Richard Whitford : The pipe or tun of the life of perfection / [edited and introduced by Brandon Alakas]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Whitford, Richard, active 1495-1555?, author.

Contributor:

Alakas, Brandon, 1978- editor, writer of supplementary textual content.

Series:

Exeter medieval texts and studies

Standardized Title:

Pype or tonne of the lyfe of perfection. Alakas. 2026.

Language:

English

English, Middle (1100-1500)

Subjects (All):

Whitford, Richard, active 1495-1555? Pype or tonne of the lyfe of perfection.

Whitford, Richard.

Catholic Church--England--History--16th century.

Catholic Church.

Bridgettines--Religious life.

Bridgettines.

Catholic Church--History--16th century.

Christian life--Catholic authors--Early works to 1800.

Christian life.

England--Church history--16th century.

England.

Religious life.

Genre:

Church history

History

Physical Description:

xi, 541 pages : 2 facsimiles ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Pipe or tun of the life of perfection

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, [2026]

Language Note:

Introduction and notes in modern English; text of The pype or tonne of the lyfe of perfection in Middle English.

Summary:

"Richard Whitford's Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection is the most important text produced at Syon Abbey in the period immediately preceding the English Reformation. A member of the spiritually elite community of Birgittine priest brothers, Whitford wrote the Pipe to assist his initial audience of female religious, first, to better understand their vocation and, second, to defend religious life against increasingly forceful attacks from evangelical reformers. Published in 1532, three years before Henry VIII's break with Rome, Whitford's Pipe provides a detailed vision of late medieval monastic spirituality, as well as responses to evangelical critiques of religious life and the Catholic Church. The Pipe was read by both religious and lay audiences and highlights how Whitford and the Birgittine community blended traditional monastic practice with humanist pedagogy and piety to encourage religious renewal on the cusp of the English Reformation. The Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection moves beyond contemporary sixteenth-century texts that seek to renew religious life or adapt it for a devout laity. Instead, it offers readers one of the most comprehensive guides to monastic devotion available at the end of the Middle Ages--a devotion that Whitford positions as an alternative to the evangelical doctrines driving the English Reformation forward. This major new critical edition provides an extensive Introduction covering orthodox reform in the Late Middle Ages, the Birgittine Order, Henry V, religious reform and Syon Abbey and monastic responses to the Reformation, together with the text itself and accompanying notes." -- Publisher, page four of cover.

Contents:

Introduction. General introduction

The life of Richard Whitford

Orthodox reform in the late Middle Ages

Brigitta, religious renewal, and the Birgittine Order

Henry V., religious reform, women's piety, and Syon Abbey

Monastic responses to the reformation

The pipe or tun of the life of perfection.

Extant copies of the text

Robert Redman

The Syon bookplate

The language and style of the text

Editorial procedure

The text. To devout readers

The preface

Part 1: The reasons of the heretics against religion

Part 2: The rules of religion

Part 3: Of the three essentials of religion : obedience, voluntary poverty, and chastity ; First member : obedience ; Bernard of Clarivaux, De precepto et dispensatione ; Second member : voluntary poverty ; Third member : chastity.

Part 4: Religion

Part 5: The life of perfection

Epilogue: The active life and the contemplative life.

Appendix 1: Annotations in Bodleian Library, 4° W2 Th. Seld

Notes on the text.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 519-532) and index.

Contains:

contains: Whitford, Richard, active 1495-1555?. Pype or tonne of the lyfe of perfection.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781835537695

1835537693

OCLC:

1513585249

Publisher Number:

CIPO000318831