The last forty years of the monastery of Westminster, Westlake argues, centre on two men: John Islip, who raised it to new glory in thirty-two years as abbot, and his successor Boston, who made its dissolution easy. Drawing on abbey records, he follows Islip from novice to prior to abbot and explains how the house was managed.
A scholarly but readable study of monastic life on the eve of the Reformation. Download the free EPUB.