The Regularis Concordia, or Monastic Agreement, was a document produced at Winchester

Winchester

Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, in about 970.

The document was compiled by Æthelwold

Æthelwold of Winchester

Æthelwold of Winchester , was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England....

, who was aided by monks from Fleury

Fleury

Fleury can refer to:* Abbo of Fleury abbot of the monastery of Fleury* Andrew of Fleury, historian from the monstery of Fleury* Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus , chief minister of Louis XV of France...

 and Ghent

Ghent

Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

. A synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

al council was summoned to construct a common rule of life to be observed by all monasteries. The resulting compilation of various Western European monastic practices

Monasticism

Monasticism is a religious way of life characterized by the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote one's self to spiritual work...

 did not contain much that was unique to English customs. It did specify a procedure for the election

Election

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...

 of bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s that differed from Continental

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

 practice, and which led to a predominantly monastic episcopacy.

Manuscripts

• London, BL
  British Library
  The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
  
  , MS Faustina B III, f. 159r-198r.
• London, BL
  British Library
  The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
  
  , MS Tiberius A III, f. 3-27.

Primary sources

Regularis Concordia

• Regularis Concordia, ed. and tr. D.T. Symons, Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis Monachorum Sanctimonialiumque. The Monastic Agreement of the Monks and Nuns of the English Nation. London, 1953.

Ælfric's Letter to the monks of Eynsham

• Letter to the Monks of Eynsham, ed. and tr. C. A. Jones, Ælfric’s Letter to the Monks of Eynsham. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 24. Cambridge, 1998.

Old English versions

1. A continuous Old English interlinear gloss in BL
   British Library
   The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
   
   , MS Tiberius A III f. (Faustina), ed. Lucia Kornexl, Die Regularis Concordia und ihre altenglische Interlinearversion. Edition mit Einleitung und Kommentar. Münchener Universitäts-Schriften 17. Munich, 1993.
2. Two fragments of Old English prose translations:
   1. Old English translation of §§ 36-43 in London, BL
      British Library
      The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
      
      , MS Tiberius A III, f. 174-7 (previously preceding the Latin text of MS Faustina B III), ed. A. Schröer, "De consuetudine monachorum." Englische Studien 9 (1886): 290-96.
   2. Old English translation of §§ 14-19 in Cambridge, CCC
      Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
      Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
      
      , MS 201 (Part A), pp. 1-7, ed. J. Zuptiza, "Ein weiteres Bruchstück der Regularis Concordia in altenglischer Sprache." ASNSL 84 (1890): 1-24.