{"product_id":"richard-whitford-the-pipe-or-tun-of-the-life-of-perfection-9781835537695","title":"Richard Whitford: The Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection","description":"\u003cp\u003eRichard Whitford's \u003cem\u003ePipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection\u003c\/em\u003e is the most important text produced at Syon Abbey in the period immediately preceding the English Reformation. A member off the spiritually elite community of Birgittine priest brothers, Whitford wrote the \u003cem\u003ePipe\u003c\/em\u003e to assist his initial audience of female religious, first, to better understand their vocation and, second, to defend religious life against increasingly forceful attacks from evangelical reformers. Published in 1532, three years before Henry VIII's break with Rome, Whitford's \u003cem\u003ePipe\u003c\/em\u003e provides a detailed vision of late medieval monastic spirituality, as well as responses to evangelical critiques of religious life and the Catholic Church. The \u003cem\u003ePipe\u003c\/em\u003e was read by both religious and lay audiences and highlights how Whitford and the Birgittine community blended traditional monastic practice with humanist pedagogy and piety to encourage religious renewal on the cusp of the English Reformation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Pipe or Tun of the Life of Perfection\u003c\/em\u003e moves beyond contemporary sixteenth-century texts that seek to renew religious life or adapt it for a devout laity. Instead, it offers readers one of the most comprehensive guides to monastic devotion available at the end of the Middle Ages--a devotion that Whitford positions as an alternative to the evangelical doctrines driving the English Reformation forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis major new critical edition provides an extensive Introduction covering orthodox reform in the Late Middle Ages, the Birgittine Order, Henry V, religious reform and Syon Abbey and monastic responses to the Reformation, together with the text itself and accompanying notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAlakas, Brandon:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eBrandon Alakas is a Professor at the University of Alberta and Director of the Syon Abbey Society. His previous publications include \u003ci\u003eRichard Whitford's Dyuers Holy Instrucyons and Teachynges Very Necessary for the Helth of Mannes Soule\u003c\/i\u003e (Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies, Liverpool University Press 2020).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Liverpool University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52038907953426,"sku":"9781835537695","price":214.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_df10783a-0e17-4f93-9170-5c141fd6a8c6.jpg?v=1771340774","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/richard-whitford-the-pipe-or-tun-of-the-life-of-perfection-9781835537695","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}