The first for forty years, this brillaint translation of a medieval classic offers a vivid and unique insight into the life of a great monastery in late twelfth-century England. At the centre of this community is Abbot Samson, a charismatic figure of enormous power, whose exploits include preventing an illegal tournament, excommunicating forty drunken knights who had escaped his enforced sanctuary, countless property disputes, and the opening of the tomb of StEdmund.

Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers work at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Dr Greenway is one of the general editors of the OMT series.