In the general eclipse which overtook almost all the ecclesiastical notabilities of English blood in the years that immediately followed the Conquest, two monastic superiors, near neighbours and friends of each other, had no permanent part. Aethelwig of Evesham is found almost at once occupying a position of responsibility and influence such as was held by no other Englishman, and Wulfstan of Worcester, after a short interval of trial, appears as a trusted agent of the Conqueror and as ultimately acquiring a prestige, due to his personal sanctity of life, such as was enjoyed by none of his contemporaries. In consequence, the two houses governed by them, together with a few neighbours and dependencies, stood for a long time outside the stream of Norman monastic influence, and developed their life along the lines which, as we have seen, were being already followed under the Confessor. This fact, besides its domestic significance for the two monasteries concerned, was destined to have a further and greater importance, for it enabled Evesham to take part in two enterprises of colonization which are wholly without parallel in the history of the period.

The Conquest found Wulfstan still in somewhat of an equivocal position at Worcester, overshadowed by the reputation and varied activities of Archbishop Ealdred, and although, like his metropolitan, he supported the Conqueror after Harold's defeat, it was not till the claims of Thomas of York had been set aside in 1070 that he attained complete freedom of action.