St Wulfstan and his World

The eleven essays in St Wulfstan and his World represent revised and updated papers delivered to a symposia held in 1995 to mark the 900th anniversary of the death of St Wulfstan of Worcester. Wulfstan was an English bishop at the time of the Norman conquest, who managed to survive in office at a time when French-speaking Normans were taking over English government and almost all other key positions in the church and society. St Wulfstan and his World provides more rigorous interpretations of Wulfstan's life and politics than has hitherto been attempted, reading between the lines of the extant hagiography and other records of his episcopate to discover a skilful operator rather than a plaster saint. The multi-disciplinary nature of these essays, written by leading scholars, not only establish the major contributions that Wulfstan and his cathedral community made to eleventh century ecclesiastical and secular politics, and to art, learning, architecture and music, but also set his life within the rural and urban society of his day.

Contents: Foreword; Preface; Introduction: how do we know about St Wulfstan?, Nicholas Brooks; The cunning of the dove: Wulfstan and the politics of accommodation, Ann Williams; Parallel Lives: Wulfstan, William, Coleman and Christ, Andy Orchard; St Wulfstan, the library of Worcester and the spirituality of the Medieval book, Richard Gameson; The chronology of forgery production at Worcester from c. 1000 to the Early 12th century, Julia Barrow; The City of Worcester in the time of St Wulfstan, Richard Holt; Bishop Wulfstan and his estates, Christopher Dyer; Wulfstan and the church of Hawkesbury, Michael Hare; Reconstructing Wulfstan's cathedral, Philip Barker; The physical setting of the cult of St Wulfstan: a comparative approach, John Crook; Music at Wulfstan's cathedral, Susan Rankin; Indexes.