Devout northern lay women and men, Puritan earls, godly preachers, heretics, family members, northern bishops and archbishops, priests and monks -all these feature in this collection of original essays on medieval and early modern ecclesiastical life and thought in the north of England, as is appropriate for a volume honouring the work of Claire Cross, who has made such a major contribution to the history of the northern Church. The book covers the great and the good connected in some way with the area, whether northern inhabitants, or those who operated within a wider context: Archbishop Thomas Arundel, for example, whose career is radically reinterpreted; the breadth of Professor Cross's interests is also reflected, from grammar schools and early printed books to episcopal jurisdiction and administration, and the interpretation of archives, especially wills. There are also pieces on other vital aspects of the area: the healing wells and springs, the symbolism surrounding northern bishops and their seals and mitres, and an account of the performance of Corpus Christi plays in the north.
Together, the essays offer fresh insights into the northern church through a turbulent period in its history.