The English and Welsh Cistercians have long been the focus of scholarly attention. For the most part, the literature is concerned with the early centuries of Cistercian monasticism, a period of growth and vigour for the dynamic and reforming Order. In contrast, scholars have usually given short shrift to the Cistercians in the late Middle Ages. The Order has been held up as a case study of monastic decline; the two centuries before the Suppression have, by and large, been interpreted as a period during which the Order abandoned the austerity and zeal of its early founder. Especially harsh judgement has been passed on Cistercians in Tudor England. Nikolaus Pevsner famously condemned the abbatial lodging built by Abbot Thomas Chard at Forde abbey (Dorset), as ‘being on a scale to justify the Reformation and Dissolution’ (Newman and Pevsner Reference Newman and Pevsner1972, 210). However, there has recently been a wide-ranging reappraisal of monasticism in late medieval England, with scholars finding evidence of adjustment, renewal and growth, even vitality. This reinterpretation has extended to the Cistercians, with Emilia Jamroziak’s Europe-wide study showing that the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were far from being a time of crisis for the Order (Jamroziak Reference Jamroziak2013, 238–9).

At first sight, the publication of David Williams’s book, The Tudor Cistercians, appears to be further evidence of renewed scholarly interest in Cistercian monasticism at the end of the Middle Ages. The chapter subjects are indeed of relevance to areas of current scholarly debate and controversy. After a brief discussion of the European context and attempts to reform the Order, it proceeds to outline evidence concerning architecture and liturgy; the composition and size of Cistercian communities; the Cistercians and the secular world; the economy of the Order’s abbeys; the Suppression; and, finally, Cistercian nunneries. There are also two appendices that provide prosopographical information about known Cistercian monks and nuns between 1485 and 1540.

The book joins Williams’s extensive list of publications on the English and Welsh Cistercians. As is the case with these other publications, the Tudor Cistercians is not without its strengths. The author has assembled a huge amount of fascinating evidence illuminating Cistercian life in the decades before the Suppression, including the presence of professional singing men at several monasteries; the identity and number of corrodians; ownership of urban properties; the duties and careers of monastic officials; and accommodation for chaplains within nunneries. The abundant references are testimony to dedicated archival research in both national and regional depositaries. Despite (perhaps because of) the author’s undoubted affection for the Cistercian ideal (the book is dedicated to his friends within the Order, past and present), he does not shy away from a frank and even-handed discussion of the allegations of misconduct made against some monks and nuns by the Suppression-era commissioners.

Nevertheless, the book cannot be considered a contribution to the revisionist or post-revisionist literature on late medieval monasticism. There is no introduction setting out aims or context and one is left unsure of the intended audience. Recent scholarship on the late medieval Cistercians is occasionally referenced, but the author does not seek to interpret the impressive array of archival evidence he has assembled within the context of these publications. Given the rigour of the author’s research, it comes as a surprise to find Wikipedia cited as a source. Written with great fluency and highly readable, the text would, however, have benefited from the attention of a more diligent copy editor. It is also oddly structured. A chapter about the involvement of Cistercian abbeys in the uprisings of 1536/7 against the regime of Henry viii and the Cistercian monks executed by the Tudor regime is incongruously located between chapters on secular communities and the economy, and would surely have been better placed alongside discussion of the Suppression.

In summary, this is not a book that will reshape the debate about Cistercian monasticism in the decades immediately preceding the Suppression. Nevertheless, the evidence assembled by Williams means that it will be a work that scholars will be able to turn to with interest and profit. The author of this review is grateful to David Williams for gathering in this book his years of meticulous archival research.