Abbots of Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury Abbey today.
Seal of Shrewsbury Abbey, 1539, showing a mitred abbot holding the Keys of Peter, symbol of the abbey's patron saint.

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,[1] 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 Parliament from its very beginnings as an institution in 1265.[2] 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.[3]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ob32 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ 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.