Going to Church in Medieval England

“Christmas is the time of year when people are most likely to attend divine service, and Going to Church in Medieval England . . . tells us how they did it 800 years ago. . . . Orme also describes how the churches that punctuate our landscape came about, and who ran them.”—Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph, “2021’s Best Histories”

“Nicholas Orme writes with an engaging lightness of touch while clearly laying out the functions, use and management of medieval parish churches. The result is so skilfully, successfully and thoroughly executed that it belies the complexity and scope of the task.”—John Jenkins, Times Literary Supplement

“Orme’s book, a vast intricate mosaic resting atop a mountain of research, is often funny, often moving, and always fascinating. You finish it with a real feeling for the lives of normal people (so often absent from history books) in a world of great contrasts . . . a world of humour, and of sadness; a world not entirely unlike our own.”—Duncan Morrison, Daily Telegraph

“Orme’s accounting is couched in flowing, enjoyable prose. . . . Orme has provided a work of thick historical description that will serve as a touchstone text on medieval Christian religiosity.”—Leigh Ann Craig, Speculum

“The fullest and clearest inclusive study of medieval parishes available to date. . . . His clear connection of liturgy, pastoral literature, demographics, and practice is particularly impressive.”—Catholic Historical Review

“Alert throughout to change across time, the complexities of sources, and the variety of past experience, Nicholas Orme has written a wonderful book. With great clarity and insight, he captures the human and material reality of quotidian Christian worship across the middle Ages.”—John H. Arnold, author of Belief and Unbelief in the Middle Ages

“Drawing on both surviving churches and contemporary literature and attentive to gender, status, and geography, Orme explores what ordinary men and women saw, heard, and experienced when they attended church.”—Katherine L. French, University of Michigan

“What actually happened in a medieval church? What was medieval worship like? Turn to this book, and you’ll find answers to all the questions you’ll ever ask.”—Nigel Saul, author of Richard II

“For many years Nicholas Orme has been enlightening readers with incisive appreciations of the religious and social institutions of medieval England. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this study brings home to readers the reality of formal Christian witness as experienced by England’s medieval parishioners.”—Roger Bowers, University of Cambridge