Medieval Bishops' Houses in England and Wales

by M.W. Thompson

From 1133 to 1536 there were 17 bishops' sees in England and four in Wales. Two of these 21 sees had two Bath and Wells and Coventry and Lichfield. At each cathedral the bishop had a house or palace. The book describes the surviving medieval remains there and the far more numerous manor houses and castles owned by the bishops, as well as their London houses. An attempt is made to describe how these buildings relate to the way of life of the bishops in relation to their duties and their income and how in particular the dramatic social changes of the later middle ages influenced their form.
The book includes over a hundred plans, sections and photographs of the surviving parts of bishops' residences, with a survey of 1647 of the Archbishop's palace at Canterbury before demolition. It will be of interest to architectural historians, of course, and its social-cultural approach makes it equally valuable to students of medieval history and literature.

207 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998