Acester (known as Ayster) is one of England's oldest cathedrals. It is also home to a startling assortment of ghosts. They include a bishop's skeleton, a mischievous imp, a Jacobean actor, an eighteenth-century murderer, a woman in a mirror, a legless and an eyeless ghost, a mysterious chorister, and an ugly spider. Meanwhile, alongside the ghosts, the busy life of a modern cathedral goes on, spiced by the sparrings between a rather vague Dean and a very acerbic Canon. This is a book for all who love stories of ghosts and clergy life in the Church of 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.

Originally published in 1984, this is a study of the kings and the aristocracy who ruled England between the Conquest and the Reformation. Not, as usual, about their adult lives, but how they became the people they were through childhood and education. The first such study of its kind, it follows noble boys and girls from birth through the care of their nurses, masters and mistresses, until they left home for further training in noble households, monasteries and universities. The author examines the theories and treatises on noble education, again for the first time. The rest of the book broadens into a wide cultural survey as Dr Orme describes the skills and ideas which noble children learnt. He explains how they mastered speech and literacy; worship and behaviour; dancing, music and applied art; athletics and training for war. This part of the study is a handbook of noble pursuits in medieval times. In his final chapter the author considers the nature of noble education in the middles ages, and examines how and whether it changed at the Renaissance. Nicholas Orme has written a comprehensive study, spanning 450 years of English history and making a major contribution to social and cultural history, as well as the history of education. His book will be invaluable to historians and medievalists of all disciplines, and essential reading from those who study the Renaissance.

The Survey of Cornwall by Richard Carew, published in 1603, is the first and classic description of Cornwall, The first of two parts describes its landscape, mining, agriculture, fishing, communications, and government, anddiscusses the Cornish people, their speech, customs and recreations. The second part takes us on a tour through the nine hundreds of Cornwall, with particular attention to natural features and curiosities, towns, and gentlemen'sseats. The Survey gives us both a delightful picture of Tudor Cornwall and an essential resource for studying its history. This edition provides the reader with a facsimile reproduction of Carew's book, together with an introduction explaining his life, work, and importance, and a full index to the contents of the work.

First survey of the religious history of Cornwall, from the county's Romano-British origins to the sixteenth century. Religious history is the focus of this volume, which covers the development of Christianity in the county from its Romano-British origins up to the Elizabethan Church Settlement of 1559; it provides the first ever in-depth study of the county's religious history during the Middle Ages and the Reformation. The story it tells is a highly distinctive one, full of interest, covering the uniquely numerous local saints and founders, their legends and the parish churches, chapels, holy wells and religious sites associated with them, as well as the larger religious communities. The Cornish clergy are placed in a national context and the impact of their scholarship on the wider word is emphasised. Five general chapters are followed by detailed histories of the 35 monasteries, friaries, collegiate churches, and hospitals in the county. The book is well-illustrated throughout, with numerous maps, plans,and photographs. NICHOLAS ORME is Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University and an honorary canon of Truro Cathedral. He has written some twenty books on English religious, cultural, and social history, including Medieval Children, Medieval Schools, and The Saints of Cornwall.

Originally published in 1984, this is a study of the kings and the aristocracy who ruled England between the Conquest and the Reformation. Not, as usual, about their adult lives, but how they became the people they were through childhood and education. The first such study of its kind, it follows noble boys and girls from birth through the care of their nurses, masters and mistresses, until they left home for further training in noble households, monasteries and universities. The author examines the theories and treatises on noble education, again for the first time. The rest of the book broadens into a wide cultural survey as Dr Orme describes the skills and ideas which noble children learnt. He explains how they mastered speech and literacy; worship and behaviour; dancing, music and applied art; athletics and training for war. This part of the study is a handbook of noble pursuits in medieval times. In his final chapter the author considers the nature of noble education in the middles ages, and examines how and whether it changed at the Renaissance. Nicholas Orme has written a comprehensive study, spanning 450 years of English history and making a major contribution to social and cultural history, as well as the history of education. His book will be invaluable to historians and medievalists of all disciplines, and essential reading from those who study the Renaissance.

Wills are invaluable records of life in the past. They bring us close to people's attitudes to death, religion, charity, and family relationships, as well as mentioning property such as land, livestock, clothes, jewels and furniture. This edition gathers together all the 122 Cornish wills of personal property that are known to exist up to the year 1540, plus extracts from a further 66 that refer to Cornwall. They are revealing about saints' cults, guilds,education, ships, mining, genealogy, and church buildings and furnishings. They also illustrate the importance of emigration from Cornwall - especially to Exeter, Oxford, and London. All the wills are presented in modern English in complete form, and an Introduction describes how they were administered and what they contain.

The first history of childhood in Tudor England What was it like to grow up in England under the Tudors? How were children cared for, what did they play with, and what dangers did they face? In this beautifully illustrated and characteristically lively account, leading historian Nicholas Orme provides a rich survey of childhood in the period. Beginning with birth and infancy, he explores all aspects of children's experiences, including the games they played, such as Blind Man's Bluff and Mumble-the-Peg, and the songs they sang, such as "Three Blind Mice" and "Jack Boy, Ho Boy." He shows how social status determined everything from the food children ate and the clothes they wore to the education they received and the work they undertook. Although childhood and adolescence could be challenging and even hazardous, it was also, as Nicholas Orme shows, a treasured time of learning and development. By looking at the lives of Tudor children we can gain a richer understanding of the era as a whole.

A sequel to Nicholas Orme's widely praised study, Medieval Children Children have gone to school in England since Roman times. By the end of the middle ages there were hundreds of schools, supporting a highly literate society. This book traces their history from the Romans to the Renaissance, showing how they developed, what they taught, how they were run, and who attended them. Every kind of school is covered, from reading schools in churches and town grammar schools to schools in monasteries and nunneries, business schools, and theological schools. The author also shows how they fitted into a constantly changing world, ending with the impacts of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Medieval schools anticipated nearly all the ideas, practices, and institutions of schooling today. Their remarkable successes in linguistic and literary work, organizational development, teaching large numbers of people shaped the societies that they served. Only by understanding what schools achieved can we fathom the nature of the middle ages.

Exeter Cathedral is rich in its medieval archives, which record not only its buildings but also its personnel from the thirteenth century onwards. This volume lists the names of about a thousand people who served in the Cathedralbetween 1250 and the Reformation in 1548, including vicars choral, chantry priests and choristers. It provides their biographies as far as these can be constructed. In this way the book recreates a medieval religious community inalmost unparalleled detail, ranging from distinguished musicians to violent or unsatisfactory men, some of whom were dismissed. It also traces many of the boys and men back to their places of origin in Devon and Cornwall, and shows how cathedral clergy often left to work in churches elsewhere in the South West. It is therefore an important resource for local history, providing information about the origins and careers of many clergy of the region's parishchurches.

Death, burial, and the commemoration of the dead have been much studied by historians in recent years, but far less has been done to make available the sources on which these studies are based. This book sets out to fill the gap with an anthology of the rich and varied evidence that survives from the medieval city of Exeter. It begins with a history of burial practices in the city: where people were buried and why. This is followed by an edition of theonly remaining local burial list, relating to the hospital of St John, and by a register of all the 650 people known to have had a funeral or burial in Exeter between 1050 and 1540 with details of dates and places. The second part of the book deals with wills and executors. It prints the eighteen earliest Exeter wills (1244-1349), and two rare documents drawn up by executors: the inventory of a prosperous widow's possessions (1324) and the impressive, hitherto unedited, executors' accounts of Andrew Kilkenny, dean of Exeter (1302-15). A list of all the surviving Exeter wills up to 1540 (over 700 complete or in part) is also provided. The final section centres on how the deadwere remembered. This contains over a dozen obituary records naming men and women and the dates of their deaths, ranging from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries. The records include some remarkably early lists of members of guilds in the neighbourhood of Exeter, dating from about the year 1100; the obituary list of the Exeter guild of Kalendars in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the oldest specimens of the cathedral's 'obit accounts' from 1305-7; a document establishing a chantry in 1305; and several 'obit calendars' from Exeter Cathedral. Altogether the volume contains 2 registers of names and 36 documents, nearly all of which are making their first appearance in print. All the documents have been translated into modern English, and they are eminently suitable for use by undergraduates and postgraduates as well as for academic research. There are full introductions to each of the three sections, three maps, eight pages of photographs, a glossary, bibliography, and index.

Medieval children lived in a world rich in poetry, from lullabies, nursery rhymes, and songs to riddles, tongue twisters, and nonsensical verses. They read or listened to stories in verse: ballads of Robin Hood, romances, and comic tales. Poems were composed to teach them how to behave, eat at meals, hunt game, and even learn Latin and French. In Fleas, Flies, and Friars, Nicholas Orme, an expert on childhood in the Middle Ages, has gathered a wide variety of children's verse that circulated in England beginning in the 1400s, providing a way for modern readers of all ages to experience the medieval world through the eyes of its children.

In his delightful treasury of medieval children's verse, Orme does a masterful job of recovering a lively and largely unknown tradition, preserving the playfulness of the originals while clearly explaining their meaning, significance, or context. Poems written in Latin or French have been translated into English, and Middle English has been modernized. Fleas, Flies, and Friars has five parts. The first two contain short lyrical pieces and fragments, together with excerpts from essays in verse that address childhood or were written for children. The third part presents poems for young people about behavior. The fourth contains three long stories and the fifth brings together verse relating to education and school life.

Medieval children lived in a world rich in poetry, from lullabies, nursery rhymes, and songs to riddles, tongue twisters, and nonsensical verses. They read or listened to stories in verse: ballads of Robin Hood, romances, and comic tales. Poems were composed to teach them how to behave, eat at meals, hunt game, and even learn Latin and French. In Fleas, Flies, and Friars, Nicholas Orme, an expert on childhood in the Middle Ages, has gathered a wide variety of children's verse that circulated in England beginning in the 1400s, providing a way for modern readers of all ages to experience the medieval world through the eyes of its children.

In his delightful treasury of medieval children's verse, Orme does a masterful job of recovering a lively and largely unknown tradition, preserving the playfulness of the originals while clearly explaining their meaning, significance, or context. Poems written in Latin or French have been translated into English, and Middle English has been modernized. Fleas, Flies, and Friars has five parts. The first two contain short lyrical pieces and fragments, together with excerpts from essays in verse that address childhood or were written for children. The third part presents poems for young people about behavior. The fourth contains three long stories and the fifth brings together verse relating to education and school life.

Church dedications are as widely used as they are little studied, yet their histories are often obscure and complicated. Frequently forgotten after the Reformation, they were revived on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with many guesses and mistakes, resulting in numerous alterations. Church history cannot safely be based on the dedication in use today. Part One of the book surveys their history in England from roman ties to the present day. Part Two is detailed list of all 800 ancient parish churches and religious houses in Cornwall and Devon. It shows when their dedications first occur, the changes and misunderstandings that have happened, and the dates of parish feast days. Cornwall is a country of Celtic church dedication, whilst Devon's resemble this of the rest of England, so the book will be helpful in understanding dedications in both traditions.

In 1857 Everard Digby, an extrovert Cambridge scholar, published the first scientific treatise on swimming - and one of the first on any modern sport. Six months later he was expelled from his college, and died in obscurity as a country parson. Nicholas Orme rehabilitates Digby as a great pioneer of the history of sport.

The book opens with a detailed history of swimming in Britain from the Romans to the sixteenth century, which is followed by an account of Digby's life and work and its impact on swimming down to the eighteenth century.

The book also includes the first modern edition of Digby's treatise, in the English version of 1595, with the 43 original illustrations.

What was childhood like for medieval boys and girls in England? How were children named and brought up, what hazards faced them, what games did they play, and how were they prepared for adulthood? This richly detailed book provides for the first time a complete history of childhood in England from about the year 1000 to the sixteenth century. Leading medieval historian Nicholas Orme draws together a vast range of sources and disciplines-history, literature, religion, and art-to create a picture of medieval childhood more comprehensive than ever before. Beginning with pregnancy and childbirth, Orme explores the succeeding stages of a child's growth to adulthood. He discusses baptism, the significance of birthdays and ages, and family life, including upbringing, food, clothes, sleep, and the plight of the poor. He also chronicles the misfortunes of childhood, from disablement, abuse, and accidents to illness and death. In a fascinating review of the special culture of children, the author describes their rhymes, toys, and games; their religion and relationship to the Church; and their learning to read the literature for children. The final chapter of the book explains how adolescents grew up and entered the adult world. In this vivid recreation of childhood in the middle ages, Orme underscores the importance medieval society attached to childhood. Childhood was clearly regarded as a distinct cultural period in life, and children were considered both special and different from adults.

Cornwall is famous for its saintly place-names: St Austell, St Germans, St Ives, and St Michael's Mount. This book explains why the Cornish honoured so many saints - some famous, some obscure - and how studying saints uncovers the history of the county in medieval times. It provides an account of every saint who was venerated in Cornwall up to the Reformation - the first time this has ever been done for an English county. Every relevant church, chapel, altar, image, and holy well is listed, together with every relevant writing, folk-story and festival, from the earliest times to the present day.

The first English hospitals appeared soon after the Norman Conquest. By the year 1300 they numbered over 500, caring for the sick and needy at every level of society - from the gentry and clergy to pilgrims, travellers, beggars and lepers. Excluded from towns, but placed by main highways where they could gather alms, they had a complex relationship with medieval society: cherished yet marginalised, self-contained yet also parasitic. This book - the first general history of medieval and Tudor hospitals in eighty-five years - traces when and why they originated and follows their development through the crisis periods of the Black Death and the English Reformation when many disappeared. Nicholas Orme and Margaret Webster explore the hospitals' religious, charitable and medical functions, examine their buildings, staffing and finances, and analyse their inmates in terms of social background and medical needs. They reconstruct the daily life of hospitals, from worship to living conditions, food and care. The general survey is complemented by a regional study of hospitals in the south-west of England, including detailed histories of all the recorded institutions in Cornwall and Devon.

A collaborative history of the Church in a large, diverse and interesting region of England by six historians, ranging from Celtic and Saxon times, through the middle ages, Reformation, rise of Nonconformity and the Victorian era, down to the present day and encompassing all the main Christian denominations.