The English Benedictine Cathedral Priories offers a detailed study of nine monastic communities. Joan Greatrex follows the lives of the young men, only some of whom are known by name, from the day of their arrival at the monastery to the moment of their death or departure. The individual chapters provide the details that fill in many of the gaps in the monastic biographies to be found in her earlier work. The result is the first comparative study of the
implementation of the Benedictine Rule, and the daily routine, observances, and customs practised by the nine priories, as well as of the monks' progress through the successive stages of their monastic life. The
author exploits to the full the archiepiscopal and episcopal registers, which record their official acts, in addition to the monastic accounts of the monk office holders who were responsible for the various departments within the monastery.