Like all abbeys, Bec maintained annals of the house but uniquely its first abbots also received individual biographies, brought together by the monk of Bec,
Milo Crispin. Because of the abbey's cross-Channel influence, these
hagiographic lives sometimes disclose historical information of more than local importance.
Name
The name of the abbey derives from the bec, or
stream, that runs nearby. The word derives from the Scandinavian root, bekkr.[2]
First foundation
The abbey was founded in 1034 by
Saint Herluin,[n 1] whose
life was written by
Gilbert Crispin,
Abbot of Westminster, formerly of Bec, and collated with three other lives by
Milo Crispin. Abbey construction began in 1034 and continued through 1035. Further lands were added through 1040.[4] Saint Herluin was a
Norman knight who in about 1031 left the court of
Gilbert, Count of Brionne, to devote himself to a life of religion: the commune of Le Bec Hellouin preserves his name. One hundred and thirty-six monks made their profession while Herluin was in charge.[5]
With the arrival of
Lanfranc of Pavia, Bec became a focus of 11th century intellectual life. Lanfranc, who was already famous for his lectures at
Avranches, came to teach as prior and master of the monastic school, but left in 1062, to become abbot of
St. Stephen's Abbey,
Caen, and later
Archbishop of Canterbury. He was followed as abbot by
Anselm, also later an Archbishop of Canterbury, as was the fifth abbot,
Theobald of Bec. Many distinguished ecclesiastics, probably including the future
Pope Alexander II and Saint
Ivo of Chartres, were educated in the school at Bec.
The life of the founder (Vita Herluini) was written by
Gilbert Crispin. Archbishop Lanfranc also wrote a Chronicon Beccense of the life of Herlui. Milo Crispin's biography of the first four abbots was published at Paris in 1648.[6]
The followers of
William the Conqueror supported the abbey, enriching it with extensive properties in
England. Bec also owned and managed
St Neots Priory as well as a number of other British foundations, including
Goldcliff Priory in
Monmouthshire founded in 1113 by Robert de Chandos. The village of
Tooting Bec, now a London suburb, is so named because the abbey owned the land.
Bec Abbey was the original burial place of the
Empress Matilda, whose bones were later transferred to
Rouen Cathedral, where they remain.
Bec Abbey was damaged during the
Wars of Religion and left a ruin in the
French Revolution but the 15th-century St. Nicholas Tower (Tour Saint-Nicolas) from the medieval monastery is still standing.[7]
Second foundation
In 1948 the site was re-established as the Abbaye de Notre-Dame du Bec by
Olivetan monks led by Dom Grammont, who effected some restorations. The abbey is known for its links with
Anglicanism and has been visited by successive archbishops of Canterbury. The abbey library contains the John Graham Bishop deposit of 5,000 works concerning Anglicanism.
Today the Abbey is probably best known for the pottery the monks produce.
Anonymous. Chronique du Bec et Chronique de François Carré (ed. A.-A. Porée). Rouen: Meétŕie, 1883.
Anonymous. De libertate Beccensis monasterii. In
Giles Constable (ed.) and Bernard S. Smith (trans.), Three Treatises from Bec on the Nature of Monastic Life. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 2008.
Anselm. Sancti Anselmi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi Opera Omnia (ed. F.S. Schmitt). Stuttgart: Frommann, 1968.
Chibnall, Marjorie. The English Lands of the Abbey of Bec. Oxford: OUP, 1968 [1946].
Crouch, David. The Beaumont Twins: The Roots and Branches of Power in the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: CUP, 1986.
Gazeau, Véronique. "From Bec to Canterbury: Between Cloister and World, the Legacy of Anselm, a personne d’autorité." In Giles E.M. Gasper and Ian Logan (edd.), Saint Anselm of Canterbury and His Legacy. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2012.