A DETAILED ANALYSIS of the establishment and growth of Tiron's English priories and its foundations in Wales and Scotland on the Celtic periphery of the Tironensian network shows that the French and British foundations followed strikingly different patterns of development during the course of the twelfth century. The French foundations expanded steadily during the first half of the century, whereas the alien priories established in England ca. 1115– 1150 remained small cells. In Wales and Scotland two Tironensian foundations were elevated to abbeys, but in England other congregations, particularly the Cistercians, expanded more rapidly. The lack of growth of the Tironensian establishments is significant against the larger overall background of generous English religious endowment. In England, the first wave of eremitism involved the monks of Evesham who left their monastery 1073/ 1074 and went to Jarrow, Wearmouth, Whitby, and finally Durham. A second wave occurred in the early twelfth century and included Tiron's small, mainly coastal priories near Southampton and on the Isle of Wight. Their foundation occurred concurrently with the elevation of St. Dogmaels in Wales to abbatial status ca. 1121 and contrasts sharply with it. Henry of Blois (1101– 1171), bishop of Winchester (ca. 1129) and abbot of Glastonbury (1126), was the brother of Tiron's patron Thibaut II, count of Blois-Champagne. Although many of these Tironensian priories and cells were in his diocese, he did not encourage their growth. His other brother, King Stephen, favoured the congregation of Savigny, which was located in his French possessions. Tiron's connection to Count Thibaut II may have made potential English donors reluctant to take sides by supporting Tironensian foundations during the civil wars (ca. 1138– 1152). Moreover, the congregation of Cîteaux had emerged as an alternative reformed order. The English nobility favoured the Cistercians, whose abbeys were less costly to found while remaining a source of political and financial influence for their patrons. Thibaut II's son Henry II, count of Champagne, was also generous to the Cistercian order.

Another factor may be the personality and political connections of the abbot. The English background of Stephen Harding was probably not significant, since he was considered a member of the Norman ruling class.