History of the Abbey of Evesham

by Thomas of Marlborough

"The Evesham History is one of the last important thirteenth-century texts to be translated. This is also the first completely new edition of the Latin since that of 1863." "The author, Thomas of Marlborough, was an educated and much travelled man and his work was written not so much in terms of a chronicle but as a history of the lawsuit between the monastery at Evesham and the Bishop of Worcester over the Bishop's right to visit or inspect the community. The case began in England, but was finally taken to Rome and battled out with much legal argument before Pope Innocent III's curia." "Much of the History is an eye-witness account. It shows the development of canon law at this period and illustrates aspects of England's relationship with the papacy during King John's reign, including the period of the Interdict. It is valuable too for the light it sheds into the mind of its author, a Benedictine monk, who had pursued a career at Oxford before entering the community. It tells us much