Peterborough Abbey 1086–1310

by Edmund King

The operation of the land market is a topic of crucial importance to the student of economic and social history in the Middle Ages. In this book, Dr King uses a wide range of source material to examine the character of the land market on the estates of Peterborough Abbey in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He suggests that some common pattern emerges in the behaviour of those concerned, and offers an original interpretation of certain familiar types of medieval record.

228 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Edmund King is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Sheffield. He took his bachelor and doctoral degrees at the University of Cambridge, where he was a student of M. M. Postan. He joined the History department at Sheffield in 1966 and has held a chair since 1989.

He has held visiting fellowships at the Huntington Library, USA (where he was a Fulbright Scholar), and at All Souls College, Oxford, and he has taught also at the universities of Connecticut and Michigan in the USA.

Reviews

[J Grimsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rating for this book is due to my ignorance rather than the fault of the book. I am interested in this rather out of the way subject because I am a guide for Peterborough Cathedral and run a Church and tea group for the Peterborough U3A. However whilst I could in general follow the geography as laid out in the book I found it technically difficult. To give examples - legal terms were puzzling - What does assarted mean? What does fine and charter mean? I thought I knew but don't. I understand terms connected with monasteries but the use of term Convent as separate from the Abbey but not to do with female "monks" has me uncertain. I also cannot translate from Latin
The book is too technical for me a general reader. I did however learn some information and will see if I can progress further short of learning Latin.