Historian uncovers medieval conspiracy of lies and power

Former Ripon Grammar School student Dr Richard Sowerby, who lectures in medieval history at the University of Edinburgh, has discovered that a group of churchmen sold a pack of lies to their fellow monks in order to gain power and influence during the Middle Ages in Ripon.

The plot centred around a monastery that stood on the site of Ripon Cathedral long before the latter was built.

It has now been uncovered in Dr Sowerby’s research, which is entitled: ‘The Heirs of Bishop Wilfrid: Succession and Presumption in Early Anglo-Saxon England’.

“My article is intended to get historians to use texts more carefully, because actually these were deliberately written to mislead their readers in a number of ways,” he said.

The only bit of the monastery which still survives today is the crypt at the cathedral, which dates back to the eighth century.