The Church and War in the Twelfth Century. Studies on Canon Law and Political Reality

1981 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Staab ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
John Doran

In the conclusion to his masterly biography of Pope Gregory VII (1073–85), H. E. John Cowdrey notes the paradox that the pope so lionized by modern historians, to the extent that the age of reform bears his name, was largely forgotten in the twelfth century and made little impact on Christian thought, spirituality or canon law. Cowdrey is not alone in his observation that Gregory ‘receded from memory with remarkable speed and completeness’; when he was remembered, it was as a failure and as one who brought decline upon the church. For Cowdrey, the answer to this conundrum lay in the fact that Gregory VII was in fact far closer to the ideals of the sixth century than of the twelfth; he was a Benedictine monk and shared the worldview and oudook of Gregory the Great (590–604) rather than those of the so-called lawyer popes Alexander III (1159–81) and Innocent III (1198–1216). Yet within a century of Gregory’s death he was presented by Cardinal Boso as a model pope, who had overcome a schismatic emperor and the problems which his interference had precipitated in Rome. For Boso, writing for the instruction of the officials of the papal chamber, the very policies set out by Gregory VII were to be pursued and emulated. Far from being a peripheral and contradictory figure, with more in common with the distant past than the near future, Gregory was the perfect guide to the beleaguered Pope Alexander III, who was also struggling against a hostile emperor and his antipope.


Traditio ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 143-178
Author(s):  
ANNA MINARA CIARDI

The phrase per clerum et populum (“by clergy and people”) was traditionally used to describe how the election of a bishop had been or should be undertaken. Over the course of the twelfth century this changed. Ecclesiastical legislation was step by step revised and codified. The aim of the reformers was to safeguard the autonomy of the Church and to reduce lay influence. The purposes of this article are, first, to examine legal terminology in the context of episcopal appointments from 1059 to 1215, with special reference to the formula per clerum et populum and the role of cathedral chapters as electoral bodies; second, to examine how episcopal appointments were actually undertaken and what terminology was used in the kingdom of Denmark until circa 1225; and, third, to share some ideas about the development of canon law in the context of “cathedral culture.” My conclusions are, first, that the mode of election per clerum et populum was gradually replaced and eventually became invalid, parallel to a legal development where cathedral chapters became the “proper” electoral body; second, that the monastic ideals of ecclesiastical freedom prompted by the reformers are evident in normative texts from cathedral chapters in Denmark already in the first quarter of the twelfth century; and, finally, that the legal developments strongly contributed to the formation of capitular institutions and a specific cathedral culture, which was rooted in monasticism but also differed from it, not least with regard to its legal functions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 186-202
Author(s):  
Robert N. Swanson

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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Krausmüller

AbstractThis article focuses on the question whether or not unordained monks can hear confession and give absolution. It argues that until the tenth century this practice was regarded as unproblematic in Byzantium but that after this date the church began to insist on the strict implementation of canon law, which restricted this role to members of the church hierarchy. Through close reading of the surviving evidence it makes the case that this initiative was successful and that many monastic milieus came to accept the position of the secular church.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-45
Author(s):  
Piotr Wojnicz

The increase in migration at the international level also increases the number of religiouslymixed marriages. The Catholic Church advises against entering into such marriages because thisissue refers to the laws of God and the question of preserving faith. The Catholic Church approvesof mixed marriages in terms of nationality or race because belonging to the Church is primarilydetermined by faith in Jesus Christ and baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity. Independentlyof canon law, progressive social secularization is noticeable on that subject matter.


2019 ◽  
pp. 56-85
Author(s):  
L.V. Chernina

Статья посвящена разновидностям религиозного обращения в Кастилии в 13м веке, главным образом в том виде, в каком они появляются в легальных источниках эры Альфонсина. Заметное еврейское меньшинство существовало в средневековых христианских штатах Пиренейского полуострова наряду с более крупным мусульманским. Церковь и какимто образом государство поощряло членов этих групп принять христианство. Это было главной целью различных мер, некоторые из которых нашли свое отражение в Fuero Real , Especulo и Siete Partidas : защита собственности новообращенных, регулирование брачных отношений в связи с изменением веры, установление наказаний для тех, кто мешает человеку перейти в христианское общество. Особое внимание уделяется отступничеству отказу от христианства для иудаизма или ислама, а также методам противодействия ему, предложенным юристами Альфонсо. Широко распространено мнение, что законы, которые регулировали религиозное обращение в светской правовой теории 13го века, в основном копируют существующий канонический закон. Однако анализ показывает, что на процесс составления законов влияли как церковная традиция, так и непосредственные военные и политические интересы Кастилии.The article is dedicated to the varieties of religious conversion in Castile in the 13th century, mainly as they appear in the legal sources of Alfonsine era. A noticeable Jewish minority existed in medieval Christian states of the Iberian Peninsula alongside with a larger Muslim one. The Church and in some way the State encouraged the members of these groups to adopt Christianity. This was the main purpose of different measures some of which found their reflection in Fuero Real , Especulo and Siete Partidas : protection of the converts property, the regulation of marital relations in connection with the change of faith, establishment of punishments for those who prevent an individual from the conversion to Christian society. Special attention is paid to the apostasy a rejection of Christianity for Judaism or Islam, and to the methods to impede it, suggested by Alfonsos jurists. It is widely agreed that the laws which regulated the religious conversion in the secular legal theory of the 13th century mostly copy the existed canon law. However the analysis demonstrates that the process of composition of laws was influenced both by the ecclesiastic tradition and the immediate military and political interests of Castile.


Author(s):  
Richard H. Helmholz

This chapter discusses the scope of principles of fiduciary duty as they appear in the canon law. It first provides a historical background on canon law and its relation to fiduciary law, noting that the medieval church and principles of fiduciary duty were interconnected in direct and positive ways. In fact, the church was governed by many of the same principles of fiduciary law that are found in modern trust law, and these principles were fully and authoritatively stated in the Corpus iuris canonici during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The chapter proceeds by analyzing the Corpus iuris canonici and its two books: Gratian’s Concordia discordantium canonum, also known as the Decretum, and the books of Decretals. It also traces the development of fiduciary law inherent in some of the canonical texts and explains how fiduciary principles came to be enforced in the canon law, citing examples of the width of the scope of fiduciary principles found in English court practice, including a duty applied only to the clergy. Finally, it considers whether the modern law of trusts was shaped in any way by canonical influence.


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