Adam of Eynsham (died after 1233) was a medieval English chronicler and writer. He was a monk and

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of Eynsham Abbey. Adam was born around 1155 in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

to a middle-class family. His father, a doctor in Oxford, was named Edmund. Edmund's other children included William and Edmund.Farmer
Eynsham, Adam of (b. c.1155, d. in or after 1233)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Adam entered Eynsham Abbey and was later appointed as

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

before 1197. In that year a dispute arose between Hugh of Lincoln, the

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

, who held the right of patronage over Eynsham, and King

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

, over rights to the abbey. Adam appears as the presumed compiler of the Eynsham

cartulary A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll ('' rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...

drawn up at that point for the bishop's use in this argument. Hugh then named Adam his chaplain, and he became Hugh's constant companion until the bishop died in 1200. This experience led Adam to write ''Magna Vita Sancti Hugonis'' or ''The Life of St Hugh of Lincoln''. This work became Adam's claim to fame, and is one of the more trustworthy and fullest of the hagiographies existing from the Middle Ages. Adam went to France while England was under an interdict during the later part of King John's reign, but when the interdict was lifted, Hugh's successor at Lincoln, Hugh of Wells, named Adam the Abbot of Eynsham in 1213. Adam was deposed by Hugh of Wells for being a "manifest dilapidator" of the monastery's property, on 1 June 1228 but is still referred to as abbot on 10 June.Smith ''Heads of Religious Houses II'' p. 43 Eynsham had fallen into debt, and even though it had repaid the debts, the bishop still deposed Adam. After his deposition from office, Adam retired to Little Rollright in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, and in 1233 he was allowed an exemption from having to do suit for the manor he was residing on. Presumably, he died soon after this occurrence. The ''Vita'' of Hugh was written at the request of two monks of Winchester and was completed about 1212. It effectively supplanted all earlier works about Hugh, and although reliable for events during Hugh's adult life, has some errors in the sections dealing with Hugh's early life.Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 381 footnote 4 The monastic historian David Knowles calls the work a "clear and living picture of the great bishop".Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 388 Another work by Adam was a description of a vision that his brother Edmund saw in 1196, titled ''The Vision of the Monk of Eynsham'', which survives in a few manuscripts.

Citations

References

* * *

Citations

References

Further reading