Monasticism in late medieval England, c.1300-1535' provides the first collection of translated sources on this subject. The volume covers both male and female houses of all orders and sizes, and offers a range of new perspectives on the character and reputation of English monasteries in the later middle ages.
The first section surveys the internal affairs of English monasteries, including recruitment, the monastic economy, standards of observance and learning. The second part looks at the relations between monasteries and the world, exploring the monastic contribution to late medieval...

At the very end of the eleventh century, the German monk Frutolf of Michelsberg completed a chronicle that would become one of the most significant historical works of the middle ages. Frutolf's Chronicle offered not only a learned history of the world beginning with the Creation, but an important eyewitness account of the conflict between the German emperors and the papacy known today as the Investiture Contest. Such was his chronicle's significance that it was continued, adapted and copied many times during the twelfth century and beyond.
This book offers the first English translation...

Exempla are illustrative stories used by preachers to seize the attention of their congregations and to drive home a moral lesson. This book presents annotated translations from two collections of exempla, one Franciscan and one Dominican, put together in the British Isles around 1275.
The two collections used are amongst the earliest to survive from the British Isles. The 270 exempla translated cover a wide range of topics, both ecclesiastical and secular, and offer vivid insights into medieval life and attitudes in the broadest sense.
An introduction discusses the place of preaching...

Exempla are illustrative stories used by preachers to seize the attention of their congregations and to drive home a moral lesson. This book presents annotated translations from two collections of exempla, one Franciscan and one Dominican, put together in the British Isles around 1275.
The two collections used are amongst the earliest to survive from the British Isles. The 270 exempla translated cover a wide range of topics, both ecclesiastical and secular, and offer vivid insights into medieval life and attitudes in the broadest sense.
An introduction discusses the place of preaching...

Characterised by war and rebellion, show trials, scandalous royalty, horrible murders, attempts to solve the Irish question, and the making of England's oldest alliance, the political history of the first twenty years (1377-97) of Richard II's reign forms an ideal subject for student study.
This accessible collection of translated documents makes available for the first time a wealth of sources covering this dramatic and important period, carefully chosen and arranged to form a coherent narrative. It combines key passages from well-known English chronicles with lesser-known sources,...

The Reformation, which began under Henry VIII, transformed English religion. For many the spirituality of the preceding period remains largely unknown, or overburdened with Protestant mythology of decadence. This book seeks to explore the nature of religious belief and practice in pre-Reformation England, using original source material to make the debates accessible.
The book begins with an analytical chapter discussing the varieties of spirituality in later medieval England and the ways in which they received expression, through participation in church services, actions like pilgrimages,...