Foundation Documents from St Mary's Abbey, York: 1085-1137
This item is available to order.
Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.
Hardback
£50.00
QTY
Publisher: Surtees Society
ISBN: 9780854440849
Number of Pages: 474
Published: 20/05/2022
Width: 13.8 cm
Height: 21.6 cm
Edition of important documents from one of the major monastic centres of medieval England.
In the wake of the Conqueror's ravaging of the North in the course of the rebellion and Danish invasion of 1069-70 the devastated city of York had to be largely rebuilt. The Conqueror himself contributed a major new abbey built in the west of the city, no doubt in a spirit of penitence for the wasting of the city and county carried out by his troops. The community's origins were not straightforward. It had begun in the early 1080s as a struggling monastic settlement on the ancient site of Lastingham on the North York Moors under its charismatic leader, Stephen. Around 1085 the community was adopted by the king and translated to the western quarter of York, to a site which had previously been the "burh" of the earl of Northumbria. The Conqueror made a creative use of the new Norman elite of Yorkshire to endow and secure the new abbey, an enterprise adopted and extended by his son William II Rufus in 1088. By the end of Abbot Stephen's term of office his abbey had absorbed a remarkable number of land grants from a variety of greater and lesser aristocrats across the North and East Ridings, as well as spawned two daughter houses in Cumbria. This new study uncovers in meticulous detail the manoeuvres of the king, the abbot and the aristocracy of Yorkshire as each looked to make spiritual and political capital out of the grand new royal foundation.
Richard Sharpe : An Appreciation
1. A Foundation Book?
Michael Gullick
2. The Foundation of the Abbey
Richard Sharpe
3. Forged Charters of Confirmation
Richard Sharpe
4. The Deeds of Gift
Richard Sharpe
5. Introduction to the Foundation Narrative
Nicholas Karn
6. The Foundation Narrative
Nicholas Karn
7. The Confraternity List
Janet Burton
8. The Anniversaries
Richard Sharpe
Indexes
The depth of the scholarly activity underpinning this volume is remarkable ... it is a major contribution to our understanding of the monastic revival in the north. Richard Sharpe was a scholar of enormous energy with an extensive range of intellectual interests and we are fortunate that he returned to the history of his native city in this way. -- Kathleen Thompson * Northern History * This substantial Surtees volume is certain to become an invaluable source for anyone working on the revival of northern monasticism and the patronage of the new Norman aristocracy and their tenants in late eleventh and early twelfth century Yorkshire. -- Local Historian