Alan of Tewkesbury
ALAN OF TEWKESBURY
Benedictine abbot, writer; d. 1202. Alan entered the monastery at Canterbury in 1174 on his return from Benevento where he had been a canon. When Herlewin resigned in 1179, Alan became prior. He incurred the enmity of henry ii because he supported Thomas Becket, obtained the privilege of collecting peter's pence, and objected to the choice of Baldwin as archbishop of Canterbury. Though Alan later recognized baldwin of canterbury, the latter transferred him to the abbey of tewkesbury, where he was abbot in 1186. Alan wrote a life of Becket and an account of the Clarendon Council (see clarendon, constitutions of). Also extant are his letters to Henry concerning the translation of Becket's remains, and to Baldwin claiming for Canterbury certain rights over the see of rochester.
Bibliography: Materials for History of Archbishop Thomas Becket, ed. j. c. robertson, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores 67.2:299–352. gervaise of canterbury, Historical Works, ed. w. stubbs, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores 73.1:293. j. b. mullinger, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900 1:214–15. r. biron, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 1:1318. j. de ghellinck, L'Essor de la littérature latine au XII e siècle 1:132; 2:174–75.
[m. l. mistretta]