Exeter Cathedral: The First Thousand Years, 400-1550

by Nicholas Orme

There has been a church on the site of Exeter Cathedral since Roman times. This is the story of its first thousand years, when three successive cathedrals were built, including the present one. In twelve chapters, the author takes us back to the past to see why the cathedral is like it is, and what went on there. We explore its origins; its surroundings and buildings; its wealth, clergy, and people; its workings from day to day and throughout the year; and how it changed at the time of the Reformation. This is a fascinating piece of religious and social history, written for the general reader and illustrated with maps, reconstructions, and photographs.

258 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2009

About the author

A specialist in the Middle Ages and Tudor period, Nicholas Orme is an Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, and has worked as a visiting scholar at, among others, Merton College, Oxford, St John's College, Oxford, and the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Sitatunga · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does it live up to Christopher Howse's DT review ("the best book on an English cathedral I've ever come across"); I don't know. Evokes the life of the medieval church and urban setting well enough but for someone interested in architecture, in fabric, numinous space ... there is nothing here, nothing whatever - a disappointment