Philippa M. Hoskin & Christopher N L Brooke 
The Foundations of Medieval English Ecclesiastical History 
Studies Presented to David Smith

Contributions on fundamental aspects of medieval ecclesiastical history, demonstrating the importance of primary documents.


The work of historians in providing new editions of primary documents, and other aids to research, has tended to go largely unsung, yet is crucial to scholarship, as providing the very foundations on which further enquiry can be based. The essays in this volume, conversely, celebrate the achievements in this field by a whole generation of medievalists, of whom the honoree, David Smith, is one of the most distinguished. They demonstrate the importance of such editions to a proper understanding and elucidation of a number of problems in medieval ecclesiastical history, ranging from thirteenth-century forgery to diocesan administration, from the church courts to the cloisters, and from the English parish clergy to the papacy. Contributors: CHRISTOPHER BROOKE, C.C. WEBB, JULIA BARROW, NICHOLAS BENNETT, JANET BURTON, CHARLES FONGE, CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL, R.H. HELMHOLZ, PHILIPPA HOSKIN, BRIAN KEMP, F. DONALD LOGAN, ALISON MCHARDY

Table des matières

David Smith: the Scholar – Christopher N L Brooke

`The archivist is not and ought not to be a historian.’: David Smith and the Borthwick Institute – Christopher C Webb

Why forge episcopal acta? Preliminary observations on the forged characters in the
English Episcopal Acta series – Julia Barrow

Pastors and Masters: The Beneficed Clergy of North-East Lincolnshire, 1290-1340 – Nicholas Bennett

The Convent and the Community: cause papers as a source for monastic history – Janet Burton

Patriarchy and Patrimony: investing in the Medieval College – Charles Fonge

`Above all these Charity’: the career of Walter Suffield, Bishop of Norwich, 1244-57 – Christopher Harper-Bill

The Law of Charity and the English Ecclesiastical Courts – R.H. Helmholz

Continuing service: the episcopal households of thirteenth- century Durham – Philippa M. Hoskin

The acta of English rural deans in the later twelfth and early thirteenth centuries – B R Kemp

The Court of Arches and the Bishop of Salisbury – F. Donald Logan

Bishops’ Registers and Political History: a neglected resource –

The Vatican Archives, the Papal Registers and Great Britain and Ireland: the foundations of historical research – Jane Sayers

A propos de l’auteur

Janet Burton is Professor of Medieval History at University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter and the author of many books and articles on monastic history.