Editing Robert of Jumièges (section)

==Artistic patronage==
In notable contrast to his successor Stigand, Robert does not figure among the important benefactors to English churches,<ref>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' mentions many of these, but not Robert.</ref> but we know of some transfers to Jumièges of important English church treasures, the first trickle of what was to become a flood of treasure taken to Normandy after the Conquest.<ref>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' pp. 216–222 and ''passim''</ref> These included the relic of the head of [[Saint Valentine]] only recently given to the monks of [[Winchester Cathedral]] by Emma of Normandy. Though the Winchester head remained in place, another one appeared at Jumièges; he "must have clandestinely removed the head, or at least the greater part of it, and left his monks to venerate the empty or nearly empty ''capsa''".<ref>Kelly ''Chaucer'' p. 54</ref> Two of the four most important surviving late [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[illuminated manuscript]]s went the same way,{{efn|The other two being the [[Benedictional of St Aethelwold]] and the [[Harley Psalter]], according to [[D. H. Turner]].<ref name="Turner-Illuminated">Turner "Illuminated Manuscripts" ''Golden Age'' p. 69</ref>}} thus probably preventing their destruction in a series of fires that devastated the major English libraries.<ref>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' pp. 224–225</ref> One is the so-called ''{{ill|Sacramentary of Robert of Jumièges|fr|Sacramentaire de Robert de Jumièges|lt=Missal of Robert of Jumièges}}'', actually a [[sacramentary]] with thirteen surviving full-page miniatures, which bears an inscription apparently in Robert's own hand recording its donation to Jumièges when he was Bishop of London,<ref name="Turner-Illuminated"/> and the other the so-called ''{{ill|Benedictional of Archbishop Robert|fr|Bénédictionnaire de l'archevêque Robert}}'', actually a [[Roman Pontifical|pontifical]] with three remaining full-page miniatures and other decoration (respectively Rouen, Bibliothèque Municipale, Manuscripts Y.6 and Y.7). The latter may well have been commissioned by Æthelgar, Robert's predecessor as archbishop in 988–90, although it is possible the "Archbishop Robert" of the traditional name is Emma's brother [[Robert II (archbishop of Rouen)|Robert, Archbishop of Rouen]] from 990 to 1037.<ref name="Turner60">Turner "Illuminated Manuscripts" ''Golden Age'' p. 60</ref><ref name="Lapidge482">Gameson "Winchester School" ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia'' p. 482</ref>{{efn|The inscription naming it as a gift of "Archbishop Robert" dates from the 17th century and is not clear which Archbishop Robert is being referred to.<ref name="Lawrence83">Lawrence "Anglo-Norman Book Production" ''England and Normandy'' p. 83</ref>}} These masterpieces of the Winchester style were the most elaborately decorated Anglo-Saxon manuscripts known to have reached Normandy, either before or after the Conquest, and influenced the much less-developed local style, though this remained very largely restricted to initials.<ref>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' pp. 225–226</ref>

Before he came to England, Robert had begun the construction of a new abbey church at Jumièges, in the new Romanesque style which was then becoming popular,<ref name="Mason83" /> and introduced to Normandy the [[Westwork|two-towered western facade]] from the [[Rhineland]]. On his return to Normandy he continued to build there,<ref>Gem "Origins" ''Westminster Abbey'' p. 15</ref> and the abbey church was not finished until 1067.<ref name="Higham148">Higham ''Death of Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 148</ref> Although the choir has been torn down, the towers, [[nave]] and [[transept]]s have survived.<ref name="Plant219">Plant "Ecclesiastical Architecture" ''Companion to the Anglo-Norman World'' pp. 219–222</ref> Robert probably influenced Edward the Confessor's rebuilding of the church at Westminster Abbey, the first known building in the Romanesque style in England, which is so described by [[William of Malmesbury]].<ref name="Mason83">Mason ''House of Godwine'' p. 83</ref><ref name="Church51">Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' p. 51 footnote 2</ref> Edward's work began in about 1050 and was completed just before his death in 1065. The recorded name of one of the senior masons, "Teinfrith the churchwright" indicates foreign origins, and Robert may have arranged for Norman masons to be brought over, though other names are English.<ref>Gem "Origins" ''Westminster Cathedral'' pp. 13–15</ref> It is possible that Westminster influenced the building at Jumièges, as the arcade there closely resembles Westminster's arcade, both of them in a style that never became common in Normandy.<ref name="Breese212">Breese "Early Normandy and the Emergence of Norman Romanesque Architecture" ''Journal of Medieval History'' p. 212</ref> The Early Romanesque style of both was to be superseded after the Conquest by the Anglo-Norman High Romanesque style pioneered in [[Canterbury Cathedral]] and [[Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen|St Étienne, Caen]] by [[Lanfranc]].<ref>Gem "English Romanesque Architecture" ''English Romanesque Art'' p. 26</ref>