Pragmatic Utopias
Ideals and Communities, 1200–1630

A collection of essays exploring medieval and early modern views of community and society.

Rosemary Horrox (Edited by), Sarah Rees Jones (Edited by)

9780521650601, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 November 2001

298 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.61 kg

Review of the hardback: 'the range of themes on important subjects, and the quality of the contributions, make this book especially welcome. It also serves as a fitting tribute to Professor Dobson's distinguished career.' The Ricardian

This collection of essays was presented to Barrie Dobson in celebration of his 70th birthday. It will be welcomed by all scholars of pre-modern religion and society. Spanning the artificial divide between medieval and early modern, the contributors - all acknowledged experts in their field - pursue the ways in which men and women tried to put their ideals into practice, sometimes alone, but more commonly in the shared environment of cloister, college or city. The range of topics is testimony to the breadth of Barrie Dobson's own interests, but even more striking are the continuities and shared assumptions across time, and between the dissident and the impeccably orthodox. Taking the reader from a rural anchor-hold to the London of Thomas More, and from the greenwood of Robin Hood to the central law courts, this collection builds into a richly satisfying exploration of the search for perfection in an imperfect world.

Preface Rosemary Horrox
Richard Barrie Dobson: an appreciation John Taylor
1. 'If heaven be on this earth, is it in cloister or in school': the monastic ideal in later medieval English literature Derek Pearsall
2. The 'chariot of Aminadab' and the Yorkshire priory of Swine Janet Burton
3. 'Godliness and good learning': ideals and imagination in medieval university and college foundations Robert Swanson
4. Hugh of Balsham, bishop of Ely 1256/7–1286 Roger Lovatt
5. A cruel necessity? Christ's and St John's, two Cambridge re-foundations Malcolm Underwood
6. Coventry's 'Lollard' programme of 1492 and the making of Utopia P. J. P. Goldberg
7. Thomas More's Utopia and medieval London Sarah Rees Jones
8. Social exclusivity or justice for all? Access to justice in fourteenth-century England Anthony Musson
9. Idealising criminality: Robin Hood in the fifteenth century A. J. Pollard
10. Fat Christian and Old Peter: ideals and compromises among the medieval Waldensians Peter Biller
11. Imageless devotion: what kind of an ideal? Margaret Aston
12. An English anchorite: the making, unmaking and remaking of Christine Carpenter Miri Rubin
13. Victorian values in fifteenth-century England: the Ewelme almshouse statutes Colin Richmond
14. Puritanism and the poor Patrick Collinson
15. Realising a Utopian dream: the transformation of the clergy in the diocese of York, 1500–1630 Claire Cross
Bibliography of Barrie Dobson's published works.

Subject Areas: Christian leaders & leadership [HRCX1], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]