Introduction
Goscelin of Canterbury was a Flemish monk who settled in England during the 1060s. He preserved many records of the English just in time to save them from obliteration by the Normans, who overran the country’s highest offices following the Conquest of 1066. As he tells us, however, not everyone could bear to stay and watch.
WITH the first king from among the Normans, William, holding England in his grip, a respectable man* nurtured in the community of Blessed Augustine* emigrated along with many high-born refugees from his homeland to Constantinople.*
So much favour did he find there with the Emperor and Empress* and other powerful figures that he received command over experienced military men, and a large part of their fellows; no foreigner had obtained such an honour in many a long year. He took an aristocratic and wealthy wife, and in acknowledgment of God’s beneficence built a basilica adjoining his own home, dedicated to his patrons, Blessed Nicholas and Blessed Augustine.
If he is the same man as the English refugee who, according to the Laon Chronicle, built a church at Constantinople around this time, then his name was Coleman.
In Latin, de curia et nutritura B. Augustini. Our man would appear to have been educated by the monks. On St Augustine’s mission to England in 597, see The Baptism of Kent. The monastery he founded at Canterbury lasted until 1538, when Henry VIII liquidated it.
Constantinople was founded in 330 on the site of the town of Byzantium astride the Bosphorus, where Asia meets Europe on the western coast of the Black Sea. It is now called Istanbul. Constantinople became the capital of the Roman Empire, and remained so until the fall of the City and the Empire to the Turks in 1453. On the migration of the English to Constantinople, see also Welcome to Micklegarth and, from the Norse sagas, The Voyage of Sigurd.
Alexius Komnenos (r. 1081-1118) and his consort Irene Doukaina (?1066-1138). Their able but ambitious daughter Anna Komnene (Comnena) is remembered today for her failed rebellion against her brother Emperor John II, and for the biography of her father, Alexiad, that she wrote in her banishment.
Précis
Shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a man from Kent emigrated to Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. As he had been brought up by the monks at Canterbury, he put the fortune and political influence he gained by service in the Imperial army to good use by building a church in honour of St Augustine and St Nicholas. (60 / 60 words)
Shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a man from Kent emigrated to Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. As he had been brought up by the monks at Canterbury, he put the fortune and political influence he gained by service in the Imperial army to good use by building a church in honour of St Augustine and St Nicholas.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: besides, despite, if, not, ought, unless, until, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did the Kentish man leave England forever?
Suggestion
To escape the government of the Normans. (7 words)
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
William the Conqueror invaded in 1066. A nobleman from Kent refused to serve him. He left for Constantinople.