Publisher's Synopsis
The studies here are broadly concerned with ecclesiastical history as envisaged in the work of Orderic Vitalis: the history of society and culture, comprising the life and activities of lay men and women in war and peace no less than those of monks and clerks, with a special emphasis on monasteries in the Anglo-Norman world. Some enlarge directly on OrdericÆs work; others deal with aspects of the life of the Empress Matilda, and with St Anselm and Bec-Hellouin. The underlying themes, in addition to history as written by both monks and secular clerks and its sources in chronicles and charters, are piety (including the mixed motives of monastic patrons) and power in both church and state and the conflicts these engendered. It has been said that the history of medieval power is to be sought in its microcosms; these studies look closely at some of the microcosms.
