He was a senior brother at Worcester Cathedral Priory, and his significance derives from the monastic cartulary (and works therein) attributed to him.
[3] The historian Antonia Gransden describes this work as "more like an inventory of charters in narrative form than a biography".
[5][6] The cartulary is not just a collection of deeds and charters, but includes other historical information of importance, especially for his monastery.
[7] One of the themes of Hemming's work is the deprivations suffered by his monastery at the hands of royal officials.
Hemming singled out the conquests of England by Cnut and William the Conqueror as being especially damaging.