Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertine Order c.1130-c.1300

This is the first full scholarly study since 1902 of the Gilbertine order and its founder, St. Gilbert of Sempringham. The Gilbertines were the only native English monastic order, and highly unusual in their provision for both nuns and canons. Brian Golding provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the history of the order from its mid-twelfth-century origins up to the early fourteenth century. He examines the life of St. Gilbert and sets it within the context of twelfth-century monastic reform. His detailed analysis of the economy of the Gilbertines reveals much about monastic revenue and organization, and about relations with the lay community. Golding shows that by 1300 the Gilbertine experiment was largely dead. The founding ideals of a structure in which men and women could live in harmony and order had given way to male domination and the marginalization of the nuns.

Brian Golding is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Southampton.