A Mirror of Clerical Authority

2021 ◽  
pp. 165-196
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Easterling
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Mirror Of Simple Souls

The final chapter extends my examination of spiritual perfection with attention to devotional and theological rivalries in the Life of Dorothea of Montau (d. 1394), the fourteenth-century Speculum inclusorum, and Marguerite Porete’s (d. 1310) Mirror of Simple Souls. I argue that late medieval discourses of perfection, including those formulated in the papal decree Ad nostrum (1311), become a means of securing charismatics more firmly to sacramental devotion. That culture of Eucharistic piety and devotion to the Crucified also carried a strongly affective resonance that assimilated charismatics to a spiritual economy of suffering. It is here that several writings placed increasing pressure on the angelic image, which for centuries served orthodox priorities, and which remained closely associated with charismatic experiences. A stage whereon such developments unfolded, the interaction between imitatio clerici and imitatio sancti became a defining feature of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century anchoritic culture.

Rivals for Ministry? Ordinations of Secular and Regular Clergy in Southern England c. 1300–1500

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 99-109
Author(s):  
Virginia Davis
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Secular Clergy ◽  
Pastoral Role ◽  
Late Medieval Literature ◽  
Changing Patterns

At the beginning of the fourteenth century ecclesiastical recruitment AA was flourishing in England. Hundreds of men turned up to be ordained at the four Ember seasons each year at which major ordinations were permitted to be held. The majority of these men were secular clergy; only a small proportion were members of religious orders. Of the scores of people in the diocese of Winchester who came at the stipulated time to be ordained to the major orders at this date only about one fifth were members of religious orders and of those, only a handful were mendicants. However, by the end of the century, after the ravages of the Black Death, although the total numbers of men being ordained had declined dramatically a greater percentage of these were regular rather than secular clergy. A similar pattern can be seen all over Southern England. It was a trend which persisted throughout much of the fifteenth century. This paper will investigate the changing patterns of secular and regular ordinations to the priesthood in southern England in the period between 1300 and 1500. In the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries extensive anti-mendicant feeling was expressed both in late medieval literature and in rivalry between the secular clergy and the friars over the pastoral role of the latter. Was this, in fact, a reflection of a reality which meant that, compared to the position in the early fourteenth century, far more ordained friars were on the streets and in the parishes?

A Neglected Eucharistic Controversy: The Afterlife of John Wyclif's Eucharistic Thought in Bohemia in the Early Fifteenth Century

2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela K. Perett
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Real Presence ◽  
The Subject ◽  
John Wyclif ◽  
Full Century

The renewed interest in John Wyclif (d. 1384) has brought this late medieval figure back into the spotlight of historians, giving rise to numerous studies evaluating his thought and its implications in the context of late fourteenth century England. However, it is not possible fully to appreciate Wyclif's importance in late medieval European culture without understanding the legacy of his ideas on the continent. According to the accepted narrative, John Wyclif's thought was mediated to the continent through the scholarly contacts between the universities in Oxford and in Prague, and re-emerged in the Latin writings of Jan Hus. This article argues that John Wyclif's thought, especially his critique of the church's doctrine of transubstantiation, found a larger audience among the rural clerics and laity in Bohemia, whom it reached through Peter Payne, who simplified and disseminated the works of the Oxford master. Wyclif's critique of transubstantiation sparked a nationwide debate about the nature of the Eucharist, generating numerous treatises, both in Latin and in the vernacular, on the subject of Christ's presence in the sacrament of the mass. This debate anticipated, a full century earlier, the famous debate between Luther and Zwingli and the Eucharistic debates of the sixteenth century Reformation more generally. The proliferation of vernacular Eucharistic tractates in Bohemia shows that Wyclif's critique of transubstantiation could be answered in a number of different ways that included both real presence (however defined) and figurative theologies—a fact, which, in turn, explains the doctrinal diversity among the Lollards in England.

Astrology and the Sibyls: John of Legnano's De adventu Christi and the Natural Theology of the Later Middle Ages

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Ackerman Smoller
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Virgin Birth ◽  
Positive Light

ArgumentMedieval authors adopted a range of postures when writing about the role of reason in matters of faith. At one extreme, the phrase “natural theology” (theologia naturalis) was used, largely pejoratively, to connote something clearly inferior to revealed theology. At the other end, there was also a long tradition of what one might term “the impulse to natural theology,” manifested perhaps most notably in the embrace of Nature by certain twelfth-century authors associated with the school of Chartres. Only in the fifteenth century does one find authors using natural reason to investigate religious truths who also employ the term “natural theology,” now in a positive light, for their activities. Among such thinkers, astrology and eschatology frequently played an important role. In that respect, the writings of fourteenth-century Bolognese jurist John of Legnano offer an important example of the place of astrological, prophetic, and apocalyptic material in late medieval natural theology. In his 1375 treatise De adventu Christi, Legnano demonstrated that ancient poets, pagan seers such as the Sibyls, and non-Christian astrologers had all predicted, like Old Testament prophets, the virgin birth of Christ. For Legnano, not simply was Creation part of God's revelation, but, equally importantly, the very categories of reason and revelation blur in a way that points toward the works of Renaissance humanists and lays a foundation for a model of natural vaticination that showed reason's capability to reach fundamental religious truths.

scholarly journals Mac Giolla Phádraig Clerics 1394-1534 AD: Part I

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 42-65
Author(s):  
Mike Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Late Fifteenth ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Century Science

Mac Giolla Phádraig Clerics 1394-1534 AD is a three-part series, which provides an account of all known individual Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics in the late medieval era and details their temporalities, occupations, familial associations, and broader networks. The ultimate goal of the series is the full contextualisation of all available historical records relating to Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics alongside the genealogical record that can be extracted by twenty-first century science – that being the science of Y-DNA. The Papal Registers, in particular, record numerous occurrences of Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics, predominantly in the dioceses of Cill Dalua (Killaloe) and Osraí (Ossory), from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth century. Yet, no small intrigue surrounds their emergence. Part I of Mac Giolla Phádraig Clerics 1394-1534 AD examines the context surrounding the earliest appointments of Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics, which is in neither Cill Dalua nor Osraí but the diocese of Luimneach (Limerick). Once that context is understood, a pattern of associations emerges. A ‘coincidental’ twenty-first century surname match from the Fitzpatrick Y-DNA project leads to a review of the relationship between the FitzMaurice of Ciarraí (Kerry) clerics and Jordan Purcell, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne (1429-1472). The ‘coincidence’ then leads to an examination of a close Y-DNA match between men of the surnames Purcell and Hennessey. That match, coupled with the understanding that Nicholas Ó hAonghusa (O’Hennessey), elected Bishop of Lismore and Waterford (1480-1483) but with opposition, is considered a member of Purcell’s household, transforms the ‘coincidence’ into a curiosity. Part I morphs into a conversation, likely uncomfortable for some, relating to clerical concubinage, illegitimacy, and the ‘lubricity’ of the prioress and her nuns at the Augustinian nunnery of St Catherine's O’Conyll. The nunnery was located at Mainistir na gCailleach Dubh (Monasternagalliaghduff), which lay just a stone’s throw from where Bishop Jordan Purcell and Matthew Mac Giolla Phádraig, the first Mac Giolla Phádraig cleric recorded in the Papal Registers, emerged. Part I makes no judgments and draws no firm conclusions but prepares the reader for Part II by ending with some questions. Do the Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics of Osraí, who rose to prominence in the late-fifteenth century, have their origins in Deasmhumhain (Desmond)? Could the paternal lineages of Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics be, at least from the mid-fourteenth century, with the house of the Geraldine FitzMaurice clerics of Ciarraí? And, could some of the modern-day descendants of the Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics be those Costigans, FitzGeralds, and Fitzpatricks who are found under haplotype R-A1488?

New sources of English fourteenth- and fifteenth-century polyphony

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 123-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Bowers ◽  
Andrew Wathey
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Steady Flow ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Sacred Music ◽  
Late Medieval

Recent years have witnessed a steady flow of newly discovered sources of late-medieval English sacred music. These have served both to document familiar repertories and practices more fully, and also to establish the identity and character of those that are more peripheral and idiosyncratic. Five of these new sources are described here. Four contribute to the hitherto relatively poorly represented indigenous sources and repertories of Mass music of the middle and the second half of the fifteenth century; one, Lincoln Cathedral MS 52, supplements the known body of fourteenth-century polytextual music.

scholarly journals A fifteenth-century shipwreck with Scandinavian features from Bremen. Interpreting the Beluga ship in the context of late medieval clinker construction in northwestern Europe

AmS-Skrifter ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 187-206
Author(s):  
Daniel Zwick
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Baltic Region ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Baltic

While most of this volume’s contributions trace Hanseatic influences throughout the North Atlantic, this paper examines a possible counter-influence in the shape of a medieval shipwreck discovered in Bremen in 2007, the construction of which is reminiscent of the Scandinavian shipbuilding tradition. With its radially cleft planks, inlaid wool caulking and clinkerfastenings, the wreck displays a number of features that point typologically to a vernacular Scandinavian origin. However, the planks fall into two groups outside of Scandinavia: high quality wainscot planks cut in the Baltic region in the course of the fourteenth century, and a group of locally cut timber — arguably for repairs — dating from the second quarter of the fifteenth century. This period coincides with a peak of Baltic timber export, especially wainscot for shipbuilders. Hence, the wreck is discussed within the wider context of clinker-built wrecks from this period in general and wrecks built of Baltic oak in particular. 

Cracking the Code: the Warden Abbey Morses, Luxury Metalwork and Patronage at a Cistercian Abbey in the Late Middle Ages

2011 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 175-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Carter
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Cistercian Order

AbstractThe three copper-gilt and enamel plaques from Warden Abbey are the most important examples of late medieval metalwork from an English Cistercian abbey. They are currently exhibited at the British Museum and dated to the mid-fifteenth century. A reinterpretation of the monograms decorating the plaques allows their patron to be identified as Abbot Walter Clifton (c1377–97). An analysis of the plaques’ style and iconography also suggests a late fourteenth-century date. Clifton's personal devotions and an unusual aspect of the plaques’ iconography can be explained by reference to the spirituality of the Cistercian Order. The plaques’ closest parallel is a roundel decorated with the badge of Richardii. Evidence from inventories and comparison with Continental material suggests that the Warden plaques were, in all probability, morses, used to fasten a cope.

Merchant Taylors of London’s shift to business English: New insights on the languages of record in their Master and Wardens’ Accounts

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
José Miguel Alcolado Carnicero
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Written Communication ◽  
Business English ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period

AbstractFrench and Latin used to be the two main languages of record in the Merchant Taylors, as well as other London livery companies, as late as the fifteenth century, at least. From the fourteenth century onwards, English was becoming more and more present in this guild’s business accounts, until it replaced both Romance languages as their new official medium of written communication. Seen the inconsistent dates of adoption of English in the Merchant Taylors’ Master and Wardens’ Accounts suggested in the literature, this article applies two different approaches to language shift in the late medieval period in order to analyse and illustrate when exactly the whole Company is supposed to have substituted French and Latin for English forever. As the search of that permanent and communal shift leads to the necessary consultation of financial manuscripts kept as late as the seventeenth century, it is concluded that the construction of a unitary framework for the study of the different language shifts in the London livery companies at different periods would yield more comprehensive results.

scholarly journals Narrative Charms in Late Medieval and Early Modern Wales

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-352
Author(s):  
Katherine Leach
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
General Development ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Early Modern Era ◽  
Changing Attitudes ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Over Time

AbstractIn this article I will consider the general development of Welsh narrative charms from the earliest examples (late fourteenth century) up to the first decades of the Early Modern Era in Wales (mid-to-late sixteenth century). I will focus on the most common narrative charm types of this time: those that feature the motifs of Longinus, the Three Good Brothers, and Flum Jordan or Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. The development of these charms over time can provide insights into changing attitudes in Wales towards healing, religion, superstition, and even language. By the onset of the Early Modern era, Welsh narrative charms were increasingly subject to rhetorical expansions of the religious narratives that constituted the efficacious component of the charm. Additionally, by the end of the fifteenth century and into the early sixteenth, charms that once commonly featured Latin as the predominant language demonstrated an increased preference for the vernacular.1

A newly discovered Trecento fragment: scribal concordances in late-medieval Florentine manuscripts

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Mario Fabbri ◽  
John Nádas
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Call Number ◽  
Historical Accounts

Another fragment can now be added to the list of manuscripts of fourteenth-century secular Italian polyphony. The new source (henceforth called Fn F.5.5) comprises two leaves, and at present serves as guard-sheets at the front and back of an incunabulum in Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, with the call-number Incunab. F.5.5. This fifteenth-century book is a copy of the monumental historical accounts by Flavius Josephus of early Jewish history – a compendium that includes the De bello judaico, De antiquitate judaica contra Apionem and Antiquitates judaicae – translated from Greek into Latin by Ruffino d'Aquileia (Rufinus Aquileiensis) and published in Venice by Rinaldo da Nimega in 1981.

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