Robert of Shrewsbury (died 1168)

Robert of Shrewsbury
Abbot of Shrewsbury
Interior of Shrewsbury Abbey
Church	Catholic
Archdiocese	Province of Canterbury
Appointed	1148
Term ended	1168
Predecessor	Ranulf
Successor	Adam
Personal details
Born	Possibly Downing, Flintshire
Died	1168 Shrewsbury
Previous post	Prior of Shrewsbury

Robert of Shrewsbury (died 1168) or Robertus Salopiensis was a Benedictine monk, prior and later abbot of Shrewsbury Abbey, and a noted hagiographer.

Robert was a common name in the 12th century among the Anglo-Norman ruling class, so there must have been numerous Roberts of Shrewsbury. Robert the monk is to be distinguished especially from the Robert of Shrewsbury, a secular cleric, who became Bishop of Bangor towards the end of the century. The monk Robert is thought to have been a member of the Pennant family of Downing, a few miles north-west of Holywell, the fountain of Saint Winifred. If so, it is unlikely he was born in Shrewsbury: the toponymic cognomen probably just refers to his long-term connection with the abbey. He appears first as prior of the abbey in 1137, suggesting a birth date around the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries.

As prior of Shrewsbury Abbey, Robert is generally credited with greatly promoting the cult of St Winifred by translating her relics from Gwytherin to Shrewsbury Abbey and writing the most influential life of the saint. Robert's own account of the translation is attached to the life. It relates that the monks of Shrewsbury Abbey, after its foundation by Roger of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, lamented their house's lack of relics. They had heard that the bodies of many saints lay in Wales. During the reign of Henry I one of the brothers fell prey to a mental illness and the sub-prior Ralph had a dream in which a beautiful virgin told him the sick man would recover if they went to celebrate Mass at the fountain of St Winifred. Ralph kept quiet about the vision, fearing derision, until the monk had been ill for forty days. As soon as he revealed it, the brothers sent two of their number who were ordained priests to celebrate Mass at Holywell. The sick man immediately began to recover and achieved full health after he too had visited the shrine and bathed in the pool.