Syon Abbey and Its Books: Reading, Writing and Religion, C.1400-1700

Founded in 1415, the double monastery of Syon Abbey was the only English foundation of the order established by the fourteenth-century mystic St Bridget of Sweden. After its dispersal at the Dissolution, the community survived in exile and was briefly restored during the reign of Mary I; with Elizabeth's accession, some of the nuns and brothers once again sought refuge on the Continent, first in the Netherlands and later in Lisbon.

This volume of essays traces the fortunes of Syon Abbey and the Bridgettine order between 1400 and 1700, examining the various ways in which reading and writing shaped its identity and defined its experience. It explores the interconnections between late medieval and post-Reformation monastic history and the rapidly evolving world of communication, learning, and books. The essays extend our understanding of religious culture and institutions on the eve of the Reformation and the impulses that inspired initiatives for early modern Catholic renewal. They illuminate the spread of literacy and the gradual and uneven transition from manuscript to print, in the process engaging with larger questions about the origins and consequences of religious, intellectual and cultural change in late medieval and early modern Europe.

E. A. Jones is Senior Lecturer in English, University of Exeter; Alexandra Walsham is Professor of Reformation History, University of Exeter.