Furthermore, he founded two abbeys, both in Suffolk; Butley for Black Canons, in 1171, and Leiston, for White Canons, in 1183; also a leper hospital at Somerton, in Norfolk.[1] Ranulf distributed lands including Butley priory to his daughters prior to his death perhaps to avoid inheritance law and to be sure that his property was disposed of in accordance with his wishes. Hubert Walter, as previously discussed became the Bishop of Salisbury and Chief Justiciar himself, helped undoubtedly by his association with Ranulf.[2] Founding abbeys was perhaps from a wellspring of religious feeling but also for the purpose of upward mobility as this was the conduct of “the group to which they aspired. In this way the decision to found resulted from their view of their social position. It was an announcement, and a public act of conformity.”[3][4]

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    [1] Butley was an Augustinian house and Leiston was a Premonstratensian house. Ranulf and his extended family almost exclusively founded houses of those persuasions. See Richard Mortimer, Religious and Secular Motives for Some English Monastic Foundations Dugmore CW. Religious Motivation: Biographical and Sociological Problems for the Church Historian, Edited by Derek Baker, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 1980, p 81-82.

[2] “He was a kinsman of Ranulf de Glanville and had probably acted as his personal assistant,”

Warren The Governance of Norman and Angevin England 1086-1272, p 13.

[3] Mortimer, Religious and Secular Motives for Some English Monastic Foundations p.84

[4] In psychological terms it would be considered Behavioral Modeling as those looking to ascend to the ranks of the elite observed and modeled the actions of those “above” them. See the work of Albert Bandura on this phenomenon: https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html, see also M.J. Fryling, C. Johnston, L.J.Hayes. Understanding observational learning: an interbehavioral approach. Anal Verbal Behav. 2011;27(1):191-203. doi: 10.1007/BF03393102. PMID: 22532764; PMCID: PMC3139552.