Original documents relating to minor foundation illustrate lower levels of local society and government of the town.The Benedictine priory of St Bartholomew outside Sudbury was a cell of Westminster Abbey founded in the reign of Henry I by Wulfric the moneyer. Although a small and poorly-endowed establishment, it has nevertheless, and unusually, left over 130 original documents in the muniments at Westminster, enabling this volume in the Suffolk Charters series to be the first to be devoted to a group of original documents rather than medieval transcriptions. Dating mostly from the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, the collection illustrates the lower levels of local society and the government of the town, providing a wealth of evidence for trades and occupations, place names and personal names in the Sudbury area, including the earliest known reeves and mayors of Sudbury. Of particular interest are a late-fourteenth century inventory of the priory which brings alive the physical surroundings of the monks, and the quantities of seals attached to the charters, including an unusual number of women's seals. RICHARD MORTIMERhas been Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey, since 1986; he has edited four previous volumes in the Suffolk Charters series.monks, and the quantities of seals attached to the charters, including an unusual number of women's seals. RICHARD MORTIMERhas been Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey, since 1986; he has edited four previous volumes in the Suffolk Charters series.monks, and the quantities of seals attached to the charters, including an unusual number of women's seals. RICHARD MORTIMERhas been Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey, since 1986; he has edited four previous volumes in the Suffolk Charters series.monks, and the quantities of seals attached to the charters, including an unusual number of women's seals. RICHARD MORTIMERhas been Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey, since 1986; he has edited four previous volumes in the Suffolk Charters series.

The history of Dodnash Priory, one of numerous Augustinian priories founded in East Anglia in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, has hitherto been totally obscure. The two hundred original charters edited here now show that it was founded by Wimer the chaplain, sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and a prominent servant of Henry II, and that although always small it played a disproportionately large part in the economic and social life of south-east Suffolk for the next three centuries. The early charters include the first known references to Flatford Mill at East Bergholt; later documents relate to serious flooding at the end of the thirteenth century, and soon thereafter to the leasing of estates in order to adapt to new economic conditions. As always, the charters provide much information about local lay society as well as the canons themselves.CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILLis Professor of English History at the University of East Anglia.

"This study charts for the first time the history of the 140 or so daughter houses of English monasteries, which have always been overshadowed by the French cells in England, the so-called alien priories. The first part of the book examines the reasons for the foundation of these monasteries and the relations between dependent priories and their mother houses, bishops and patrons. The second part investigates everyday life in cells, the priories' interaction with their neighbours and their economic viability. The unusual pattern of dissolution of these houses is also revealed. Because of the tremendous bulk of material to survive for English dependencies, this is the most detailed account of a group of small monasteries yet written. Although daughter houses are in many ways unrepresentative of other lesser monasteries, their experience sheds a great deal of light on the world of the small religious house, and suggests that these shadowy institutions were far more central to medieval religion and society than has been appreciated."--BOOK JACKET

Many of the millions of medieval charters surviving in European archives and repositories were written without any reference to a date of issue. The proliferation of undated charters in England and Normandy indicates that the custom was especially peculiar to lands under Norman rule, but charters issued by major religious houses are often also undated. The DEEDS Project at the University of Toronto has developed a computerised methodology for dating charters, relying on analysis of vocabulary, syntax and formulae. In this volume an international group of scholars concerned with the problem of charter chronology consider the potential of the computerised methodology compared to other more traditional methods of dating, such as identification of names, changing in wording and address, and handwriting. Discussion also touches on regional differences in the production, use and distribution of charters, and on ways both manual and mechanical to date and analyse the content of large numbers of them. MICHAEL GERVERS is Director of the DEEDS Project at the University of Toronto, Canada. Contributors: MICHAEL GERVERS, RODOLFO FIALLOS, MARJORIE CHIBNALL, V�RONIQUE GAZEAU, BENOIT-MICHEL TOCK, NICHOLAS VINCENT, GEORGES DECLERCQ, ZSOLT HUNYADIR, ATTILA ZSOLDOS, MARIA HILLEBRANDT, TREVOR CHALMERS, LAZSLO VESZPR�MI, P.D.A. HARVEY, ANDRAS GRYNAEUS, JOZSEF PALFY

Pre-Conquest monastic foundations, (in the present-day counties of Norfolk and Suffolk) in their topographical, social, economic and political environment; evolution of religious devotion in East Anglia since the 7th-century Conversion; the influence of the Anglo-Saxon past on the post-Conquest monastic landscape.

This study of the documents used in medieval England for the creation and transfer of interests in real property is the first book devoted exclusively to the subject since the publication of Thomas Madox's Formulare Anglicanum in 1702. The transactions covered include grants in fee and in perpetual alms, leases for life and for years, exchanges, surrenders and releases. Analysis of each kind of transaction is partly by way of commentary on the formulae of deeds, selected from the many thousands found in published cartularies and collections, and partly by relating the deeds to the relevant law of their periods, as found in early treatises, decided cases and the Year Books. The aim is to enable readers to identify and categorise deeds accurately, to appreciate their legal effects and to note instances where the practice of conveyancers and their clients differed from what is supposed to have been the law.

Eight centuries have passed since the Dominicans first arrived in England. This book tells their fascinating story. It discusses their role in the medieval British Church; their fate after the Reformation; their eventual re-establishment in Britain; their expansion into the Caribbean and South Africa; and their adaptation after Vatican II.

In this book, Mark Bailey provides a comprehensive survey of the economy and society of late medieval Suffolk.

A wide ranging survey of the medieval secular college and its context.

In 1144, the mutilated body of William of Norwich, a young apprentice leatherworker, was found abandoned outside the city's walls. The boy bore disturbing signs of torture, and a story spread that it was a ritual murder, performed by Jews in imitation of the Crucifixion as a mockery of Christianity. The outline of William's tale eventually gained currency far beyond Norwich, and the idea that Jews engaged in ritual murder became firmly rooted in the European imagination. E.M. Rose's engaging book delves into the story of William's murder and the notorious trial that followed to uncover the origin of the ritual murder accusation - known as the "blood libel" - in western Europe in the Middle Ages. Focusing on the specific historical context - 12th-century ecclesiastical politics, the position of Jews in England, the Second Crusade, and the cult of saints - and suspensefully unraveling the facts of the case, Rose makes a powerful argument for why the Norwich Jews (and particularly one Jewish banker) were accused of killing the youth, and how the malevolent blood libel accusation managed to take hold. She also considers four "copycat" cases, in which Jews were similarly blamed for the death of young Christians, and traces the adaptations of the story over time. In the centuries after its appearance, the ritual murder accusation provoked instances of torture, death and expulsion of thousands of Jews and the extermination of hundreds of communities. Although no charge of ritual murder has withstood historical scrutiny, the concept of the blood libel is so emotionally charged and deeply rooted in cultural memory that it endures even today. Rose's groundbreaking work, driven by fascinating characters, a gripping narrative, and impressive scholarship, provides clear answers as to why the blood libel emerged when it did and how it was able to gain such widespread acceptance, laying the foundations for enduring antisemitic myths that continue to present.