The Llanthony Stories

Compiled in the early thirteenth century, The Llanthony Stories is a fragmentary collection of exemplaria gathered by an anonymous canon at the Augustinian priory of Llanthony Secunda, Gloucester. While intended primarily for the edification of readers and those who heard the stories preached in sermons, many of the thirty-five exempla offer humorous (even ribald) glimpses of life in the Severn watershed and beyond. Filled with short tales of greedy archdeacons, licentious monks, pious laymen and prelates trying to navigate their world with decorum and piety, the work expands our knowledge of ecclesiastical politics and evangelical priorities in the Anglo-Norman church. Although the work survives in a single manuscript witness, it has long been known to historians and scholars of medieval literature. This volume makes the collection available in modern English for the first time. The translation, accompanied by extensive notes, is complemented by a contextualizing historical introduction and an edition of the Latin text.