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The story of the English Benedictine Community of St Edmund, King and Martyr, now at Douai Abbey, Woolhampton, Berkshire, England, is most clearly traced through its archives which have accompanied the Community around its various vicissitudes and homes [Paris, 1615, Douai in northern France, 1819, and Woolhampton, 1903].

Inevitably, parts of the collection have been lost or discarded on the way, and material which originally formed part of the Community’s archive is now, for instance, to be found in Paris, Lille, and the British Library, London. Schemes for cataloguing the archive drawn up in the 19th and early 20th centuries tended to rely on location of material. A more generic scheme was introduced in the 1980s and remains in present use.

Douai Abbey is a monastery of the English Benedictine Congregation and its history was intimately related to that body until 1900 when the priory of St Edmund, Douai, became an abbey, and thus achieved autonomy whilst still remaining a member of the EBC. The first category of material in the archives therefore relates to the Congregation and includes lists, minutes of general chapters, official books and letters of the officials, such as the President General.

The English Benedictines have always maintained a missionary apostolate, and the next category of material relates to the mission in England, divided between the north and south provinces, and the mission abroad, notably the work of monks in Australia and Mauritius.

From 1890, the various English missions, soon to become parishes, were allocated to the monasteries of Downside, Ampleforth and Douai. The archives at Douai Abbey hold material, including registers, for thirty five parishes in England and Wales, all at one time served by monks. The list begins with Aberkenfig in South Wales, and ends with Wootton Wawen in Warkwickshire.

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As a Benedictine Abbey, Douai is part of the worldwide Benedictine Confederation, established by Pope Leo XIII in the closing years of the 19th century and centred on the abbey of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. Papers relating to the Confederation form the next class of material in the archives.

Inevitably, material relating to the Community of St Edmund [Douai Abbey] forms the bulkiest item in the present archives. Brought together here into three main categories are documents relating to the community’s domicile in Paris, Douai [France], and Woolhampton.

The Woolhampton material reflects what would be found in the archives of any Benedictine abbey:

• The Monastery: papers of the ten abbots, annals, lists, minutes
• Documents relating to the Church: liturgy, buildings and effects
• Guests and lay persons associated with the Community
• Publications
• The Bursar’s Office
• The School: headmasters’ papers, prospectuses, student curricula and activities, the Douai Society for past pupils

There follows material relating to the Community’s dependent priories and houses:

• La Celle-sur-Morin and Planques in France
• Great Malvern and Ditcham Park in England.

Finally, there are the files of personal papers of individual monks, and material describing relations with the Holy See and diocesan bishops.

There is a separate collection of pictorial records, amongst which is a large collection of photographs dating from the late 19th-century.

The archive catalogue ends with papers referring to other English Benedictine monasteries.