author
William Maskell
d. 1890
A 19th-century liturgical scholar who moved from the Church of England to Roman Catholicism, he is remembered for careful studies of old rites, church history, and worship. His books helped preserve and explain medieval and early English liturgical traditions for later readers.
1 Audiobook
Ivories Ancient and Mediæval
by William Maskell
About the author
Born in 1814, he became an English priest and scholar with a strong interest in liturgy, church history, and medieval religious practice. He studied at University College, Oxford, took Anglican orders, and built a reputation as a serious High Church writer before later converting to Roman Catholicism.
His best-known work centers on ancient liturgies and the history of worship in England. Rather than writing for display, he wrote to document, compare, and preserve older religious texts and customs, which made his work especially valuable to readers interested in ecclesiastical history.
He died in 1890. Today he is chiefly remembered as a liturgical scholar whose research connected Anglican and Catholic traditions and left a lasting record of historic forms of worship.