Power of Place: the Future of the Historic Environment, calls for research which leads into ‘ “a revelation and appreciation of local ‘treasures’ “ ‘. It illuminates its case by closing with two photographic images which depict medieval churches in Suffolk and Gloucestershire, thereby communicating the role of the medieval built environment in serving as a platform for association and community in the current age. New schools are built in the localities of medieval parish churches and named after them, and each year at the Glastonbury Music Festival around 250,000 people gather under the Tor, crowned by its fifteenth-century church tower. Meanwhile, around a fifth of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom comprise buildings which were primarily built during the Middle Ages. In short, the explanation and interpretation of the medieval past matters to a range of communities. Yet on occasion its importance has not been adequately communicated. The agencies and organizations which took part in Power of Place are not asking the academic community to ‘popularize’ medieval history, but they are encouraging research which pushes the boundaries of research on medieval history within a regional framework. This book addresses such issues.

East Anglia was the richest and, after London, the most populous area of England during the Middle Ages, and its medieval cathedrals, abbeys and parish churches continue to provide the region with a rich heritage. Of course, many other European regions share similar heritages, which in turn shape their cultural and social values in the contemporary era. On one level a historical explanation is needed for why there was so much investment in the ecclesiastical built environment across Europe from the end of the ninth century. Yet these medieval societies did not come to be regulated by theological principles and dominated by clergies. There was a secular reaction, encapsulated by the process known as the feudal transformation. On a second level, there is a need to explain the context of the secular reaction against ecclesiastical power from within European society, and the ways in which it has shaped European society. To provide a comprehensive response to such issues, along the lines of various French regional monographs, would reach beyond the nature of this book.