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Title: Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury st Edmunds (Oxford World's Classics) by Jocelin, Diana Greenway, Jane Sayers, Jocelin of Brakelond, Diana E. Greenway, Jane E. Sayers ISBN: 0-19-283895-4 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A unique glimpse into the life of a medieval abbey
Comment: Jocelin of Brakelond, one of the monks of the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, allows us a glimpse into the life of a religious community between 1173 and 1202. He chronicles such events as the death of one abbot to the election of a new one, the fiscal affairs of the abbey, a fire that threatens the shrine to St. Edmund, and the politics and tensions of life as a monk dealing not only with other monks, but with townsfolk, the Jewish quarter, knights, the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the King.
I was impressed with just how enmeshed the religious community was in the affairs of the surrounding towns and in the politics of the country as a whole: controlling the markets, collecting monthly fees from every town, serving as the courts for disputes, sending knights to fight with the King. Looking at churches and abbeys now, we think of them only as places of worship, but back in medieval times, they were a large part of the community, affecting the prosperity of towns and cities. Jocelin's chronicle does a fine job of relating how everything co-existed during medieval times.
For anyone interested in medieval or religious history, this is a fascinating chronicle.
Rating: 4
Summary: A curious, charming little book
Comment: I stumbled upon this little volume in a used book store and, as I've an amateurish interest in mediaeval culture, decided to buy it. Written by a monk of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds (in Suffolk, England) in the 12th century, it narrates various happenings in that monastery over a period of about 30 years.
There is no overriding narrative here. The author - Jocelin of Brakelond by name - seems to have simply jotted things down when the fancy took him. Most of what he records pertains to the politics - internal and external - of the monastery, and with financial matters : there is one amusing section where he records the fees paid to the monastery by knights of the district. Those looking for spiritual exhortation or insight into monastic religion should look elsewhere.
Though the events of the monastery are not exactly of earth-shattering importance, the book does give one a fascinating view into mediaeval life at the time. Jocelin himself is a wise old character whose observations of his fellow monks are carefully weighed and perceptive. He does not shrink from relating the drama and discord surrounding elections within the monastery. And in the background of the community's life we see the Kings of England (who on a few occasions come to visit), the life of the surrounding town, and in the distance the waging of the Third Crusade.
The most interesting part of the book to me was the account of the fire at the shrine of St. Edmund, and of the subsequent translation of the body and examination of the corpse (by then about 300 years old and still, apparently, incorrupt). I found it a real delight.
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Title: The History of the English People, 1000-1154: Henry of Huntingdon (Oxford World's Classics) by Henry of Huntingdon, Diana Greenway, Diana E. Greenway ISBN: 0192840754 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Correspondence of Pope Gregory VII by Ephraim Emerton ISBN: 0231096275 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 October, 1990 List Price(USD): $20.50 |
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Title: Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Penguin History of the Church) by Richard William Southern ISBN: 0140137556 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1990 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe ISBN: 0140432515 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 08 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State by Joseph Reese Strayer ISBN: 0691007691 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1973 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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