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Going to Church in Medieval England
An engaging, richly illustrated account of parish churches and churchgoers in England, from the Anglo-Saxons to the mid-sixteenth century
Parish churches were at the heart of English religious and social life in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century. In this comprehensive study, Nicholas Orme shows how they came into existence, who staffed them, and how their buildings were used. He explains who went to church, who did not attend, how people behaved there, and how they-not merely the clergy-affected how worship was staged.
The book provides an accessible account of what happened in the daily and weekly services, and how churches marked the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and summer. It describes how they celebrated the great events of life: birth, coming of age, and marriage, and gave comfort in sickness and death. A final chapter covers the English Reformation in the sixteenth century and shows how, alongside its changes, much that went on in parish churches remained as before.
Parish churches were at the heart of English religious and social life in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century. In this comprehensive study, Nicholas Orme shows how they came into existence, who staffed them, and how their buildings were used. He explains who went to church, who did not attend, how people behaved there, and how they-not merely the clergy-affected how worship was staged.
The book provides an accessible account of what happened in the daily and weekly services, and how churches marked the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and summer. It describes how they celebrated the great events of life: birth, coming of age, and marriage, and gave comfort in sickness and death. A final chapter covers the English Reformation in the sixteenth century and shows how, alongside its changes, much that went on in parish churches remained as before.
Editorial Reviews
"Orme's book, a vast intricate mosaic resting atop a mountain of research, is often funny, often moving, and always fascinating. You finish it with a real feeling for the lives of normal people (so often absent from history books) in a world of great contrasts...a world of humour, and of sadness; a world not entirely unlike our own."-Duncan Morrison, The Daily Telegraph
"Christmas is the time of year when people are most likely to attend divine service, and Going to Church in Medieval England [...] tells us how they did it 800 years ago...Orme also describes how the churches that punctuate our landscape came about, and who ran them."-Simon Heffer, The Daily Telegraph ‘2021's Best Histories'
'Alert throughout to change across time, the complexities of sources, and the variety of past experience, Nicholas Orme has written a wonderful book. With great clarity and insight, he captures the human and material reality of quotidian Christian worship across the middle
Ages.'-John H. Arnold, author of Belief and Unbelief in the Middle Ages
‘Drawing on both surviving churches and contemporary literature and attentive to gender, status, and geography, Orme explores what ordinary men and women saw, heard, and expe-rienced when they attended church.'-Katherine L. French, Professor of History, University of Michigan
‘What actually happened in a medieval church? What was medieval worship like? Turn to this book, and you'll find answers to all the questions you'll ever ask.'-Professor Nigel Saul, author of Richard II
‘For many years Nicholas Orme has been enlightening readers with incisive appreciations of the religious and social institutions of medieval England. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this study brings home to readers the reality of formal Christian witness as experienced by England's medieval parishioners.'-Dr Roger Bowers, University of Cambridge
"Christmas is the time of year when people are most likely to attend divine service, and Going to Church in Medieval England [...] tells us how they did it 800 years ago...Orme also describes how the churches that punctuate our landscape came about, and who ran them."-Simon Heffer, The Daily Telegraph ‘2021's Best Histories'
'Alert throughout to change across time, the complexities of sources, and the variety of past experience, Nicholas Orme has written a wonderful book. With great clarity and insight, he captures the human and material reality of quotidian Christian worship across the middle
Ages.'-John H. Arnold, author of Belief and Unbelief in the Middle Ages
‘Drawing on both surviving churches and contemporary literature and attentive to gender, status, and geography, Orme explores what ordinary men and women saw, heard, and expe-rienced when they attended church.'-Katherine L. French, Professor of History, University of Michigan
‘What actually happened in a medieval church? What was medieval worship like? Turn to this book, and you'll find answers to all the questions you'll ever ask.'-Professor Nigel Saul, author of Richard II
‘For many years Nicholas Orme has been enlightening readers with incisive appreciations of the religious and social institutions of medieval England. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this study brings home to readers the reality of formal Christian witness as experienced by England's medieval parishioners.'-Dr Roger Bowers, University of Cambridge
Readers Top Reviews
jeremy marshallPaulS
This splendid book and wonderfully colourful book is well titled: it examines in fascinating detail the experience of people going to church in the medieval period in England, up to and including the reformation. It’s not a theological book (though there is theology in it) but a book looking at what it would have been like to travel back in a time machine and attend church in say 1350. As well as being well written and packed with great stories it’s also highly topical. “Save the parish” is a recent campaign to save the 12500 parish churches in England. Speaking at the launch one lady said the parish church “speaks in itself of other values than the mercenary and the utilitarian. ... The church is a kind of guarantor of the holiness of the whole area.”. So the timing for this book couldn’t be better. What was the parish church like in its “golden age”? What was the typical experience of a parishioner? Were the reformers bent on destroying the parish? Read and learn. From about 300 onwards people in Britain were going to church. We know there were three bishops at a council in France in 313, one from London and York and probably one from Lincoln. Following the Roman withdrawal, the pagan Saxons were converted until by around 680 the whole of Britain was nominally Christian Britain was not urbanised so clergy (some secular ie often married) were sent out as missionaries from “minsters” (an anglicisation of the Latin word monasterium). The minsters taught preached and baptised. Towns grew up around the minsters - some new like Durham, some revivals of Roman towns like Winchester. The interaction of people with the church was intermittent - lengthy journeys were often needed. Landowners wanted to have churches to hand and new smaller churches emerged. Some were independent and even at odds with the Minster church. As time went by many of the minsters became monasteries that were “professionalised” - monks separate from the world. Religion became distinct: that of the clergy (monks, canons) and that of the laity. By the twelfth century, the parish system roughly as it is today was in place: boundaries could not be changed save by order of the bishop or even the Pope. There was no central creation: the authorities recognised the existing system. Often the driver was money: who paid for which church? Arguments over the finances of parish churches have a long history and are one of the main themes in the book might be characterised as “he who pays the piper calls the tune”. Towns also had parishes, often a large number: York Lincoln Winchester and Norwich all had around 50 and London over a hundred. Parish churches were under the control of landowners although by 1215 the church had exerted control: the landowners became patrons with the right to propose a priest but the Bishop admitted him. In practice, thoug...
ExtremeELO
A very informative book. I enjoyed all the detail that was put into this book.
Carla Heaton
Christmas present for my pastor. He is a big reader who loves getting a book. Totally enjoyed it. Informative, fun and easy to read. Highly recommend it.
M. Samuels
The book is well-written. The author is knowledgeable. And, I enjoyed!
Karen A. Charbonneau
What a wonderful book! I read its review in Current Archaeology magazine online and was intrigued. Could it answer some of my questions about attending mass in 14th century England? It certainly did. Want to understand your English ancestors' lives better? Here's one of the finest-written books I've come across. Curious to know how your ancestors' lives changed with the Reformation under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I? You'll be surprised. Karen Charbonneau Author of The Wolf's Sun
