Minster (church) facts for kids

Southwell Minster

A Minster is a special name given to certain important churches in England. Some famous examples are York Minster, Westminster Abbey in London, and Southwell Minster.

Long ago, in the 600s, a "minster" was a place where groups of clergy (religious leaders) lived together. They were given land by kings to pray daily. These minsters were very common in Anglo-Saxon England around the 900s. Over time, their importance changed as parish churches became more common from the 1000s onwards. However, the name "minster" continued to be used for churches that started as important Anglo-Saxon foundations, like cathedrals or monasteries. Today, a minster generally means any large or important church. In recent times, the Church of England has also given the "minster" title to some existing parish churches.

What Does "Minster" Mean?

The word minster comes from the Old English word mynster. This word was a lot like the Latin word monasterium, which came from the Greek word "monasterion." In early English writings, monasterium and mynster were used to describe any group of people who had dedicated their lives to Christian worship. This included small groups of men living away from others, large groups of men and women living in a planned area around a church, or even a widow and her daughters living quietly.

The modern English word "monastery" usually makes us think of monks who live a very strict, quiet life, like the Benedictine or Cistercian orders. But the old meaning of minster was much broader than that.

By the 900s, people started to see a difference between a regular "church" and a "mynster." A "mynster" was seen as a more important or "superior church." It was usually an older church where people had paid their religious dues for a long time. The word "minster" appeared in important old books, like the Ecclesiastical History written by the Venerable Bede in 731.

History of Minsters

Early Anglo-Saxon Times

The first minsters in England were started in the 600s, after Augustine of Canterbury led a mission to the Saxons in 597. One of the first records shows King Oswiu of Northumbria setting up 12 small minsters in 654 or 655. Another record mentions a gift from Alhfrith of Deira to Wilfrid around 660 to help start the minster at Ripon.

More monasteries began to appear around 670, often with large land gifts from kings. Kings would give land to specific people to start a minster. In 734, Bede wrote a letter to Ecgbert, the Archbishop of York. He warned that noble families were taking advantage of the special legal status of the clergy. They were giving too much land to minsters that they controlled. This reduced the amount of land available for military service to the Northumbrian kingdom.

The term 'minster' was used for all religious communities in Anglo-Saxon times. This included groups of monks or other clergy. Many early Anglo-Saxon monasteries also acted like parish churches. They would baptize people, preach, and give sacraments to local people. There were even "double monasteries" with both nuns and male clergy. However, monks could choose not to have these duties. A secular minster always had its own "parish" or local area. It had clear rights, including control over baptisms and burials. It also received payments like church-scot and tithes (a portion of people's income or produce).

The word "minster" comes from the Old English "mynster." This meant a "monastery", a "nunnery", a "mother church", or a "cathedral". It came from the Latin "monasterium" and the Ancient Greek "monasterion." This Greek word meant a group of clergy who would live apart to meditate. So, a "minster" could be any church where the clergy followed a formal rule. This could be a monastery or a chapter (a group of clergy). It could also be a church served by a less formal group of clergy living together.

In the early days of the English Church (from the 500s to the 700s), minsters were the only type of Christian building that stayed in one place. At the very beginning, they were the only permanent group settlements in a culture that did not have towns or cities. Kings, nobles, and bishops were always moving with their followers from one estate to another.

Minsters were often started by the king or a royal thegn (a noble). They would receive a royal charter and land, along with other farming rights. They were also often free from certain duties, especially military service. The leader of the minster was usually from the founder's family. The main goal of a minster was to support the king and the thegn in daily worship. This was especially important for prayers during wartime. Minsters were also founded or given large gifts to make up for royal crimes. An example is Minster-in-Thanet near Ramsgate.

Minsters sometimes took on duties like helping people and spreading Christianity. For example, the three minsters of north-east Herefordshire—Leominster, Bromyard, and Ledbury—were active in their areas before towns were even built there. But at first, these duties seemed less important. In the 800s, almost all English minsters suffered greatly from attacks by Vikings. Even if some clergy remained, the regular monastic life usually stopped. The important role of minsters in the early Christian church in Anglo-Saxon England is sometimes called the "Minster hypothesis."

Later Saxon and Norman Times

After England recovered in the 900s, many minsters that survived were restarted. They followed new types of religious groups that were becoming common in Western Europe. Some became monasteries following the reformed Benedictine rule. Others became collegiate churches or cathedral chapters, following the rule of Chrodegang of Metz.

By the 1000s, a clear order of minsters appeared. Cathedral churches, or head minsters, were the most important in a diocese (a church district). Surviving old minsters were important in an area like an administrative hundred. Newer lesser minsters and field churches were growing in local estates. The difference was that lesser minsters had graveyards, while field churches did not.

A very important change during this time was when the king made tithes compulsory. Tithes were a required religious payment from farm production. This greatly increased the money available to support clergy. But it also strongly encouraged local landowners to start their own local churches. This way, they could keep the tithe money within their own estates.

In the 1000s and 1100s, former lesser minsters and field churches, often served by single priests, grew into the network of parishes we know today. Most of the old minsters then became parish churches. For these parish churches, their past importance was recognized by sometimes keeping the special "minster" title. Sometimes, former estate churches within their old areas were still seen as being of lesser status.

However, some old minsters continued as collegiate churches, where clergy worshipped together. Their clergy were first called 'portioners' because each canon (a type of clergy) was supported by a set part of the college's money. During the 1000s and 1100s, many such former minsters were given new rules. Their money was split among their canons, so each canonry then became a 'prebend' (a payment to a canon). But many former minsters continued as 'portioner' colleges throughout the medieval period.

New Minsters in Recent Times

The Church of England has given the "minster" title to more churches in the 1900s and 2000s. These are existing parish churches that have been given this special honor. Some examples include:

• Dewsbury (1994)
• Sunderland Minster (1998)
• Preston (2003)
• Rotherham (2004)
• Stoke (2005)
• Newport (2008)
• St Andrew's Church, Plymouth (2009)
• Halifax Minster (2009)
• St James's Church in Grimsby (2010)
• Croydon Minster (2011)
• St Margaret's Church Kings Lynn (2011)
• St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth (2011)
• Leeds Parish Church (2012)
• St Mary's Church, Cheltenham (2013)
• Holy Trinity, Hull (2017)

Minsters Today

Today, churches with the "Minster" title can have different backgrounds:

See also

In Spanish: Minster (iglesia) para niños