This latest addition to the English Episcopal Acta series brings together for the first time edited versions of more than 170 charters in the names of the four bishops who held the see of Ely (comprising historic Cambridgeshire) from its foundation in 1109 to 1197. These four bishops - Hervey, Nigel, Geoffrey Ridel and William de Longchamp - were amongst the most distinguished in twelfth-century England and their charters bear on many aspects of the social, economic, legal, ecclesiastical and monastic history of this period. The charters especially illustrate the position of the bishops as...

Bishops were of fundamental importance in the functioning of the medieval church, for they provided oversight of the work of the clergy and of education, of the parish system and of religious institutions of all kinds. This volume gathers together the evidence for the work of the bishops of the diocese of Ely, which comprised much of modern Cambridgeshire. It covers the early thirteenth century, and builds on an earlier volume in this series concerned with the twelfth century.
The heart of this book is the edition of over 270 documents which show the work of the bishops and of the...