Rebuilding St. Margaret's: Parish Involvement and Community Action in Late Medieval Westminster

Abstract

Historians of the late medieval English parish have debated the level and quality of parishioner involvement. Some see the parish as dominated by the local elite, others argue for broader participation. These debates are hampered by the disconnect between the expectations of medieval clerics charged with regulating parish life and the surviving sources. Historians tend to equate participation and interest with financial support, because the sources that most frequently survive document these practices. Medieval bishops, on the other hand, looked to attendance and reception of the sacraments as signs of Christian commitment carried out in the context of the parish. This article looks at the parish of St. Margaret’s, Westminster and argues that broad participation was key to the parish’s successful financing of their new church, built between 1487 and 1523. The unusually detailed parish records allow us to see that the urban gentry, married and unmarried women, non-elite men, and possibly even the poor all contributed time, money, and interest to the parish’s construction project. While St. Margaret’s cannot stand in for all parishes, the experience of this parish calls into question assumptions about the limited involvement of parishioners in the late Middle Ages.