Religious Conflict at Canterbury Cathedral in the Late Twelfth Century

<b>Documents a long-running dispute between the archbishops and monks of Canterbury throughout the 1180s and 1190s.</b><br><br>For fifteen years the monks of Christ Church Canterbury waged a war against their archbishop over a plan to build a church to provide funds for their administration dedicated to Thomas Becket. Fearing the loss of their most beloved (and lucrative) saint to this new institution the monks embarked on a course of action which saw rioting in the streets of Canterbury their excommunication and the cathedral placed under siege by the archbishop.<br><br>Although at first glance an internal dispute between the archbishop and his cathedral chapter it had a wide-ranging impact. The monks travelled thousands of miles in support of their cause enlisting the backing of popes cardinals and the elites of Europe. In England the kings during the period took a personal interest in the dispute sometimes attempting to resolve it and sometimes hindering any chance of peace.<br><br>This book the first full account of the conflict draws on the huge collection of letters it provoked (one of the largest compiled in the twelfth century) alongside other sources such as monastic culture to offer a detailed narrative of this complicated feud between Archbishops Baldwin of Forde Hubert Walter and their cathedral monks; it also considers the continuations of the dispute in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In addition it analyses the key themes of the conflict: the role of royalty travel and the deployment of Thomas Becket.