Going to Church in Medieval Oxford with Nicholas Orme

Parish churches were at the heart of English religious and social life in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century.  People took their dogs and hawks, wore their best coats, and sat according to social rank.  Based on the book which has surprisingly captured the public imagination bringing together the history of the buildings, the people, the worship, and telling the story of how the Church was used, Professor Nicholas Orme will turn the attention to Oxford, setting out who went to church, who did not attend, how people behaved there, and how they—not merely the clergy—affected how worship was staged.

Nicholas Orme is emeritus professor of history at Exeter University. He has written more than thirty books on the religious and social history of England, including Medieval Children, The History of England’s Cathedrals, and Going to Church in Medieval England, which was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize.  His Ten Cathedral Ghosts is also on the festival’s summer reading list!