Gilbert Foliot and His Letters

Gilbert Foliot, successively Abbot of Gloucester and Bishop of Hereford and London, and archenemy of Archbishop Thomas Becket, is a figure of the first importance in the English Church of the twelfth century. Dom Adrian Morey and Professor Christopher Brooke's study of Foliot's life and works, Gilbert Foliot and his Letters, was published in 1965. Foliot left a substantial collection of letters and charters which are a valuable source for the period. This edition consists of a critical Latin text with footnotes; all the known manuscripts have been collated, the letters dated (often for the first time) and all the circumstances of their composition discussed. The letters are arranged chronologically, except for a few groups which have been kept together; the charters alphabetically by cathedrals and monastic houses. In their introduction the editors discuss the various manuscripts, and appendices include biographical notes on the chief people mentioned in the text. There is a substantial bibliography.