Synopses & Reviews
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 monasteries and their world.
Table of Contents
Preface; List of abbreviations; Part I. The Old Orders, 1216-1340: 1. The thirteenth century; 2. Reorganization among the Black Monks, 1216-1336; 3. The Augustinian chapters, 1216-1339; 4. The exploitation of the land; 5. Henry of Eastry; 6. The monastic administration; 7. The agrarian economi of the Cistercians; 8. The system of visitation; 9. The first century of visitation: (I); 10. The first century of visitation: (II); Part II. The Friars, 1216-1340: 11. The friars minor; 12. The coming of the minors; 13. The order of preachers; 14. The preachers in England; 15. The evolution of the Franciscan ideal; 16. The apostolic work of the friars; 17. Carmelites, Austin Hermits and lesser orders; 18. The early English Franciscan scholastics; 19. Doctrinal and moral controversies: Kilwardby and Pecham; 20. The friars from the Council of Lyons to William of Ockham (1272-1340); Part III. The Monasteries and their World: 21. The cathedral monasteries; 22. The monastic boroughs; 23. The abbot; 24. The daily life of the monastery; 25. Intellectual life - history, art and music; 26. Monastic England, 1216-1340; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.