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The Easter‐table of Dionysius Exiguus was the continuation of a 95‐year list he attributes to Cyril of Alexandria. He describes his work in two letters—one to Boniface and Bonus written in AD 525/6 in response to a question, the other written in 524/5 addressed to Petronius, at whose behest Dionysius undertook his work. The letter to Petronius serves as an introduction to the 95‐year Easter‐table. Dionysius explains and defends the mathematical accuracy of the Alexandrian 19‐year cycle as arising not from human inventiveness, but from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He claims that the Council of Nicaea explicitly authorized the 19‐ year cycle and promulgated rules for it use that the patriarchs of Alexandria from Athanasius to Cyril careffihly guarded.

This chapter examines how purgatory was described and understood in the works of Bede and Boniface. Particular attention is given to Bede as the author of works in which purgatory was given theological context and legitimation as orthodox belief. The chapter examines the role of friendship ties and gift-giving in Anglo-Saxon society and in the intercessory practices of Bede’s time. The chapter also considers the cultural and religious influences that informed Anglo-Saxon Christianity and explores the potential importance of Anglo-Saxon England’s close ties with eastern Christianity. Key texts discussed include Boniface’s Vision of the Monk of Wenlock and the works of Bede: the Vision of Drythelm, Homily for Advent, Commentary on Isaiah, and Commentary on Proverbs.

This chapter examines the role of purgatory in Anglo-Saxon writings (especially those of Boniface) and in missionary eschatology. It discusses how pagan and Christian beliefs about the afterlife were represented by contemporaries, and how they have been represented by scholars and archaeologists. It examines the role played by the limitations of the Christian afterlife during the Frisian mission and in King Radbod’s failed conversion. This chapter also considers the relative appeal of ideas about purgatory, universal salvation, and posthumous salvation in a missionary environment.

This chapter focuses on the investigation of the content of the two Perugia texts, which were produced in a relatively short period of time. It explains that the Littera is the first text of Perugia and that it is a fairly short declaration of dogmatic truth. It adds that the Littera answers an unqualified and resounding ‘no’ to the question posed by the Pope, and states that the proposition is not heretical, but ‘sound, catholic, and faithful’. It clarifies that the Littera not only cites Nicholas III's bull, but highlights Exiit's canonical pedigree, pointing out that it had been incorporated into canon law in the Liber Sextus of Pope Boniface VIII. It also examines the longer text of Perugia entitled Declaratio Magistrotum, issued three days after the first.

In his treatment of the current crisis, Marsilius shows himself to be very well-versed in the latest papal pronouncements — so well-versed that he is capable of forging a document in impeccable curial style that makes John XXII say what he wants him to have said. He concentrates overwhelmingly on the extreme statements of recent popes: Boniface VIII, Clement V, and the current pope, whom he can never bring himself to name. He avoids any discussion of Innocent III's key decretal Venerabilem. According to Marsilius, the current consummation of claims to plenitudo potestatis represented a threat not only to the Emperor, but to all Christian kings (as revealed by the recent experience of Philip the Fair, which Marsilius had observed from his vantage point at the Sorbonne). The pope was not only nullifying the rights of the Electors to the office of rex Romanorum, he was in effect claiming that all other Christian rulers derived their authority solely from him.

This chapter discusses the education and culture of noblewomen of the late Roman empire and successor states. It presents evidence for the literary culture of Radegund of Poitiers and later medieval royal women of the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Ottonian dynasties, and their involvement with education and the promotion of scholarship. Further evidence for literary culture in convents, and nuns as scribes and chroniclers is provided. The chapter includes specific sections on Dhuoda, educated women in Anglo-Saxon England, particularly in the circle of St Boniface, the playwright Hrotsvitha, and educated women in the Ottonian world, ending with a discussion of anonymous lyric verse in Latin.

Chapters 4 and 5 constitute another pair of chapters, but this time the argument is that critics have been premature in finding evidence of same‐sex activity. Chapter 4 begins with a review of the biblical and patristic allusions to Sodom as a context for its study of medieval Continental and Anglo‐Latin interpretations of the narrative, discussing Bede, Aldhelm, Boniface, Alcuin, and Ælfric. It shows that religious writers in Latin associate Sodom with a range of sins, and not just same‐sex acts.

This chapter discusses Meister Eckhart's life and works around the year 1300. Eckhart was from Tambach, near Gotha, during the time of the Interregnum (1254–1273). In 1294, Eckhart preached his Easter sermon in Paris, and Boniface VIII came to power in Rome on Christmas Eve after pressuring Celestine V to abdicate. A powerful personality, Boniface believed that he was God's representative on earth, Europe's sovereign, and feudal lord of the emperors. In the final decades of Eckhart's life, Germany had two kings, who were simultaneously elected in 1314: Frederick the Fair of Austria and Louis IV of Bavaria. The pope does not feature as a religious figure in Eckhart's works; he was opposed to the politics of the papacy, although he recognized its spiritual function. This chapter also considers how Eckhart was impacted by intellectual developments of thirteenth-century Europe and how he was perceived and received by his contemporaries.

This chapter discusses the disputations between Philip IV and Boniface VIII when the latter prohibited all taxation of the church which did not have his prior consent, and, more seriously, when the king arrested the bishop of Pamiers on charges of treason. It reports that the first dispute focuses attention on the connection of dominium with ownership of property and, as a result, scholastic discussion concentrated on the respective relations of pope and king to the material goods of the church and the laity. The second dispute extends this idea to cover jurisdiction as well. It further reports that three theologians in particular, Giles of Rome, James of Viterbo, and John of Paris, are drawn into making public statements of their views.

This chapter provides an account of the riot that occurred in Newark on September 5 1854. Three thousand men wanted to make a show of force on behalf of the Know-Nothing Party before the November elections. When they passed by the church of St. Mary's in William Street, they discharged their firearms and hurled stones and other missiles at the white Cross on the apex of the church. A week after the riot Father Boniface Wimmer, the founder of the Order of St. Benedict (OSB) in the United States, traveled to Newark in order to console and advise a visibly shaken Father Nicholas Balleis. Although wary of establishing the Order of St. Benedict in the city, Abbot Wimmer committed men to Newark in 1857, and the monastery's growth since has been unique in the annals of the Order's history—a full-fledged abbey grew out of a simple city parish.

This chapter examines the effect of the Great Depression and World War II on St. Benedict's prep school. Depression and war marked Father Boniface Reger's headmastership at St. Benedict's. Despite that, a sense of security and confidence pervaded St. Benedict's, largely because of the calm, considerate leadership of Father Boniface Reger. While the Great Depression and then World War II rightly grabbed the headlines, a fascinating subplot began to unfold within the monastic community that significantly affected the futures of both the abbey and the school. Once again, the monks questioned the suitability of a monastery and its school in the middle of a major city, and even considered moving to the suburbs. The rest of the chapter discusses the victory drives and commando courses coordinated at St. Benedict's and the debate over the Delbarton estate.

This chapter examines the work of William Wallace and Andrew Murray (d. 1297) as Guardians of Scotland 1297-8. Starting with an examination of the titles they used, and noting that John Balliol, by 1297 in English custody, was still recognised as king, it goes on to look at Wallace's invasion of Northumberland 1297 and the election of William Lamberton as bishop of St Andrews late in that year. Lamberton was to help build up diplomatic contacts with Pope Boniface VIII. Edward I led an army into Scotland in 1298, defeating Wallace at Falkirk; the latter now stepped down as Guardian, while Robert Bruce (the future king) and John Comyn of Badenoch were elected Guardians in the latter half of 1298.

This chapter explains how Papal monarchy sank with its banners flying high. The bull was a clear statement of Papal Monarchism, which described the church as the only monarchial structure, and also that only one shepherd and one sheepfold and one head of the one church held supreme power in the world. Boniface was resolute when he proclaimed that there was no one on earth who could judge the pope. The power given to the apostle Peter, whose successors were the popes, was divine. Those opposing the papal doctrine of power were accused of heresy. The bull was a declaration of fundamental principles regarding what the papal monarchists considered right. The representation of war in defense of the realm as religious war was facilitated by identification of the realm with patria. The Christian corpus mysticum took new shape in the French fatherland, and the sacred soil of France was assimilated to the Holy Land.

This chapter reviews the book University Education of the Parochial Clergy in Medieval England: The Lincoln Diocese, c.1300–c.1350 (2014), by F. Donald Logan. In 1298, Pope Boniface VIII’s constitution cum ex eo was published. It was considered a landmark in the provisions of higher education for the parish clergy, opening the way for parish rectors who had not yet been ordained as priests to absent themselves from their parishes for up to seven years to attend university. Logan explores how this constitution was implemented across Europe by focusing on the diocese of Lincoln, the largest in England with nearly 2,000 parishes. Logan emphasises the distinction between cum ex eo dispensations and the parallel procedure called licencia studendi, both of which contributed significantly to the enhancement of clerical education in fourteenth-century England.

This concluding chapter highlights Pope Boniface IX's engagement with Rome following his ascent to the papacy in 1389. Boniface's accrual of goodwill early in his papacy culminated in the concession to him of dominion over Rome in 1398. Ultimately, the production of social distinction and political legitimacy through the practices described in this book—practices not dependent on communal institutions—was so successful that Rome's political elites lost interest in defending the autonomy of the Roman commune, ceding power willingly to the papacy. It was this transformation of Roman political culture that ultimately enabled the transformation both of Rome and its place in future politics. Appreciating this frees one from a misleading sense of Roman history born from the pens of fifteenth-century humanists and, by so doing, fundamentally alters Rome's place in the political history of Italy and of Europe.

The prologue to part three surveys the reign of Philip IV, focusing in particular on his marriage to Jeanne of Navarre, his military confrontation with Edward I of England, and the string of attacks he launched against French bishops, Pope Boniface VIII, and the Templars.

This chapter looks at challenges to the power of the Papacy in the late Middle Ages. It begins with a discussion of the dispute between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip the Fair of France. This was concerned with whether the King could tax clergy within his kingdom, and who had jurisdiction if they committed a crime. The dispute was also directly productive of some extremely important political theory, notably the writings of Giles of Rome and John of Paris. These took opposing views over the respective competencies of the spiritual and temporal rulers. The chapter then moves to detailed readings of three theorists of temporal power: Dante, Marsilius of Padua and William of Ockham. Dante, better known as the poet of the Commedia, was author of the important Monarchia which argued for a resurgent empire free from papal control. Marsilius offered a defence of the smaller political unit of the city. Ockham, who became a political theorist late in life, was an advocate of the Franciscan vow of poverty, and believed that the church should be poor. Yet this was not simply a view about property, but a view that the church should absent itself from all worldly concerns.