Description
Book SynopsisThis book makes a contribution to knowledge of the history of the Augustinian canons in England through a case study of one particular house in the south-west of the country. Plympton Priory in Devon was founded in 1121 by a bishop of Exeter, and through episcopal and lay donations of temporal and spiritual sources of income became one of the wealthiest houses of Augustinian canons in England. Analysis of surviving records reveals the multiplicity of connections existing between the canons and the laity, the secular clergy, the episcopacy, and the Crown until the priory’s dissolution. The result is a multi-faceted study of the roles played by an Augustinian house in society and within the Church in the late Middle Ages.
Table of ContentsList of Maps Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Founding of Plympton Priory: Background and Context 2. Episcopal Support for the New Foundation: Donations to Plympton Priory from the Bishops of Exeter and Their Circle 3. Building the Endowment: Lay Benefactors, their Motives, and their Gifts 4. Managing the Inheritance: Gains, Losses, and Challenges in the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Centuries 5. Maximizing the Inheritance: Plympton Priory and its Churches and Chapels 6. Plympton Priory and the Laity: Challenges to the Authority of the Priory 7. The Regular and the Secular: Plympton Priory and its Connections to the Secular Clergy 8. The Canons of Plympton Priory 9. The Patronage Case: The Crown, the Bishops of Exeter, and Plympton Priory 10. Dissolution Appendices Appendix I. The Spiritualia of Plympton Priory Appendix II. Charters from the Courtenay Cartulary Appendix III. The Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV Bibliography Index
