Richard Whitford: The Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection

Brandon Alakas (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

560 Seiten

2026
Liverpool University Press (Verlag)
978-1-83553-769-5 (ISBN)

Lieferbar (Termin unbekannt)
Versandkostenfrei
Auch auf Rechnung

Artikel merken

Richard Whitford’s Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection is the most important text produced at Syon Abbey in the period immediately preceding the English Reformation. A member off the spiritually elite community of Birgittine priest brothers, Whitford wrote the Pipe to assist his initial audience of female religious, first, to better understand their vocation and, second, to defend religious life against increasingly forceful attacks from evangelical reformers. Published in 1532, three years before Henry VIII’s break with Rome, Whitford’s Pipe provides a detailed vision of late medieval monastic spirituality, as well as responses to evangelical critiques of religious life and the Catholic Church. The Pipe was read by both religious and lay audiences and highlights how Whitford and the Birgittine community blended traditional monastic practice with humanist pedagogy and piety to encourage religious renewal on the cusp of the English Reformation.

The Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection moves beyond contemporary sixteenth-century texts that seek to renew religious life or adapt it for a devout laity. Instead, it offers readers one of the most comprehensive guides to monastic devotion available at the end of the Middle Ages—a devotion that Whitford positions as an alternative to the evangelical doctrines driving the English Reformation forward.

This major new critical edition provides an extensive Introduction covering orthodox reform in the Late Middle Ages, the Birgittine Order, Henry V, religious reform and Syon Abbey and monastic responses to the Reformation, together with the text itself and accompanying notes.

Brandon Alakas is a Professor at the University of Alberta and Director of the Syon Abbey Society. His previous publications include Richard Whitford's Dyuers Holy Instrucyons and Teachynges Very Necessary for the Helth of Mannes Soule (Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies, Liverpool University Press 2020).

Introduction

General Introduction

The Life of Richard Whitford

Orthodox Reform in the Late Middle Ages

Birgitta, Religious Renewal, and the Birgittine Order

Henry V, Religious Reform, Lay Piety, and Syon Abbey

Monastic Responses to the Reformation

*The Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection *

Part 1: The Reasons of the Heretics against Religion

Part 2: The Rules of Religion

Part 3: Of the Three Essentials of Religion, Obedience, Voluntary Poverty, and Chastity

Part 4: Religion

Part 5: The Life of Perfection

Epilogue: The Active and Contemplative Life

Extant Copies of the Text

Robert Redman

The Language of the Text

Editorial Procedure

The Text

To Devout Readers

The Preface

Part 1: The Reasons of the Heretics against Religion

Part 2: The Rules of Religion

Part 3: Of the Three Essentials of Religion, Obedience, Voluntary Poverty, and Chastity First Member: Obedience Bernard of Clairvaux, De Precepto et dispensatione Second Member: Voluntary Poverty Third Member: Chastity

Part 4: Religion

Part 5: The Life of Perfection

Epilogue: The Active and Contemplative Lives

Notes to the Text

Appendix 1: Annotations in Bodleian Library, 40 W2 Th.Seld

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	10.12.2025
Reihe/Serie	Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies
Zusatzinfo	black and white plates
Verlagsort	Liverpool
Sprache	englisch
Maße	163 x 239 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-83553-769-3 / 1835537693
ISBN-13	978-1-83553-769-5 / 9781835537695
Zustand	Neuware