Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)

“Aelred was the son of a married priest at a time when that institution was fast disappearing. Aelred’s intellectual development at the count of the Scottish king, his conversion to monastic life in the new and flourishing Cistercian order, and his role as teacher, as monk, and as abbot have given rise to the intense scholarship displayed in this work. Burton builds his profound insight into Aelred’s spirituality on the framework supplied by his study of the stages in Aelred’s life. This work is both historically profound and theologically insightful. Burton’s work is a masterful study of a spiritual giant.”
John R. Sommerfeldt, Professor Emeritus, University of Dallas
“A rich and detailed study of the best-known of English Cistercians, from his childhood as the son of a married priest of Hexham, through his formative years at the Scottish court, to his conversion and entry into the Yorkshire Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx, and his subsequent monastic career as monk, novice-master, and abbot. This is far more than a narrative: Burton demonstrates how Aelred’s life before and after he became a monk, and his engagement with the world outside the cloister, were permeated by the importance of friendship and love, and by his search for harmony, reconciliation, and unity, through friendship, with God.”
Janet Burton, Professor of Medieval History, University of Wales Trinity Saint David (Lampeter)​
“In this beautiful and sensitive study, Pierre-André Burton gives readers a holistic examination of Aelred of Rievaulx’s personal biography and writings, arguing that the holistic approach is the key to understanding both Aelred the man and the rich theology, anthropology, and spirituality Aelred offers to readers. Using his profound familiarity with the entirety of Aelred’s written oeuvre—spiritual treatises, historical writings, sermons—as well as other medieval Cistercian writings, Burton produces a richly woven narrative whose separate threads provide striking insights in their own right and a unified image in their sum. From this book, we see so much more than one man. Aelred’s life-long quest for unity, reconciliation, and harmony was manifest in different ways at different times and for different audiences, both monastic and secular, yet in these different examples the reader—both in the twelfth century and today—is offered a consistent, and expanding, theology. This unique study, translated here into elegant English by Christopher Coski, is much more than the sum of its parts, which is precisely what it shows was the case with Aelred’s individual actions and writings as well.”
Elizabeth Freeman, Senior Lecturer in Medieval European History, University of Tasmania
"Ten years after its original publication, Abbot Pierre-Andre Burton's groundbreaking biography of Aelred of Rievaulx is now available in English translation. Truly a production worth waiting for."
Catholic Books Review
“This is quite a prodigious work. The appendix and footnotes are alone with the effort of looking this book over, let alone finding such in depth history and information on this great monk.”
Catholic Media Association
"If one is only going to read one book about Aelred of Rievaulx, it would have to be this one. Burton charts the development of Aelred's thought and explains how his works relate to one another, and we cannot hope to fully understand and appreciate the treasures that Aelred has left us without his direction."
Cistercian Studies Quarterly
"This book provides a fascinating insight into the life and works of Aelred of Rievaulx. Accessible and well-researched, It also provides a way into a deeper reading of Aelred's own words."
Fairacres Chronicle
"This new biography represents a treasure trove of insights on Aelred his writings, and the age in which he lived."
Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies