A Monastic Community in Local Society

Before the sixteenth-century dissolution of religious houses Beauchief Abbey was important to the development of religious, social and economic activity in the English Midlands. This study, publishing the abbey's Cartulary for the first time, underlines recognition by historians of the importance of canons to the religious orders of England.

The Cartulary of Beauchief Abbey, here published for the first time with a full historical introduction and English summaries of all the Latin and French charters, is an invaluable resource for the study of relationships between a small community of regular canons with a large outreach in the English Midlands in the late Middle Ages. Over two hundred charters and a wide range of other sources show in considerable and valuable detail how the canons of Beauchief, although they belonged to a monastic order and led a life of withdrawal from the world, nonetheless engaged successfully with numerous benefactors in contributing, by active management of properties and parishes, to the promotion of religious life in town and country as well as to long-lasting developments in farming and industry. This book underlines the increasing recognition of the historical importance of regular canons in late medieval England.