A&F Research Seminar – Prof Alisdair Dobie

This seminar has been cancelled. Apologies for the inconvenience. 

23 March 2022, 16.00-17.00, NUBS 2.03/Zoom

Guest Speaker: Prof Alisdair Dobie

Title: Accounting as a biographical tool: a re-evaluation of the career of Geoffrey of Burdon, Prior of Durham 1313-20

Abstract: Geoffrey of Burdon was the spiritual head of Durham Cathedral Priory between 1313 and 1320. The priory was a major landholder in the north of England, and Geoffrey of Burdon as prior controlled revenues on a par with the average earldom and bishopric of that period. Materials for a biography survive within a range of documents including chronicles, visitation records and the administrative archives of the monastery: letter books and account-rolls. A biographical study was undertaken in the 1950s which reached a somewhat negative conclusion on Geoffrey’s career and his tenure as prior, finding that he diverted the resources of the priory to his own use. This paper revisits the accounting material and concludes that earlier analysis was somewhat cursory, misinterpreted the accounting information and led to an unduly harsh evaluation of his priorate.