This is the first of a series of volumes which have become recognised as one of the great monuments of English historical scholarship. The late Dom David Knowles began work on the subject in 1929; The Monastic Order in England appeared in 1948, 1955 and 1959. This volume begins the account of a whole way of Christian life and a unique element of English civilisation, from Anglo-Saxon times to the mid-sixteenth century. It opens with a survey of monastic life and activities of the old orders to 1340; goes on to record the impact of the Friars, and concludes with a general survey of the...

This is the first of two volumes, which together form a catalogue of abbots and priors, abbesses and prioresses, of English and Welsh monastic houses between 940 and 1377. This present volume covers the period to 1216, and provides invaluable material for specialists in the period to study the biographies and personalities of the monastic orders, and to date undated documents. First published in 1972, it won international acclaim as a fundamental tool of medieval research. It is now reissued with substantial additions and corrections by Professor C.N.L. Brooke.

First published in 1951, Professor Knowles introduces his subject with these words: 'On three decisive occasions at least - at Clarendon and Northampton in 1164, and for a third time in the autumn of 1169 - the bishops were called upon as a body - at Clarendon in association with the Archbishop, at Northampton and in 1169 in dissociation from him - to take their stand at a crisis of policy. Had they resolutely and unanimously opposed the King in 1164, or as unanimously fallen in with his wishes in 1169, the course of English church history would have been notably different.... Concentration...