This book challenges the orthodox view that lay patronage of monasteries dwindled in significance throughout the middle ages. Lay patronage of religious houses remained of considerable importance during the late medieval period; but this is the first full-length study dedicated to the subject. Based on a wide range of medieval documentary sources, including wills, monastic registers, inquisitions post mortem, cartularies and episcopal registers, this book traces the descent of these later patrons and assesses their activities, in particular their bequests and benefactions, their involvement in the affairs of their houses, and their burials in the conventual churches; and it argues that the ties which bound the two parties together, whether amicable, indifferent or abusive, continued right up until the Dissolution brought monastic life in England and Wales to an end. KAREN STöBER is a Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Aberystwyth.

This is an excellent study, providing the basis for understanding the functioning of the great majority of monastic houses that were neither rich nor filled with religious long after their original foundation but before their eventual suppression. Stöber has provided an extensive and very readable survey of the later medieval lay patrons that extends our understanding of their monastic houses and their piety. It is a very real contribution to monastic studies in England and Wales.'

Source: Catholic Historical Review

[This] faultless book rescues a neglected subject.'

Source: The Tablet

Informative, persuasive and well-documented. This book should be on the shelves of academics as well as monastic libraries.'

Source: Sixteenth Century Journal