These studies by several eminent scholars mark the 800th anniversary of the move to Lincoln by Saint Hugh, who was bishop there from 1186 to 1200. One of the most remarkable personalities of twelfth-century England, he stood out as a man of force, principle, sanctity, and wit at a time when the rule of the Angevin kings was leading to the crisis of Magna Carta.

The contributors examine how his life as bishop related to the ideals of the Carthusian Order to which he belonged; how he ruled his diocese; what kind of impact the phenomenon of his sanctity had on English political and social life; and how he was viewed and venerated in the period after his death.