title: Many Mansions: An Introduction to the Development and Diversity of Medieval Theology (Cistercian Studies)
author:  David N. Bell 
description: Many Mansions provides an informative introduction to the development and diversity of Medieval Christian theology. Many Mansions presents an overview of how religious thinking developed in the thousand years between the end of the Roman Empire and the Reformation. Unlike other volumes, Many Mansions also looks at developments in both the Latin West (Roman Catholic) and the Greek East (Orthodox) belief systems. In addition to providing an introduction for readers with no background in theology or history, Many Mansions points out the reasons behind the growing divergence between the two great halves of Christendom. Many Mansions is ideal for the interested non-specialist general reader as well as the beginning student of Christian history, and has much to recommend it to the advanced scholars, theologians, and the academic community. -- <i>Midwest Book Review</i>
zlib_text: Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
  VOLUME XXXIII
  RELIGIOUS LIFE IN NORMANDY, 1050–1300
  Space, gender and social pressure
  The religious life was central to Norman society in the middle 
  ages. Professed religious and the clergy did not and could not life 
  in isolation; the support of the laity was vital to their existence. 
  How these different groups used sacred space was central to this 
  relationship.
  Here, fascinating new light is shed on the reality of religious 
  life in Normandy. The author uses ideas about space and gender to 
  examine the social pressures arising from such interaction around 
  four main themes: display, reception and intrusion, enclosure and the 
  family. The study is grounded in the discussion of a wide range of 
  sources, including architecture, chronicles and visitation records, from 
   communities of monks and nuns, hospitals and the parish, allowing 
  the people, rather than the institutions, to come to the fore.
  dr leonie v. hicks teaches at the University