UID:
almafu_9960116998502883
Format:
1 online resource (xvi, 228 pages) :
,
digital, PDF file(s).
ISBN:
1-78204-640-2
Series Statement:
Studies in the History of Medieval Religion ; Volume 44
Content:
Provides a fine contribution to the rich history of the region, showing Evesham's place in the life of the medieval kingdom of England. Professor Ann Williams. In c.701, a minster was founded in the lower Avon Valley on a deserted promontory called Evesham. Over the next five hundred years it became a Benedictine abbey and turned the Vale of Evesham into a federation of Christian communities. A landscape of scattered farms grew into one of open fields and villages, manor houses and chapels. Evesham itself developed into a town, and the abbots played a role in the affairs of the kingdom. But individual contemplation and prayer within the abbey were compromised by its corporate aspirations. As Evesham abbey waxed ever grander, exerting a national influence, it became a ready patron of the arts but had less time for private spirituality. The story ends badly in the prolonged scandal of Abbot Norreis, a libertine whose appetites caused religion to collapse at Evesham before his own sudden downfall. This book integrates the evidence of archaeology, maps, and documents in a continuous narrative that pays as much attention to religious and cultural life as to institutional and economic matters. It provides a complete survey over one of the most important and wealthy Benedictine abbeys and its landscape, a stage on which was enacted the tense interplay of lordship andprayer. Dr David Cox, FSA, was until his retirement county editor of the Victoria History of Shropshire and lecturer at Keele University.
Note:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 17 May 2021).
,
Frontcover ; Contents; List of illustrations; Preface; Timeline; List of abbreviations; Part I. From minster to abbey (701-1078); 1 Æthelred and Ecgwine; 2 A land of promise; 3 A waiting people; 4 Ecgwine and the first abbots; 5 Decay and revival; 6 On the defensive; 7 Abbot Ælfweard and King Cnut; 8 Abbot Manni, the town, and the Vale; 9 Abbot Æthelwig under English and Norman rule; Part II. Abbot Walter (1078-1104); 10 A new regime; 11 God's work; 12 The estates under threat; 13 Protecting the future; Part III. Twelfth-century themes (1104-1215); 14 Interested parties
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15 Order and governance16 Economic realities; 17 Investment; 18 Worship; 19 Learning and writing; 20 Religious buildings; 21 Collapse and renewal; Afterword; Appendix: The abbots of Evesham to 1215; Select bibliography; Index
Additional Edition:
ISBN 1-78327-077-2
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1515/9781782046400
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