Church and Society in England, 1000-1500

This book offers a fresh interpretation of the relationship between the church, society and religion across five centuries of change. Andrew Brown examines how the teachings of an increasingly universal Church were applied at a local level and how social change shaped the religious practices of the laity. His approach encompasses the structures of corporate religion, the devotional practices surrounding cults and saints, the effects of literacy (not least on the development of heresy), and how gender, class and political power affected and fragmented the expression of religion.

ANDREW BROWN is Senior Lecturer in the School of History and Classics at the University of Edinburgh.

Acknowledgements Introduction Anglo-Saxon Church and Society c.1000 The Universal Church and the Laity c.1050-1500 Saints, Cults and the Holy Corporate Religion: Structures and Practices Corporate Religion: Death and the Afterlife Reforming the 'Inner' Life: Orthodoxy and Heresy Conclusion Notes Further Reading Index.