BRAKELOND: A PICTURE OF MONASTIC LIFE IN THE DAYS OF ABBOT SAMSON***


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Transcriber's note:

      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

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      MCCC.LXXVII^o).

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[Illustration: frontispiece]


THE CHRONICLE OF JOCELIN
OF BRAKELOND: A PICTURE
OF MONASTIC LIFE IN THE
DAYS OF ABBOT SAMSON.

Newly Edited by

SIR ERNEST CLARKE M.A. F.S.A.

[Illustration:
_Seal of Abbot Samson.
(Slightly enlarged. The length of the
original is 3-1/2 inches._)]

THE CHRONICLE OF
JOCELIN OF BRAKELOND:
A PICTURE OF
MONASTIC LIFE IN
THE DAYS OF ABBOT
SAMSON

Newly Edited by

SIR ERNEST CLARKE







Alexander Moring
The De La More Press
298 Regent Street London W 1903



"A VERITABLE MONK OF BURY ST. EDMUND'S: WORTH LISTENING TO, IF BY
CHANCE MADE VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE. HERE HE IS; AND IN HIS HAND A
MAGICAL SPECULUM, MUCH GONE TO RUST, INDEED, YET IN FRAGMENTS STILL
CLEAR; WHEREIN THE MARVELLOUS IMAGE OF HIS EXISTENCE DOES STILL
SHADOW ITSELF, THOUGH FITFULLY, AND AS WITH AN INTERMITTENT LIGHT."

     _Carlyle: Past and Present._ Chapter 1.




LIST OF CONTENTS


 SEAL OF ABBOT SAMSON.                                  _Frontispiece_

 _EDITOR'S PREFACE._

                                                                  Page
 Samson and his arch-eulogist--The Chronicle--Previous
    Editions of the Chronicle--The Chronicler--The Central
    Figure of the Chronicle--Samson in Subordinate
    Offices--Samson as Abbot--Relations with Church and
    State--Samson as an Author--Samson's
    Masterfulness--Samson as an Administrator--Epilogue     xv.-xliii.

 CHAPTER I.

 _BURY ABBEY UNDER ABBOT HUGH._

 The last years of Abbot Hugh--The monastery under a load of
    debt, and in the hands of Jew money-lenders--Inquiry by
    the Royal almoner--Caustic comment by Samson, master of
    the novices--Ex