Clerical Concubinage and English Exceptionalism

Historians of England have long claimed that English clerics were better behaved than their continental peers. Citing statistics from Spain, France, and the Italian peninsula, they have argued – based on scant evidence – that priests in England were unlikely to commit fornication or to hold concubines. Research from the diocese of Hereford, however, shows that many parish priests had short- and long-term relationships with women. But is Hereford – a remote diocese on the border of Wales – simply an anomaly? This paper will discuss evidence from Hereford and other English dioceses to assess whether this particular facet of English “exceptionalism” is grounded in documentary evidence or merely based on historiographical tradition.