Abstract
Given the importance of secular clerics below the episcopal level to English society in the long twelfth century, and indeed to Christian Europe throughout the Middle Ages, it is stunning how little they figure in the historiography of the medieval period. It is not, of course, that they are entirely absent, but rather that they generally appear intermittently and only in specific roles, mainly as scholars, bureaucrats, or parish priests, rather than as a group. Historians need to place secular clerics nearer to the heart of the story of historical change in the Middle Ages, and our understanding of medieval society will be deeply flawed until we research this powerful and influential group more fully. In this book I have made a start on the process with a large case study concerning the secular clergy of England during the long twelfth century. In this conclusion I have two aims. The first is to review my findings on how great an impact this important group had on their society. The second is to suggest some ways in which a focus on the secular clergy can help us rethink some of our views of medieval society...