William Lyndwood and the Provinciale: Canon Law in an Undivided Western Church

1997 ◽  
Vol 4 (20) ◽  
pp. 615-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. E. Ferme
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Short Distance ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
The Church

Anyone coming across the fourteenth-century church of St Cornelius in Lyndewode, now Linwood, a short distance from the Lincolnshire town of Market Rasen, is struck by its stark isolation—it virtually stands alone in fields. Anyone entering the church will most likely be struck by two interesting objects which have some bearing on this lecture. The first, at the west end of the north aisle, are two fine excellently preserved brasses, both of wool men. They had clearly prospered in the economic development of Lincolnshire in the later middle ages. One of these brasses is of John Lyndwood, who died in 1419, with his wife, four sons and three daughters under smaller canopies. The other represents another John Lyndwood, the son of the former, who died in 1421.

“Cum Status Ecclesie Noster Sit”: Florence and the Council of Pisa (1409)

1993 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-189
Author(s):  
Alison Williams Lewin
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Great Schism ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Of all the divisions and crises that the Catholic church endured in its first fifteen hundred years of existence, none was so destructive as the Great Schism (1378–1417). For forty years learned theologians and doctors of canon law argued over whether the pontiff residing in Rome or in Avignon was the true pope. The effects of the schism upon the highly organized administration of the church were disastrous, as were its effects upon society in general. Countless clerics fought over claims to benefices with appointees from the other obedience; the revenues of the church, quite impressive in the mid-fourteenth century, shrank precipitously; and opportunistic rulers especially in Italy did not hesitate to wage private wars under the banner of one or the other papacy, or to prey upon the actual holdings of the church.

The Mediæval Legend of Judas Iscariot

PMLA ◽  
1916 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-632
Author(s):  
Paull Franklin Baum
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Early Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Greek Myth ◽  
Judas Iscariot ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Middle Ages

The legendary Life of Judas the Betrayer, based, it is usually said, on the Greek myth of Œdipus, is found in almost every language and country of mediæval Europe. It was written down in Latin as early as the twelfth century. By the end of the thirteenth century it was turned into the vernacular in lands as far apart as Wales, Catalonia, and Bohemia. At the close of the Middle Ages it had become the possession of the folk, and since that period—to some extent even during the fifteenth century—it has spread northward and eastward into Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and Bulgaria. It was related in Greek, probably in the Middle Ages, although the manuscripts are of a much later date. It was still told orally in Galicia at the end of the last century. As a regular part of the ecclesiastical literature of the West it received canonization, so to say, late in the thirteenth century, in the great legendary of Jacopo da Voragine; but, on the other hand, it is a remarkable fact that in the Middle Ages, so far as I have been able to learn, none of the reputable church writers (with the exception of Jacopo) recognized or even mentioned it. And furthermore, mediaeval sculptors and carvers of wood and ivory, who gave themselves with so much zeal to the plastic representation of legendary matter, completely eschewed or overlooked the ‘early life’ of Judas. Not indeed that either the church writers or artists sought to avoid contact with such a wicked character; on the contrary, they devoted considerable space to him, rejecting only his apocryphal career. However this omission may be explained, the fact must be recognized as of some interest.

Dubius in fide fidelis est? Doubt and Assurance in Late Medieval Catholicism

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 186-202
Author(s):  
Robert N. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Definitive Statement ◽  
The Church

The canon law dictum that ‘dubius in fide infidelis est’ offers a seemingly definitive statement on the place of doubt and uncertainty in medieval Catholicism. Yet where Catholic teaching was open to question, doubt was inseparable from faith, not merely as its obverse but as part of the process of achieving faithfulness – the trajectory outlined by Abelard in the twelfth century. The challenge for the Church was not that doubters lacked faith, but that having tested their doubts they might end up with the wrong faith: doubt preceded assurance, one way or the other. That problem is addressed in this essay by a broad examination of the ties between faith and doubt across the late Middle Ages (from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries), arguing that uncertainty and doubt were almost unavoidable in medieval Catholicism. As the starting points in a process which could lead to heresy and despair, they also had a positive role in developing and securing orthodox faith.

More on the Sculpture of the West Front of Bath Abbey: Christ of the Charter and Antichrist

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-322
Author(s):  
Julian Luxford
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Intrinsic Interest ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
North Side ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Current Article

AbstractThe iconography of the early sixteenth century sculptural program of Bath Abbey's west front has been shown in a previous article (Religion and the Arts, 4.3 (2000), 313-36) to represent an allegory of spiritual ascent through the virtue of humility and descent through the vice of pride, as explained in chapter seven of the Rule of St Benedict. The current article focuses upon two sculptures largely overlooked by the earlier study, the iconography and positioning of which further substantiates the proposed meaning of the program. One sculpture represents Christ as the Man of Sorrows, holding the Charter of Human Redemption (a devotional text widespread in England during the late Middle Ages). The other represents Antichrist, who was a subject of much speculation during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is argued that Christ, standing on the north side of the west front, constitutes an additional symbol of humility, while Antichrist, standing on the south, makes another reference to pride. The iconography of these figures is further analyzed for its intrinsic interest, that of Antichrist being unusual, Christ holding the Charter of Human Redemption all but unique.

Cloister

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Valdez del Álamo
Keyword(s):  
Religious Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Traditional Form ◽  
The North ◽  
Monastic Community ◽  
Living Together ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The term “cloister” has two definitions, both based on the Latin word claustrum (pl. claustra), meaning an enclosure, a lock, or a place that is shut. A cloister may be the monastery or convent that encloses a religious community away from the world, monks as well as canons, priests living together under a rule. Architecturally, a cloister is the open courtyard that connects the various buildings of the monastery by means of a covered walkway. Cloister galleries are usually formed by an arcade of columns springing from a plinth, often with piers at the corners. These may be ornamented with carvings, as on the column capitals and sometimes on the columns themselves. The cloister courtyard normally includes a well and garden. By the 9th century, the layout for an ideal monastery had been recorded in the Plan of St. Gall. There, the cloister is rendered in what was to become its traditional form, a quadrangle. The main features of the St. Gall plan are found, for example, at Monte Cassino, the head of the Benedictine order, and at the monastery of Cluny. This arrangement was generally followed by Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries. To the north of the cloister lies the church nave; to the east are the church transept and dormitory. Along the east gallery is the chapter house, the meeting place for the monastic community, then there is a parlor near a spring that must have served for washing, baths, and latrines. To the south is the refectory, and to the west, the gateway and guesthouse. The north gallery of the cloister often has a funerary function, with burials of abbots located there. The west gallery often flanks the cellar and guesthouse. Because the cloister provides the passageway between the church, dormitory, refectory, and chapter house, it is the heart of a monastery, and the decoration reflects its spiritual ideals. On the one hand, it was the site for processions on Sundays and holidays, for teaching novices and children, and for reading and meditation. On the other hand, the cloister may be used for a variety of activities, some concerning the practical side of life, such as laundry, barbering, and the reception of guests. Larger communities sometimes had a second cloister connecting the infirmary to the rest of the compound. Because monasteries and colleges of secular canons sometimes evolved into universities, campuses often have cloister garths as well. This article focuses on medieval cloisters.

The church in the West Highlands in the late middle ages

2003 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
A. D. M. Barrell
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The Church

At the Edge of Reformation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Linehan
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Black Death ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
History Of ◽  
Portuguese Society ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

This book springs from its author’s continuing interest in the history of Spain and Portugal—on this occasion in the first half of the fourteenth century between the recovery of each kingdom from widespread anarchy and civil war and the onset of the Black Death. Focussing on ecclesiastical aspects of the period in that region (Galicia in particular) and secular attitudes to the privatization of the Church, it raises inter alios the question why developments there did not lead to a permanent sundering of the relationship with Rome (or Avignon) two centuries ahead of that outcome elsewhere in the West. In addressing such issues, as well as of neglected material in Spanish and Portuguese archives, use is made of the also unpublished so-called ‘secret’ registers of the popes of the period. The issues it raises concern not only Spanish and Portuguese society in general but also the developing relationship further afield of the components of the eternal quadrilateral (pope, king, episcopate, and secular nobility) in late medieval Europe, as well as of the activity in that period of those caterpillars of the commonwealth, the secular-minded sapientes. In this context, attention is given to the hitherto neglected attempt of Afonso IV of Portugal to appropriate the privileges of the primatial church of his kingdom and to advance the glorification of his Castilian son-in-law, Alfonso XI, as God’s vicegerent in his.

Church Discipline in the Later Middle Ages: the Priors of Durham as Archdeacons

2004 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
Margaret Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Church Discipline ◽  
Full Account ◽  
Church Courts ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

It is often forgotten that the medieval Church imposed public penance and reconciliation by law. The discipline was administered by the church courts, among which one of the most important, because it acted at local level, was that of the archdeacon. In the later Middle Ages and certainly by 1435, the priors of Durham were archdeacons in all the churches appropriated to the monastery. The priors had established their rights in Durham County by the early fourteenth century and in Northumberland slightly later. Although the origins of this peculiar jurisdiction were long ago unravelled by Barlow, there is no full account of how it worked in practice. Yet it is not difficult from the Durham archives to elicit a coherent account, with examples, of the way penance and ecclesiastical justice were administered from day to day in the Durham area in this period. The picture that emerges from these documents, though not in itself unusual, is nevertheless valuable and affords an extraordinary degree of detail which is missing from other places, where the evidence no longer exists. This study should complement the recent work by Larry Poos for Lincoln and Wisbech, drawing attention to an institution which would reward further research. It is only possible here to outline what the court did and how and why it was used.

A Reinterpretation of the Microlithic Industries of Wales

1963 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 99-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Wainwright
Keyword(s):  
Short Distance ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
South Wales ◽  
North Wales ◽  
River Valleys

The distribution of Mesolithic sites in Wales is controlled to a great extent by the terrain, for physiographically, Wales is a highland block defined on three sides by the sea and for the greater part of the fourth side by a sharp break of slope. Geologically the Principality is composed almost entirely of Palaeozoic rocks, of which the 600-foot contour encloses more than three quarters of the total area. There are extensive regions above 1,500 feet and 2,000 feet and in the north the peaks of Snowdonia and Cader Idris rise to 3,560 feet and 2,929 feet respectively. Indeed North Wales consists of an inhospitable highland massif, skirted by a lowland plateau and cut deeply by river valleys, providing only limited areas for settlement. The hills and mountains of Snowdonia with their extension at lower altitudes into the Lleyn Peninsula, and the ranges of Moelwyn, Manod Mawr, Arenig Fach and Cader Idris, are discouraging obstacles to penetration, save for a short distance along the river valleys. To the east of these peaks are extensive tracts of upland plateau dissected by rivers, bounded on the west by the vale of the river Conway and cleft by the Vale of Clwyd. To the east of this valley lies the Clwydian Range and further again to the east these uplands descend with milder contours to the Cheshire and Shropshire plains.To the south the district merges into the uplands of Central Wales, which are continuous until they are replaced by the lowland belt of South Wales.

Art. XIX.—An old Hebrew Romance of Alexander

1897 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-549
Author(s):  
M. Gaster
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
The Real ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bibliographical Information ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Great Mass

More marvellous and more remarkable than the real conquests of Alexander are the stories circulated about him, and the legends which have clustered round his name and his exploits. The history of Alexander has, from a very early period, been embellished with legends and tales. They spread from nation to nation during the whole of the ancient times, and all through the Middle Ages. Many scholars have followed up the course of this dissemination of the fabulous history of Alexander. It would, therefore, be idle repetition of work admirably done by men like Zacher, Wesselofsky, Budge, and others, should I attempt it here. All interested in the legend of Alexander are familiar with those works, where also the fullest bibliographical information is to be found. I am concerned here with what may have appeared to some of these students as the bye-paths of the legend, and which, to my mind, has not received that attention which is due to it, from more than one point of view. Hitherto the histories of Alexander were divided into two categories; the first were those writings which pretended to give a true historical description of his life and adventures, to the exclusion of fabulous matter; the other included all those fabulous histories in which the true elements were smothered under a great mass of legendary matter, the chief representative of this class being the work ascribed to a certain Callisthenes. The study of the legend centred in the study of the vicissitudes to which this work of (Pseudo-) Callisthenes had been exposed, in the course of its dissemination from the East, probably from its native country, Egypt, to the countries of the West.

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