An introduction, for the lay reader, to the long historical formation of the Christian liturgy as it came down to the English Church — from the early centuries through the Sarum Use, the Reformation, and the prayer book tradition that produced our own.

Chapters are being transcribed and added as they are prepared. Those marked below are presently available; the remainder of the volume is forthcoming.

Norman & Pre-Reformation
  1. Chapter XVII

    The Norman Period

    Norman influence; Lanfranc and the foundation of the See of Salisbury under St. Osmund; Richard Poore and the development of the Sarum Use; Rouen additions to the Roman Use; the principal manuscripts — the Leofric Collectar, the Rosslyn Missal, the Gilbertine Missal, and the Pontificals of Peckham, Lacy, and Bainbridge.

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  2. Chapter XVIII

    Conflict with the Papacy

    From Anselm and the lay-investiture controversy through the Constitutions of Clarendon, the murder of Becket, and Stephen Langton; King John, Magna Carta, and the long quarrel over annates and provisors; Wicliffe and the Lollards; the Council of Constance and the eve of the English Reformation.

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  3. Chapter XIX

    Monastic Institutions

    The Benedictines and the reformed Order of Cluny; the Cistercians of Stephen Harding; the Carthusians and Austin Canons; the military Orders of the Crusades; the friars of St. Francis and St. Dominic; and the schoolmen — Duns Scotus and St. Thomas Aquinas.

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Further chapters will be added as the transcription continues.