Runaway Religious in Medieval England, c.1240–1540
Runaway Religious in Medieval England, c.1240–1540
$55.00
USDRunaway religious were monks, canons and friars who had taken vows of religion and who, with benefit of neither permission nor dispensation and for myriad reasons, fled their monasteries and returned to a life in the world, usually replacing the religious habit with lay clothes. Not only the normal tugs of the world drew them away: other less obvious yet equally human motives, such as boredom, led to a return to the world. The church pursued them with her severest penalty, excommunication, in the express hope that penalties would lead to the return of the straying sheep. This book is the first to tell their story.
- This is the first study of the subject of runaway nuns and monks in medieval England
- The book is written in a clear and entertaining style, and contains many fascinating case-studies
- Can be related to the contemporary question of resistance against the (Catholic) church by renegade religious
Reviews & endorsements
"...Logan has asked a modest but interesting and revealing question of the records of ecclesiastical history and, after exhaustive research, offers up a very thorough answer....Many compelling human vignettes are offered in this highly readable book." Choice
"Logan has produced a welcome, one might almost say definitive study of a neglected aspect of English monastic history. There are five appendixes, a select bibliography, and indexes could have been fuller and subjects. The subject index could have been fuller and better arranged, for the book contains much incidental detail of interest to a wider audience." F.G. Cowley, American Historical Review
"...this study is to be most warmly welcomed as the first authoritative account of a much-neglected field; its findings must now be taken into account by all scholars of monastic history.
"...the collection and organization of the hard data found in the apprendix will provide a good base for the thoughtful reader's interpretive powers." Albion
"...it is a great relief and pleasure to review Professor Logan's balanced and sympathetic study of runaway religious in medieval England. Dr. Logan's book is a very welcome addition to our knowledge and his researches do serve to bring a lot of light to what has been a subject full of individual anecdotes and badly in need of a balanced overall survey. His careful, judicial and well written account of his findings has produced a book which anyone studying medieval relgious life should read." Richard Copsey, The Medieval Review
"...the collection and organization of the hard data found in the appendix will provide a good base for the thoughtful reader's interpretive powers." Jo Ann McNamara, Albion
Product details
May 2002Paperback
9780521520225
324 pages
217 × 140 × 23 mm
0.528kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1. A question of terms
- 2. Legal alternatives
- 3. Two questions: how many? and why?
- 4. The secular arm
- 5. Return and reconciliation
- 6. The 1530s
- Appendices
- Bibliography.
