A meticulously researched look at the birth and flowering of monastic life and its impact on seekers today. † A learned, comprehensive, and readable text covering all aspects of monastic life in the central Middle Ages. -- Giles Constable, Professor Em., Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton All those interested in monastic history will be well instructed by The Age of the Cloister. -- John R. Sommerfeldt, Professor of History, University of Dallas It tells the fascinating story of those who fled the world while remaining so constructively engaged with it. -- Louis Dupre, T. Lawrason Riggs Professor Emeritus, Yale University This beautiful book reads like a historical commentary on Wim Swaan's magnificent photographs of medieval monasteries. -- Louis Dupré , Yale University Christopher Brooke, the former Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge University and a life fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, is a leading scholar of medieval history. A fellow of the British Academy and corresponding fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, he has written and edited numerous books.