Living and dying in England, 1100-1540
Subtitle: the monastic experience
By: by Barbara Harvey.
Series: The Ford lectures ;; 1989
Publisher: Clarendeon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 291
Subjects: Westminster Abbey -- History.; Monasticism and religious orders -- England -- London -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500.
Description: This is an authoritative account of daily life in Westminster Abbey, one of medieval England's greatest monasteries. It is also a wide-ranging exploration of some major themes in the social history of the Middle Ages and early sixteenth century by a distinguished historian of that period.

Barbara Harvey exploits the exceptionally rich archives of the Benedictine foundation at Westminster to the full, offering many vivid insights into the lives of the monks of Westminster, their dependents, and their benefactors. She examines the charitable practices of the monks, their food and drink, their illnesses and their deaths, the number and conditions of employment of their servants, and their controversial practice of granting corrodies (pensions made up in large measure of benefits in kind). All these topics Miss Harvey considers in the context both of religious institutions in general and of the secular world.

Full of colour and interest, Living and Dying in England 1100-1540 is an original and highly readable contribution to medieval history and that of the early sixteenth century.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [252]-268) and index.
"Delivered in the University of Oxford in Hilary Term 1989."