English Benedictine Reform

The English Benedictine Reform or Monastic Reform was a movement in the English church in the late tenth century. Minsters staffed by secular clergy, who provided pastoral services to their parishioners, and were often married, were converted to Benedictine monasteries of contemplative monks. The movement was inspired by European monastic reforms, and it commenced under the sponsorship of King Edgar (959-975). Simon Keynes describes it as "the particular aspect of his reign which has come to dominate all others". The leading figures were Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, and Oswald, Archbishop of York.