A Tale of Two Monasteries: Westminster and Saint-Denis in the Thirteenth Century

(Princeton University Press) This book compares Westminster Abbey and the abbey of Saint-Denis– two ecclesiastical institutions of the 13th century — through the lives and competing careers of the two men who ruled them, Richard de Ware of Westminster and Mathieu de Vendôme of Saint-Denis. In his exploration of this rivalry, Jordan portrays the social, cultural, and political history of medieval England and France. Jordan is the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University. He is the author of several books, including Unceasing Strife, Unending Fear: Jacques de Thérines and the Freedom of the Church in the Age of the Last Capetians, and Europe in the High Middle Ages.