The English Church in the Fourteenth Century: Based on the Birkbeck Lectures, 1948

This 1955 book is an expanded version of Pantin’s 1948 Birkbeck Lectures on the English church in the fourteenth century. The period saw great changes, in part due to the Black Death and its consequences. The work is divided into three parts. In the first, Pantin examines social and political aspects of the church, such as the make up of the episcopacy, and the influence of the crown on church affairs. In the second he deals with the intellectual activities and culture of the church in a time of change and controversy, as university education became more common for priests and monks. The final section discusses the religious literature of the period, for both clergy and laity, and the growth of the mystical tradition in England. The result is a scholarly but accessible account of the church at a time of rapid change.