This is the first of two volumes, now covering the heads of religious houses in England and Wales from the tenth-century reform to the death of Edward III, 940–1377. This first volume, by the great master of monastic history, Dom David Knowles, aided by Christopher Brooke and Vera London, was published first in 1972 and was quickly recognised as a major work of reference, noted for its mastery of accurate detail. It has now been brought up to date with substantial addenda and corrigenda by Christopher Brooke. The 1972 volume covers the period 940–1216, and comprises fully documented, critical lists of monastic superiors, with succinct biographical details. It is an essential foundation for all prosopographical study of the religious history of the period; and the precise chronology that it underpins is invaluable for dating innumerable undated documents. As such, the book is a fundamental tool of medieval research.

Review of the hardback:‘The editors are to be congratulated for producing a fine volume which will join Volume I as an indispensable part of any medieval historian’s library.’

Source: English Historical Review

Review of the hardback:‘The … scholarship is meticulous: the information and references on which all judgements are based are given in great detail … the compressed material is laid out with such clarity that both rapid scanning and close reading are easy … It is to be hoped that the remaining 163 years of monasticism in England and Wales will be covered in a third volume, to complete this already fine monument to medieval scholarship.’

Source: Welsh History Review

Review of the hardback:‘… these two volumes constitute a major contribution to the grand and continuing project of unlocking the Middle Ages.’

Source: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Review of the hardback:‘The invaluable volumes are astonishing compilations of information … No one working in English or Welsh medieval monastic history, and Cistercian history in particular, can afford to be without access to these fundamental volumes, and we can only be grateful to the compilers for providing us with such invaluable tools and such a rich mine of information.’

Source: Citeaux Commentarii Cistercienses