Table of Contents

Part 1 Charity: perceptions of monastic almsgiving; monastic almsgiving from ordinary income; monastic almsgiving from special funds. Part 2 Diet: the problems; the sample; Benedictine diet - regular and irregular; arrangements at Westminster Abbey. Part 3 Sickness and its treatment: the empirical approach; the monastic community at Westminster Abbey; the treatment of sickness at the abbey; morbidity in the monastic community at Westminster Abbey; the diseases. Part 4 Mortality: the problems; mortality at Christ Church, Canterbury 1395-1505; mortality at Westminster Abbey 1390-1529; the fatal diseases; the population trend in late Medieval England. Part 5 Servants: perspectives; monastic households; servant life; earnings at Westminster Abbey. Part 6 Corrodies: perceptions old and new; the main kinds of corrody; grants in general; grants in exchange for real property; grants in exchange for money; the age and marital status of corrodians. Appendices: charitable giving at Westminster Abbey c.1510-c.1530; catering in the Refectory and Misericord at Westminster Abbey c.1495-c.1525 - numbers and messes; apothecaries, physicians and surgeons employed by the Abbot and Convent of Westminster c.1300-c.1540; estimating the life-expectancy of the monks of Westminster, Jim Oeppen; corrodians of Westminster Abbey 1100-1540.

Promotional Information

Joint Winner of the 1993 Wolfson Foundation History Prize

Reviews

`a work of outstanding importance, a substantial contribution to our knowledge of medieval social history...full of interest and very easy to read...a classic of brilliant historical research and writing'
The Antiquaries Journal
'No short review can do justice to the subtlety with which Harvey approaches her subject and her sources; this is a book which no historian of the middle ages can neglect to read and digest.'
P.R. Coss, University of Northumbria, Economic History Review, XLVII, 2 (1994)
`readable as well as wide-ranging...students will find it helpful to have these overviews brought together and the results of some recent scholarship reported'
Southern History
(from hardback)'It is a measure of the book that the reader is faced throughout with big issues, not because they are raised as such, but because they are implicit in the life Ms Harvey describes in what can only be called loving detail.'
C.F. Richmond The Ricardian June '94
`a work of outstanding importance, a substantial contribution to our knowledge of medieval social history...shows how far our general historical understanding can be advacned by careful thorough and deep study of a single archive. It is fair to add, however, that both the archive material itself and Miss Harvey's knowledge of it are quite exceptional ..it will be viewed as as a classic of brilliant historical research and writing'
Antiquaries Journal
'Harvey places the daily lives of the Westminster monks under sharp scrutiny. Not surprisingly, we gain considerable insight into how well these monks actually lived, and not only by the standards of their own day. No short review can do justice to the subtlety with which Harvey approaches her subject and her sources; this is a book which no historian of the middle ages can neglect to read and digest.'
P.R. Coss, University of Northumbria, Economic History Review, XLVII, 2 (1994)
'Those who have admired her previous books will not feel disappointed by this one, for this is very good social history: rigorous in its attention to detail, and based on tight statistical analysis, it is nevertheless thoroughly human, never allowing the annual ratios or moving averages to take place of the real monks...this is a book which makes a real contribution to some of the major themes in the social history of the period.'
C.Given-Wilson, Medieval History
'this justly praised monograph illuminates not only an often neglected aspect of monastic life, but also the life of society at large'
Thomas M. McCoog, Heythrop Journal
`absorbing volume...no reader of this expanded version of the author's Ford Lectures at Oxford in 1989 will be left in much doubt that here is a book which will retain its relevance as long as the monastic life in medieval England continues to exert its perennial fascination.'
The English Historical Review
`The essay on sickness and its treatment is based on an extraordinary knowledge of the personnel and procedures of the monastic infirmary...This is a richly documented and thoughtful series of essays. Their conclusions illuminate important aspects of social history and invite comparative research.'
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
`Absorbing book...In six lucid and incisive essays Harvey expertly dissects the systems of everyday life of both the monks and the wider community within the Abbey...There is an exemplary clear exposition of statistical adjustments to the basic mortality data and equally lucid discussion of various measures of mortality change...In simultaneously extending knowledge of late-medieval demograohy, and pointing to its limits, Harvey most usefully highlights the
need for new methods and sources in addressing long-standing questions about late-medieval demographic regimes.'
Albion