Provisioning a medieval monastery: Durham cathedral priory's purchases of imported goods, 1464-1520

This study analyses the information contained in the obedientiary accounts of Durham Cathedral Priory relating to the priory's purchases of wine, spices and iron. It focuses on the years 1464 to 1520, for which particularly complete records exist. Those relevant to this study are the bursars', communars', hostillars' and sacrists' accounts. The administrative system in which these accounts were produced is outlined, and the main features of the accounts themselves are described. The priory's purchases of wine, spices and iron are then discussed. For each commodity the varieties purchased, the measures used and the prices paid by the priory are surveyed. The consumption suggested by these accounts is discussed, and the priory is found to have had higher levels of wine and lower levels of spice consumption than was common in contemporary households. The bursars' purchases of iron show a trend towards the use of locally produced rather than imported iron, and suggest that the local iron industry may have been expanding earlier than has previously been thought. The priory's methods of purchasing goods are discussed, and it is found to have been becoming increasingly reliant upon Newcastle to the exclusion of other supply centres. The merchants supplying the priory are also studied and several distinct groups are identified. The careers of several Newcastle merchants are pieced together, and the relevance of this evidence to the question of Newcastle’s economic health in this period is addressed. Appendices tabulate the contents of the relevant sections of the obedientiary accounts and list the merchants mentioned, showing the level of involvement of different individuals in the priory trade and the degree of overlap that existed between the suppliers of different commodities

Monks and markets : Durham Cathedral-Priory, 1460-1520.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN039285 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

C. L. Downing, Salvation from Cinema: The Medium is the Message. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2016. Pp. viii, 196. Pb. £33.99. ISBN 978-1-138-91394-3

Review of this book on theology and film for Modern Believing

Christianity as Public Religion::A Justification for using a Christian Sociological Approach for Studying the Social Scientific Aspects of Sport

The vast majority of social scientific studies of sport have been secular in nature and/or have tended to ignore the importance of studying the religious aspects of sport. In light of this, Shilling and Mellor (2014) have sought to encourage sociologists of sport not to divorce the ‘religious’ and the ‘sacred’ from their studies. In response to this call, the goal of the current essay is to explore how the conception of Christianity as ‘public religion’ can be utilised to help justify the use of a Christian sociological approach for studying the social scientific aspects of sport. After making a case for Christianity as public religion, we conclude that many of the sociological issues inherent in modern sport are an indirect result of its increasing secularisation and argue that this justifies the need for a Christian sociological approach. We encourage researchers to use the Bible, the tools of Christian theology and sociological concepts together, so to inform analyses of modern sport from a Christian perspective

Monks and Markets: Durham Cathedral Priory, 1460-1520

The institutions of the middle ages are generally seen as tradition-bound; Monks and Markets challenges this assumption. Durham's outstanding archive has allowed the uncovering of an unprecedented level of detail about the purchasing strategies of one of England's foremost monasteries, and it is revealed that the monks were indeed reflective, responsive, and innovative when required. If this is true of a large Benedictine monastery, it is likely to be true also for the vast majority of other households and institutions in Medieval England for which comparable evidence does not exist. Furthermore, this study gives a unique insight into the nature of medieval consumer behaviour, which throughout history, and particularly from before the early modern period, remains a relatively neglected subject. Chapters are devoted to the diet of monks, the factors influencing their purchasing decisions, their use of the market and their exploitaiton of tenurial relationships, and their suppliers