Description
Book Synopsis15c cartulary of Benedictine nunnery illuminates relationship with Ely, estate management, and life of women religious.Takes its place as perhaps the finest available study of a house for women religious. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW The fifteenth-century cartulary of the Benedictine nunnery of Chatteris Abbey in Cambridgeshire (founded in the early eleventh century) has important implications for the study of women religious, especially in the light of the small number of surviving cartularies from English nunneries, yet until now it has received little attention, perhaps due to its damage in the Cotton Library fire of 1731. This critical edition of the manuscript, which contains documents copied into it from the mid-twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, offers a full transcription, together with historical notes and apparatus. The introduction draws on the cartulary itself, as well as manorial and episcopal records, to analyse the nunnery's relationship with its patron, the bishop of Ely, and the development and management of its estates; it also examines the location and layout of the abbey, the social and geographical origins of the nuns, and the production and organisation of the cartulary. The edition is accompanied by an annotated listof all known abbesses, prioresses and nuns. CLAIRE BREAYgained her Ph.D. at the Institute for Historical Research at the University of London; she is currently a curator of medieval manuscripts at the British Library.
Trade ReviewA valuable addition to the corpus of printed sources available to historians of the religious orders, and especially those interested in the history of religious women. * AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW *
Its importance lies in being one of the very few surviving cartularies from English nunneries and in its consequent value for the study of women religious... An exemplary edition... comprehensive introduction. * MEDIUM AEVUM [H E J Cowdrey] *
Table of ContentsThe cartulary of Chatteris Abbey and the history of English nunneries; the foundation and patronage of Chatteris Abbey; the endowment - the development and extent of the abbey's endowment, temporalities, spiritualities, the value of the abbey's temporalities and spiritualities, the chronology, type and size of donations made to the abbey, the abbey's benefactors, donations to the abbey for purposes specified by the benefactors, dowry-grants, bequests to Chatteris abbey; the management of the estate - purchases, sales and exchanges made by the abbey, the abbey's methods of exploiting its estates, the sale and consumption of agricultural produce, mills, manorial courts, the abbey's officials; the abbey - the site, plan and seal of the abbey, the nuns, chaplains, servants and lay-sisters; the production and arrangement of the cartulary; editorial method; the cartulary of Chatteris Abbey and an original charter - appendix 1 the known abbesses, prioresses, nuns and lay-sisters of Chatteris, chronological list of the known abbesses, chronological list of the known prioresses, alphabetical list of the known abbesses, prioresses, nuns and lay-sisters; appendix 2 the inventory of Chatteris Abbey, 1538.
