The construction and destruction of a saint: Thomas Becket
Diarmaid MacCulloch and Nicholas Vincent explore the meteoric rise to canonisation of Thomas Becket, his subsequent veneration and the destruction of his reputation during the Reformation, in the Tudor period
Good Government: An Important Legacy from the Middle Ages
Corruption, especially in government, is an age-old problem. How did people in the Middle Ages try to solve it?
Geoffrey: the Prodigal Son of Henry II
Geoffrey’s devotion to Henry II and the favored status which saw him rise high in his father’s reign
Did Henry VIII really ‘break’ the Church?
Emma Wells speaking on Henry VIII and the stripping of the altars in English churches.
When England was under Interdict
Under King John’s rule, England was placed under papal interdict for over six years.
Medieval Geopolitics: A Full-Fledged Theory of Medieval Papal Power
Hostiensis argued that the pope did not govern by divine mandate; rather he governed as a divine agent.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Evolution of Positive Law
In this column I trace the next stage in the evolution of the ideas first laid out Innocent’s influential decretal, focusing in particular on the writings of the canonist Laurentius Hispanus.
Pepin, Power and the Papacy: The True First Holy Roman Emperor
Pepin has been greatly underestimated and undervalued by many historians of the modem world. In his time, he was renowned as a great ruler and Church reformer.
Medieval Geopolitics: How a Pope shares in the divine power of God
At the end of the twelfth century, Pope Innocent III issued a document known as the Quanto personam. What kind of influence did it have on ideas about sovereignty and power in the medieval era?
The Papacy, Inquisition and Saint Guinefort the Holy Greyhound
The legend of St Guinefort the Holy Greyhound reveals the medieval Church engaged in a familiar struggle: to balance popular piety with orthodox teaching.
Records reveal how a medieval cathedral was protected against fire
Schedl was able to examine hundreds of years of the church’s income and expenditure accounts, which were maintained by the Kirchmeister or church treasurer, which offered fascinating new insights into how the medieval cathedral was maintained.
Miter and Sword: Fighting Norman Bishops and Clergy
This thesis examines Norman bishops and abbots, and their involvement in warfare, either as armed combatants, or commanders of military forces in Normandy, and later in England after William the Conquerors invasion in 1066.
Medieval Geopolitics: James of Viterbo and More Papal Supremacy
James concluded that the Church must be considered a true kingdom – a regnum ecclesiae.
Medieval Geopolitics: Giles of Rome on why the Pope should rule the entire world
The early fourteenth-century would see the King of France and the Papacy fighting over who was the superior power. One of the leading scholars of that time would weigh on the matter – and provide the key arguments for Papal Absolutism.
How to explain the Medieval Papacy
How on earth did it come to wield the enormous amount of power that it did in the 13th century?
Medieval Geopolitics: The Conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France
The clash between Pope Boniface VIII and the King Philip IV of France would lead to a consequential geopolitical question: where did the epicentre of supreme political authority lie in Medieval Latin Christendom?
Saving Souls and Cracking Skulls: Warrior Clerics with Craig Nakashian
Episode 15 of The Medieval Podcast – Although it seems to be a fundamental contradiction, some medieval conflicts saw bishops braving the battlefield.
Bastards and Priests in the Middle Ages with Sara McDougall
What was it like to be a bastard in medieval Europe? Were you excluded from one of the most important institutions of the time: the priesthood? Danièle is joined by Sara McDougall to talk about bastards, priests, and if you could be both at that same time.
Wages of sin: The financial operations of a medieval church court
An overwhelming number of the criminal charges made in the Consistory from the second half of the fourteenth century until the last quarter of the fifteenth, the period for which records are most complete, were sexual in nature.
The medieval nun who faked her own death
The launch this month of ‘The Northern Way’ research project, which looks at the Archbishops of York from 1304 to 1405, is revealing some fascinating stories, including that of a nun who made an elaborate plan to escape her own convent.
Women at Canossa: The Role of Royal and Aristocratic Women in the Reconciliation between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV of Germany
Modern historians rarely mention the presence of royal and aristocratic women at Canossa in January 1077. Yet contemporaries emphasised the important roles played by several women, including Matilda of Tuscany, Adelaide of Turin, Empress Agnes and Queen Bertha.
Call for Papers: The 4th Power of the Bishop conference
The fourth Power of the Bishop conference to be held at Sarum College, Salisbury, May 30-31, 2019
Medieval Geopolitics: The Institution of the Crusade
How did the crusades emerge as an institution in the medieval world?
Medieval Geopolitics: The Medieval Church as a Military Power
By the late 11th century the Roman Catholic Church began to evolve into a distinctive – and powerful – controller of military power.