The thirteenth century was a crucial period of reform in the English church, during which the church's renewal initiatives transformed the laity. The vibrant lay religious culture of late-medieval England cannot be understood without considering the re-invigorated pastoral care that developed between 1200 and 1300. Even before Innocent III called the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, reform-minded bishops and scholars were focusing attention on the local church, emphasising better preaching and more frequent confession. This study examines the processes by which these clerical reforms moulded the lay religiosity of the thirteenth century, integrating the different aspects of church life, so often studied separately, and combining a broad investigation of the subject with a series of comparative case studies. William H. Campbell also demonstrates how differences abounded from diocese to diocese, town to country and parish to parish, shaping the landscape of pastoral care as a complex mosaic of lived religion.

Winner, 2018 EHS Book Prize, Ecclesiastical History Society

‘Campbell’s study illuminates what scholars have been trying to see for a long time - how people experienced pastoral care. He notes in his introduction that the last holistic study of the thirteenth-century English church was J. R. H. Moorman’s 1945 Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century. Campbell has written an exceedingly good replacement.'

Beth Allison Barr Source: American Historical Review

‘… paints a vivid, detailed picture of pastoral care in 13th century England. The book offers a nuanced view which furthers our understanding of a major aspect of the medieval Church.’

Justin S. Kirkland Source: Reading Religion