Lay patronage of religious houses remained of considerable importance during the late medieval period; but this is the first full-length study dedicated to the subject. Based on a wide range of medieval documentary sources, including wills, monastic registers, inquisitions post mortem, cartularies and episcopal registers, this book traces the descent of these later patrons and assesses their activities, in particular their bequests and benefactions, their involvement in the affairs of their houses, and their burials in the conventual churches; and it argues that the ties which bound the two parties together, whether amicable, indifferent or abusive, continued right up until the Dissolution brought monastic life in England and Wales to an end.
KAREN STÖBER is a Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Aberystwyth
Reviews
A thorough, well-detailed book. CHURCH HISTORYAn important study of later medieval patronage. This is an excellent study, providing the basis for understanding the functioning of the great majority of monastic houses that were neither rich nor filled with religious long after their original foundation but before their eventual suppression.
Stöber has provided an extensive and very readable survey of the later medieval lay patrons that extends our understanding of their monastic houses and their piety. It is a very real contribution to monastic studies in England and Wales. CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW
Informative, persuasive and well-documented. This book should be on the shelves of academics as well as monastic libraries. SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL
[This] faultless book rescues a neglected subject. THE TABLET
Stöber's range of source material, coverage of the varied religious orders and location of houses in England and Wales must be commended. This piece is weighty in providing examples from as many monasteries and nunneries, where possible, and endeavors to give the reader a broader understanding of lay patronage in this period. HISTORIANS OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS website
Offers a valuable contribution to attempts to understand the role of religious houses in English society between c.1300 and the Dissolutions. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW,
