Page 14 - Illustrated Reditch History
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Founding The Abbey - The Empress and
Hugh Waleran
The Empress and her husband would have met the
twins, Hugh and Robert Waleran, at court. They were
two years younger than the Empress. Their father had
been Count of Meulan but he had died when the boys
were 14 and their mother had asked the king to look
after them and their property. Hugh Waleran became
Count of Worcester and would have known about the
marshes of Osmerley. His brother was a lawyer and had
already helped to build an abbey at Garenden in
Leicestershire. They decided to build a new monastery
at Osmerley. It was on the edge of the Forest of
Feckenham from where they could get plenty of wood,
and so the new monastery was called Bordesley,
meaning 'the place where boards were obtained'.
If you founded a monastery you had to give a plot of
land. You also needed to give money and property to
provide an income to pay for the upkeep. The Empress gave generously including
the church at Areley Kings. Once people heard that the Empress was involved, they
were willing to donate as well. All the gifts were listed in a document known as a
charter. This says that the Empress and Henry (her young son) founded and endowed
the abbey of Bordesley 'for the love of God and of King Henry my father, (Henry I,
who died in 1135) and Geoffrey Count of Anjou my lord (her husband, still living)
and the queen my mother (she had died in 1118).
An important document needs a witness. The witness was Hugh Waleran.
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