This book is a collection of essays about Middle Age England. Seven works in total are featured inside, which are: 'The Coming of the Friars', 'Village Life in Norfolk Six Hundred Years Ago', 'Daily Life in a Medieval Monastery', 'The Black Death in East Anglia', 'The Black Death in East Anglia (continued)', 'The Building up of a University', and 'The Prophet of Walnut-Tree Yard'.

Originally published in 1975, this book helps students understand why the Movements of the 12th century remained much more enclosed and monastic or turned to heresy; How much the new orders of Friars owed to the earlier movements and to what extent they arose from the personal inspiration of Saint Francis and Saint Dominic. The introduction is arranged to help the documents to speak for themselves: it opens with a direct confrontation with Francis then goes back to search the religious experience of the 10th to 12th centuries for movements and especially well documented individuals who can help explain the development of fashions and ideas. There are sections on precursors, both monks and heretics, and on the papal policies towards these movements, and the introduction closes with a chapter on Dominic and an epilogue on the impact of the Friars.

Medieval life in monasteries. Particularly relating to Norfolk and East Anglia. With a section on the Black Death.