Economic, Bureaucratic and Religious Developments

Durham Cathedral Priory flourished, struggled and survived as a Benedictine monastic house for nearly half a millennium from the end of the eleventh century to almost the middle of the sixteenth century a period which witnessed huge changes in political structures and social relations, in ecclesiastical history and cultural forms of expression. A review of such changes falls outside the scope of this book, but it is important to highlight some key characteristics of the ever transmuting economic, bureaucratic and monastic environment in which Durham Cathedral Priory operated in order to appreciate some of the reasons for and objectives of the accounting, financial and management procedures which were introduced at the house. Enormous quantities of surviving primary material have generated an even greater volume of secondary material for the investigation of economic, bureaucratic and monastic developments. This chapter examines both original sources and later analysis, but the volume of evidence is such that the following review is no more than a preliminary sketch which highlights some major characteristics and key debates relating to the economic, administrative and religious background in which the priory operated.