Author : Diana E. Greenway
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN 13 : 9780198203308
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (33 download)
Book Synopsis The Book of the Foundation of Walden Monastery by : Diana E. Greenway
Download or read book The Book of the Foundation of Walden Monastery written by Diana E. Greenway and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 1999 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The monastery of Walden was founded c.1136 by Geoffrey de Mandeville, a prominent baron in the civil war of Stephen's reign. Its site just outside the town of Saffron Walden in Essex is now occupied by the great Jacobean mansion known as Audley End House. The Book of the Foundation of Walden Monastery, written by a Walden monk soon after 1203, is here printed in its entirety for the first time. This lively narrative relates the history of the Mandeville earls of Essex and the inheritanceof their lands and title by King John's justiciar, Geoffrey fitz Peter. The monk-author describes the development of the priory at Walden and its elevation to the status of a Benedictine abbey in 1190, and in the final section of the work he traces the consequent conflict with Geoffrey fitz Peter, concluding the story with the death of Abbot Reginald in 1200 or 1203. The interest of The Book of the Foundation of Walden Monastery extends far beyond the local: the editors' introduction and notesestablish its position as a valuable historical source.