Foreword

Summary

Malmesbury Abbey is famous, not only for its continuous longevity (part of it still survives today as the town's parish church), but, even more so, for its having given home to two individuals who were outstanding on the European stage: Aldhelm and William of Malmesbury. In fact, were it not for the writings of these two men, especially William, we should know far less and be much less interested in the Abbey. As it is, our knowledge is very ‘spotty’, and it is to Tony McAleavy's credit that he has not concealed the existence of the gaps, while doing his best to fill them. He sheds light on less well-understood phases of the monastery's history, such as the late Saxon period when celibate monasticism was restored, and the fourteenth century when the monks became entangled in national politics during the reign of Edward II. He gives us, for example, an excellent account of a chronicle written at Malmesbury in the mid-fourteenth century, the Eulogium Historiarum, and identifies, for the first time, its author as Thomas of Bromham. The misdeeds of John of Tintern, abbot in the fourteenth century, have received no previous scholarly attention, and Tintern is a splendid addition to the medieval gallery of ‘criminous clerks’. Thus, the text both synthesises findings from previous Malmesbury scholarship and includes significant new findings based on fresh research. It is greatly enriched by the excellent translations of Michael Winterbottom, many of which have not been previously published.

Tony McAleavy has given us the first connected, scientifically based history of the house, and it will be fundamental to any further research upon it. What remains to be done? It is most unlikely that many more literary sources will emerge, and expansion in our knowledge will only come through archaeology. William peppers the site with Anglo-Saxon churches of which nothing remains above ground, and which were thoroughly demolished after the Norman Conquest. There is much still to be discovered among the ruins and remains.