Stone, wood, wattle and daub: Locating and interpreting building expenses in medieval monastic accounts
Résumé
From the late twelfth and early thirteenth century onwards large monasteries in England produced complex series of obedientiary and manorial accounts in which various building expenses were included, from granges and stables to cathedral churches and clocks. The welldocumented case of Norwich Cathedral priory will serve to illustrate how specific building expenses are sometimes difficult to trace and piece together from different series of accounts. The status and treatment of building expenses, whether involving stone or otherwise, shall be considered, as well as the seemingly minor importance of this type of expense in administrative accountability, in contrast to twelfth-century records such as Suger’s De Administratione.