Ora et Guberna. The Economic Impact of the Rule of St Benedict in Medieval England

Within the turmoil of the Norman Conquest, did religious institutions
affect the economic outcomes of their land? Exploiting historical data about
the changes of holdings’ lordship occurred after the Conquest, we compare the
economic performance of estates controlled by different types of lords.
Holdings controlled by Benedictine Monasteries (vis-à-vis secular lords)
experienced a better performance, although, once accounting for the unchanging
upper level of the feudal structure, we cannot fully disentangle this effect
from the persistence of Benedictine overlordship. A comparison with Celtic
monasteries, with a different organisational structure, suggests a role for the
governance structure of Benedictine monasteries.