Jocelin of Brakelond

(c. 1150 - c. 1211)

Jocelin of Brakelond joined a monastery at the Bury St. Edmunds Abbey in 1173 and began working as an assistant to his former tutor Samson of Tottington, a powerful abbot. He wrote a chronicle of his life at the monastery, describing its initial disorder and Samson’s role in restoring it to prosperity. According to the scholars Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers, “World-shaking events, wars, and political maneuverings are recorded, but Jocelin pays greatest attention to what went on within the community and within men’s minds.”