Simoniaca Heresis
With Gregory the Great (pope, 590–604) the expression simoniaca heresis becomes a frequently used phrase.
Judging Female Judges: Sir John Fortescue’s Vision of Women as Judges in De Natura Legis Naturae
Judging Female Judges: Sir John Fortescue’s Vision of Women as Judges in De Natura Legis Naturae Emma Hawkes Limina, Volume 8, (2002) Abstract The…
How did Christians view the Rise of Islam?
When Muslim armies came out of Arabia in the 630s and 640s, Christian writers of the time saw it a sign that the Apocalypse had come.
The Medieval Papacy, by Brett Whalen
The Medieval Papacy explores the unique role that the Roman Church and its papal leadership played in the historical development of medieval Europe.
The Italian Giant Bibles, Lay Patronage, and Professional Workmanship
Eleventh-century Umbro-Roman Giant Bibles were commissioned by varied church and lay patrons (and not only by Roman reform- party adherents) and crafted by ad hoc assemblies of paid craftsmen using methods of carefully calibrated, synchronous copying to reduce production time for the single commission.
New book examines the controversy over clerical marriage in the Middle Ages
Around the year 1100 the Papacy set about to end the practice of priests and bishops being able to marry. The church hoped to impose the same standards of celibacy that were followed by monks. A new book examines how ecclesiastical figures within the Catholic church dealt with the change.
The City and the Cross: the image of Constantinople and the Latin empire in thirteenth-century papal crusading rhetoric
This paper examines the way papal rhetoric made use of the image and reputation of the city of Constantinople in order to legitimise and incite support for its crusading calls for the defence of the Latin empire after 1204.
Frankish involvement in the Gregorian mission to Kent
This article re-examines the primary documents relating to the sixth century Gregorian Mission to Kent in light of the modern historiographical tradition which claims Frankish hegemony existed over the Kentish Kingdom under Aethelberht’s rule.
The Clerical Wife: Medieval Perceptions of Women During the Eleventh‐ and Twelfth‐Century Church Reforms
To those who promoted the agendas of the eleventh and twelfth century church reforms the cleric’s wife embodied those things which inhibited the process of man reaching the holy: lust, defilement, worldliness, and temptation.
Church Reunification: Pope Urban II’s Papal Policy Towards the Christian East and Its Demise
What separates this brief work from that of previous historians is that it focuses on the formation and changes of papal policy in regards to the Eastern Orthodox Church during the First Crusade, exclusively.
Worse than buggery? Incest discourses in the 12th and 13th centuries
In my paper today, I will not attempt the question why it was possible that the law developed in such an extreme way as to exclude such an excessive number of people as potential marriage partners, although my opinions on some recent approaches to this problem may become transparent in the course of this talk. Instead, my interest is focussed on what I call the incest discourses in the twelfth and thirteenth century.
The Legend of the Female Pope in the Reformation
Though no one believed she reigned with divine approval, for the reformers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the female pope was indeed a godsend.
A Comparison of Interrogation in Two Inquisitorial Courts of the Fourteenth Century
The spread of the Cathar heresy in Western Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was perceived as a real challenge to orthodoxy. The Catholic Church soon employed all means possible in a reaction against this dualistic religion, which was especially widespread in the south of France and in central and northern Italy.
The Christianisation of Bohemia and Moravia
The territory of what is now Czech Republic consists of essentially two lands, Bohemia and Moravia.
The Sorcery Trial of Alice Kyteler
In 1324, Richard Ledrede, bishop of Ossory, declared that his diocese was a hotbed of devil worshippers. The central figure in this affair was Alice Kyteler, a wealthy Kilkenny woman who stood accused of witchcraft by her stepchildren.
Were there heretics in medieval Ireland?
In her article, ‘Heresy in Ireland in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries’, Bernadette Williams uncovers some cases where people were accused and convicted of heresy, including insulting the Virgin Mary and denying the Jesus was the son of God.
The attempted trial of Boniface VIII for heresy
How do you accuse a sitting Pope of being a heretic?
Absoluimus uos uice beati petri apostolorum principis. Episcopal authority and the reconciliation of excommunicants in England and Frankia c. 900-c.1050
No mention is made of any rite being followed by Bishop Wulfstan on this occasion, but services for the reconciliation of excommunication are first recorded in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
Inquiring into Adultery and Other Wicked Deeds: Episcopal Justice in Tenth- and Early Eleventh-Century Italy
This article suggests that Italian bishops often had recourse to spiritual penalties to exercise their coercive authority over serious offences during the tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Lay Religion and Pastoral Care in Thirteenth Century England: the Evidence of a Group of Short Confession Manuals
This poses a question: where did these engaged laypeople come from, and when? There is some evidence that suggests they should be pushed back to the thirteenth century.
The Greek Church of Cyprus under Latin Rule
When Western Europeans took over the island of Cyprus in 1191, did it lead to religious turmoil between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches?
Matthew Paris in Norway
It appears that Matthew only ever left England once, when, in 1248-9, he visited Norway to assist in settling a dispute at the Benedictine abbey of Nidarholm near Trondheim. It is on this episode that the following will focus.
Louis the Pious and the Conversion of the Danes
This paper was part of a very interesting session on the Early Middle Ages. The papers covered Eastern European Infant Burial, the archaeology of medieval feasting and conversion. This paper contrasted the conversion policies of Charlemagne versus those of Louis the Pious.
Bede’s Perspective and Purpose in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People
I argue that Bede’s involvement in ecclesiastical affairs throughout his life both illuminates and clouds his perspective on the history of the English church.
Conflict and Coercion in Southern France
This paper endeavors to examine the mechanisms by which the crown of France was able to subsume the region of Languedoc in the wake of the Albigensian Crusade in the thirteenth century.