ethnic and social origins, intellectual attainments and holiness of life. The first two, Fulchred and Godfred, were imported from Normandy. The remainder seem to have been born in Britain and most, but not all,Angold et al. Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Shrewsbury, note anchors 107-8. in Gaydon and Pugh, History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 2. were elected, or at least selected, from the chapter of the abbey. As important territorial magnates, the abbots were always called to take part in the sessions of the Parliament of England from its very beginnings as an institution in 1265. As important figures in the Western Catholic Church, abbots were permitted by the Pope to wear the pontifical ring from 1251 and the mitre from 1397.Angold et al. Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Shrewsbury, note anchors 163-4. in Gaydon and Pugh, History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 2.
Dates and procedures For the earlier abbots, dating and detail are uncertain as most of the evidence comes from chroniclers, whose focus generally lay elsewhere, although Orderic Vitalis was close to events in the first few decades. Any chronicles of the abbey itself are lost. It is impossible to be sure that any listing of abbots is complete. From the reign of Henry III of England key dates become easier, as the abbey was under royal patronage and the published Patent Rolls record key events in the succession of abbots. These are: Licence to elect a new abbot. This could only be issued after the previous abbot had died and been buried or had formally resigned in a letter to the local bishop. Licences were issued in response to a petition from the monks of the abbey. For example, when John de Drayton died in 1292, two monks had to travel to Northumberland to petition the king and they obtained a licence on 27 May. They then had to get take this back to Shrewsbury before the chapter could be gathered and an election held. Notification of royal assent to the election of an abbot. This was sent to the diocesan bishop so that he could arrange to confirm and consecrate the abbot. For example, when William of Muckley was elected as successor to John of Drayton the news had to be taken all the way back to the Scottish border, where the king notified his assent on 20 June 1292. The notification then had to be taken back to the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, wherever he might be, so that he could arrange the consecration. If available, he would do this in person. Mandates to restore the temporalities. The abbey's assets fell into the king's hands during a vacancy and were normally exploited through the county or regional escheator, who paid the king for the farm of the revenues, and might sub-let them. The lands and privileges of the abbey were restored only after the king was informed by the bishop that the abbot had been confirmed. As the abbey acquired lands in several counties, there might need to be a mandate for each of them. The mandates could only be issued when the king heard from the bishop that the abbot had been duly consecrated. As the king was still conducting operations against the Scots, it is not surprising that it took until 2 July for the king to hear from the bishop and to issue the mandate to restore temporalities to William of Muckley, and presumably much longer for the escheator and tenants to hear of it and take action. As examples below will demonstrate, the mandate could be deliberately delayed, on a variety of excuses, to prolong lay exploitation of the abbey's substantial estates. The writ de intendendo. Generally issued with the mandate to restore temporalities, this informed the abbey's many tenants that they had a new landlord, who was a tenant-in-chief of the king and that they should show due obedience to him. These events only give clues to the dates of abbots' successions, although they are generally helpful. Actual election dates, and the dates of deaths and resignations, are sometimes in the records of the Diocese of Lichfield, but these are far less full than the royal records in the Patent Rolls. There was an obvious temptation for kings in need of money to prolong the process at any point in order to milk the abbey's resources, as Henry VII seems to have done.
Fulchred c. 1087 – c. 1115/9 Shrewsbury Abbey was founded in 1083 by Roger de Montgomery, on the instance of Ordelirius, one of his clerks,Ordericus, Le Prévost (ed). Historiæ ecclesiasticæ, Volume 2, p. 420.Ordericus, Forester (trans.). Ecclesiastical History, Volume 2, p. 201. and using the site of St Peter's church, which Roger had previously granted to Ordelirius. The founding colony consisted of two monks brought from St Martin's Abbey in Séez, southern Normandy: these were Reginald and Frodo.Ordericus, Le Prévost (ed). Historiæ ecclesiasticæ, Volume 2, p. 421.Ordericus, Forester (trans.). Ecclesiastical History, Volume 2, p. 202. The first abbot, Fulchred (Foucher in modern French), is not mentioned as present before the organised conventual life of the abbey was inaugurated. This was probably late in 1087, as Orderic Vitalis, son of Ordelirius the clerk, and very likely an eye-witness of the events,Angold et al. Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Shrewsbury, note anchor 3. in Gaydon and Pugh, History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 2. attests that this was in the reign of William Rufus. Orderic describes Fulchred as "eloquent" and quotes at length an important specimen of his oratory. A monk of Gloucester Abbey had vision, in which a divine prediction of the imminent death of William Rufus was delivered.Ordericus, Le Prévost (ed). Historiæ ecclesiasticæ, Volume 4, p. 83.Ordericus, Forester (trans.). Ecclesiastical History, Volume 3, p. 261. Abbot Serlo wrote to the king, informing him of the vision. On the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, 1 August 1100, Fulchred was a guest preacher at Gloucester and mounted the pulpit to deliver a diatribe against the state of the country under Rufus.
Latin EnglishAnglia prophanis ad conculcationem datur in hereditate quia repleta est terra iniquitate. Totum corpus maculatur multiformis lepra nequitiae, et a capite usque ad pedes occupavit illud languor malitiae, Effrenis enim superbia ubique volitat, et omnia, si dici fas est, etiam stellas coeli conculcat. Discincta libido vasa fictilia, sed et aurea coinquinat, et insatiabilis avaritia quaeque potest devorat. En subitanea rerum instabit immutatio. Non diu dominabuntur effeminati. Dominus Deus publicos sponsae sum hostes judicare veniet, Moab et Edom rumfea manifestae ultionis percutiet, et terribili commotione montes Gelboe subivertet. Ira Dei transgressoribus ultra non parcet. Iam coelestis ultio super filios infidelitatis desaeviet. Ecce arcus superni furoris contra reprobos intensus est, et sagitta velox ad vulnerandum de pharetra extracta est. Repente iam feriet, seseque corrigendo sapiens omnis ictum declinet.Ordericus, Le Prévost (ed). Historiæ ecclesiasticæ, Volume 4, p. 85-6.England is allowed to become a heritage trodden under foot by the profane, because the land is full of iniquity. Its whole body is spotted by the leprosy of a universal iniquity, and infected by the disease of sin from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet. Unbridled pride stalks abroad, swelling, if I may say it, even above the stars of heaven. Dissolute lust pollutes not only vessels of clay, but those of gold, and insatiable avarice devours all it can lay hands on. But lo! a sudden change of affairs is threatened. The libertines shall not always bear rule, the Lord God will come to judgment of the open enemies of his spouse, and strike Moab and Edom with the sword of his signal vengeance, and overthrow the mountains of Gilboa with a fearful convulsion. The anger of the Lord shall no longer spare transgressors, and the wrath of heaven shall rage against the unbelieving children. The bow of divine vengeance is bent on the reprobate, and the swift arrow taken from the quiver is ready to wound. The blow will soon be struck, but the man who is wise enough to correct his sins will avoid the infliction.Ordericus, Forester (trans.). Ecclesiastical History, Volume 3, p. 262.
The king was killed while hunting in the New Forest the very next day, creating an impression of Fulchred's prophetic insight and power.
The succession of the new king Henry I was accompanied by a period of turbulence and the revolt of Earl Roger's son, Robert of Bellême, in 1102 resulted in his expropriation, leaving the abbey without the powerful local protection it had enjoyed.Angold et al. Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Shrewsbury, note anchor 24 in Gaydon and Pugh, History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 2. The king himself became patron and he was fairly slow to vindicate the abbey in disputes, except when near the scene. He did, for example confirm Robert's gift of land at Baschurch to Fulchred, probably while the campaign against Robert in Shropshire and Staffordshire was still going on.Farrer, p. 15, no. 43. However, when he was away, the children of donors tried to evade their obligations. For example, Siward the Fat, the original Anglo-Saxon founder of St Peter's church at Shrewsbury, had given up any claims he might have to the abbey site in return for a life-time grant from Earl Roger of the estate of Langafeld,Owen and Blakeway, p. 20. now Cheney Longville This should have passed to the abbey on his death but Fulchred had to pay Siward's son, Aldred, £15 before he would hand over the estate. Fulchred seems to have devoted much of his energy in his later years to this piecemeal defence of the abbey's endowments. The king vindicated Fulchred in a dispute with royal forest officialsFarrer, p. 32, no. 133. and also wrote to Richard de Belmeis I, his viceroy in the Welsh Marches and the lesser officials and barons of the region to make clear that the abbey was free of all customs, as in the days of Earl Roger and of his sons, Earl Hugh and Robert of Bellême.Farrer, p. 42, no. 186.
John Stow in the 16th century recorded that Fulchred was a son of the Earl Roger, although his authority for this is not known.Owen and Blakeway, p. 106. The date of Fulchred's death is very uncertain. Some, following Browne Willis, place it as early as 1113,Farrer, p. 64, no. 297A. while others favour a date as late as 1119.Angold et al. Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Shrewsbury: Abbots of Shrewsbury. in Gaydon and Pugh, History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 2.
Godfred or Godfrey c 1115/9 - 1128 Godfred, also from Séez, had a reputation as a learned man and preacher.