Mynsters and Parishes: Some Evidence and Conclusions from Wiltshire

Fortunate historians find themselves taught or supervised by an academic who inspires and whose reputation for knowledge, scholarship and judgement proves to be justified during the experience. A desire to emulate that teacher or supervisor is likely to result and, though often remaining unrealised, may still result in small contributions to our knowledge of the past. Whether it is fortunate to begin a programme of research at a time when the foundations of the topic are under attack is less certain. The ‘minster model’1 describes a system of early medieval pastoral provision based on a network of churches which, being generally the oldest in their parishes, had responsibilities towards, and rights over, those parishes—the latter, naturally, larger at the time than parishes of the later medieval period. In accordance with their functions, typically these ‘minsters’ required a staff of several clergy and a landed endowment to match. Aspects of the model have been a matter of debate, fuelled by questions of terminology and by scepticism, particularly as to how early a network of mynster parishes might have existed.2 Though understandable in light of the available evidence, some of this seemed founded on