Description

Monasteries were a dominant feature of the landscape of medieval England, but although much critical attention has been devoted to them, comparatively little has been written on the thirty abbeys of the English Premonstratensians (`White Canons'), a gap which this book, the first detailed study since the early 1950s, seeks to fill. Centred upon the remarkable visitation records of Richard Redman (d.1505), commissary-general and visitor of the English Premonstratensian abbeys, it covers topics such as the foundation and development of the English Premonstratensian province; Redman's visitation of the Premonstratensian abbeys; conventual food and clothing; misdemeanours, such as sexual immorality and apostasy; liturgical observances; spirituality and learning; and English Premonstratensian libraries. It thus offers evidence for the vitality of the English Premonstratensians, as well as re-evaluating their monastic observances. JOSEPH GRIBBIN works at the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research.