Introduction

Benjamin pole is a senior lecturer in mediaeval history at the university of bristol. He has been working on a research project, shortly going to see the publication of a book about mediaeval abbots and the writing of history. Part of the project also involved you spending a week at a monastic retreat with the monks of downside abbey,. We'll wan to hereabout a a bit later on. The t show cases benedictine monasteries as centres of history where historical knowledge has been collected and cultivated for centuries.