Monastic Hospitality

Reviews / Votes

The great achievement of this volume is the extensive detail it provides, giving a clear picture of monastic hospitality, which was an integral aspect of monastic life during the Middle Ages. * CHURCH HISTORY * A case-study in the flexibility and adaptability of Benedict's Rule in twelfth-century England. It is informative, detailed, well researched, and a valuable addition to work in the field. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW * Fills a gap in understanding of the workings of monasticism. * THE CHURCH TIMES * Addresses an important but understudied topic with intelligence and scholarly craft, and it should stimulate further study. * SPECULUM * A very fascinating and important book. It is both scholarly and interesting, a combination not always found in works of research. It should be included in every good monastic library. * CISTERCIAN STUDIES QUARTERLY * A much-needed addition to the historiography of an important area of the monastic practice. [.] It should be particularly commended for a very skilful interpretation of the sources. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW * A valuable contribution to the study of medieval English monasticism. [The author] and Boydell deserve the thanks of monastic historians for the successful completion and publication of a very ambitious project - one with the added advantage that it points the way to further research. * JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY * An interesting study with significant conclusions. * NORTHERN HISTORY * Combines an understanding of the spiritual implications of the reception of guests-implicit in the Rule of St Benedict-with a sound discussion of the economic base of hospitality.[...]Julie Kerr's illuminating insight into the place of monastic hospitality in the life and economy of the English monasteries in the century and a half after the Norman Conquest provides a new approach to the study of medieval Benedictine life. * DOWNSIDE REVIEW *