Owen Chadwick
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269021
- eISBN:
- 9780191600470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269021.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Luther's attack on the Church's law that the clergy must be unmarried, following that of Erasmus, caused priests to disregard the law, not by following the old habit of living with women, but by ...
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Luther's attack on the Church's law that the clergy must be unmarried, following that of Erasmus, caused priests to disregard the law, not by following the old habit of living with women, but by making them wives through a sacrament of the church. His own marriage to the former nun Catherine von Bora was of crucial significance as both partners had broken vows of celibacy. Luther sang the praises of marriage as the noblest condition in creation, and the movement in favour of clerical marriage became unstoppable. Protestants assumed that marriage made a pastor's vocation more effective in protecting him from scandal and allowing him to go where he wished among the people, and priests who remained unmarried were suspected of clinging to the relics of popery.Less
Luther's attack on the Church's law that the clergy must be unmarried, following that of Erasmus, caused priests to disregard the law, not by following the old habit of living with women, but by making them wives through a sacrament of the church. His own marriage to the former nun Catherine von Bora was of crucial significance as both partners had broken vows of celibacy. Luther sang the praises of marriage as the noblest condition in creation, and the movement in favour of clerical marriage became unstoppable. Protestants assumed that marriage made a pastor's vocation more effective in protecting him from scandal and allowing him to go where he wished among the people, and priests who remained unmarried were suspected of clinging to the relics of popery.
Elisabeth van Houts
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198798897
- eISBN:
- 9780191839542
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198798897.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Social History
This chapter sets out the importance of clerical marriage for a study of married life. Two vignettes introduce the lives of married clergy in Parma (northern Italy) and Paris. Lay and clergy chose ...
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This chapter sets out the importance of clerical marriage for a study of married life. Two vignettes introduce the lives of married clergy in Parma (northern Italy) and Paris. Lay and clergy chose marriage as a union within which sexual relations were sanctioned, albeit only for the creation of offspring. Given the vocal opposition of a substantial number of clergy against chaste marriages we must conclude that for these clergy and their wives the sexual aspect of marriage was a compelling one and to be preferred to chaste marriage or celibacy. The married clergy were not afraid to physically defend their right to continue their marriages as sexual unions. A strong incentive may have had its roots in the emotional attachment and love a married priest’s couple may have felt for each other.Less
This chapter sets out the importance of clerical marriage for a study of married life. Two vignettes introduce the lives of married clergy in Parma (northern Italy) and Paris. Lay and clergy chose marriage as a union within which sexual relations were sanctioned, albeit only for the creation of offspring. Given the vocal opposition of a substantial number of clergy against chaste marriages we must conclude that for these clergy and their wives the sexual aspect of marriage was a compelling one and to be preferred to chaste marriage or celibacy. The married clergy were not afraid to physically defend their right to continue their marriages as sexual unions. A strong incentive may have had its roots in the emotional attachment and love a married priest’s couple may have felt for each other.
Michelle Armstrong-Partida
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501707735
- eISBN:
- 9781501707827
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501707735.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Two hundred years after canon law prohibited clerical marriage, parish priests in the late medieval period continued to form unions with women that were marriage all but in name. This book uses ...
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Two hundred years after canon law prohibited clerical marriage, parish priests in the late medieval period continued to form unions with women that were marriage all but in name. This book uses evidence from archives in four Catalan dioceses to show that maintaining a family with a domestic partner was not only a custom entrenched in Catalan clerical culture but also an essential component of priestly masculine identity, one that extended to the carrying of weapons and use of violence to resolve disputes and seek revenge, to intimidate other men, and to maintain their status and authority in the community. From unpublished episcopal visitation records and internal diocesan documents, the book reconstructs the personal lives and careers of Catalan parish priests to better understand the professional identity and masculinity of churchmen who made up the proletariat of the largest institution across Europe. These untapped sources reveal the extent to which parish clergy were embedded in their communities, particularly their kinship ties to villagers and their often contentious interactions with male parishioners and clerical colleagues. The book highlights a clerical culture that embraced violence and illuminates how the parish church could become a battleground in which rivalries among clerics took place and young clerics learned from senior clergymen to meld the lay masculine ideals that were a part of their everyday culture with the privilege and authority of their profession.Less
Two hundred years after canon law prohibited clerical marriage, parish priests in the late medieval period continued to form unions with women that were marriage all but in name. This book uses evidence from archives in four Catalan dioceses to show that maintaining a family with a domestic partner was not only a custom entrenched in Catalan clerical culture but also an essential component of priestly masculine identity, one that extended to the carrying of weapons and use of violence to resolve disputes and seek revenge, to intimidate other men, and to maintain their status and authority in the community. From unpublished episcopal visitation records and internal diocesan documents, the book reconstructs the personal lives and careers of Catalan parish priests to better understand the professional identity and masculinity of churchmen who made up the proletariat of the largest institution across Europe. These untapped sources reveal the extent to which parish clergy were embedded in their communities, particularly their kinship ties to villagers and their often contentious interactions with male parishioners and clerical colleagues. The book highlights a clerical culture that embraced violence and illuminates how the parish church could become a battleground in which rivalries among clerics took place and young clerics learned from senior clergymen to meld the lay masculine ideals that were a part of their everyday culture with the privilege and authority of their profession.
Elisabeth van Houts
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198798897
- eISBN:
- 9780191839542
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198798897.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Social History
The introduction to the book contains a brief survey on the modern scholarship of the institution of medieval marriage and an overview of the modern historiographical debate on medieval marriage ...
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The introduction to the book contains a brief survey on the modern scholarship of the institution of medieval marriage and an overview of the modern historiographical debate on medieval marriage since George Duby (1919–96). There is a section on the medieval sources used for this book, especially narrative sources such as chronicles, saints’ lives, and miracle stories, as well as documentary sources such as decretal texts, episcopal letters, and charters. The introduction also contains a brief survey of four themes that run throughout the book as well as a note on the chronological and geographical scope of the book.Less
The introduction to the book contains a brief survey on the modern scholarship of the institution of medieval marriage and an overview of the modern historiographical debate on medieval marriage since George Duby (1919–96). There is a section on the medieval sources used for this book, especially narrative sources such as chronicles, saints’ lives, and miracle stories, as well as documentary sources such as decretal texts, episcopal letters, and charters. The introduction also contains a brief survey of four themes that run throughout the book as well as a note on the chronological and geographical scope of the book.
Antoinina Bevan Zlatar
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199604692
- eISBN:
- 9780191729430
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604692.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter explores a series of eight dialogues on purgatory, predestination, the cult of the saints, and clerical celibacy by the Frenchman John Véron (1561–2). Véron sugars his repudiation of ...
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This chapter explores a series of eight dialogues on purgatory, predestination, the cult of the saints, and clerical celibacy by the Frenchman John Véron (1561–2). Véron sugars his repudiation of Catholic doctrine by means of a lively cast of four interlocutors and satirical jibes. Yet Ciceronian civility and a clear division of labour ensures that religious decorum is always preserved. These decorous popularizing techniques are not his own, however. Véron's The Huntynge of Purgatorye to death is an unacknowledged translation‐cum‐adaptation of Pierre Viret's Disputations chrestiennes (Geneva, 1552). Comparing Véron's Huntynge and Viret's Disputations for the first time, this chapter discusses Véron's ‘Englishing’ of Viret, and its significance for the circulation of Viret's ideas in England. The second part of the chapter analyses the Protestant characters' rhetorical strategies of refutation and the extent of their success.Less
This chapter explores a series of eight dialogues on purgatory, predestination, the cult of the saints, and clerical celibacy by the Frenchman John Véron (1561–2). Véron sugars his repudiation of Catholic doctrine by means of a lively cast of four interlocutors and satirical jibes. Yet Ciceronian civility and a clear division of labour ensures that religious decorum is always preserved. These decorous popularizing techniques are not his own, however. Véron's The Huntynge of Purgatorye to death is an unacknowledged translation‐cum‐adaptation of Pierre Viret's Disputations chrestiennes (Geneva, 1552). Comparing Véron's Huntynge and Viret's Disputations for the first time, this chapter discusses Véron's ‘Englishing’ of Viret, and its significance for the circulation of Viret's ideas in England. The second part of the chapter analyses the Protestant characters' rhetorical strategies of refutation and the extent of their success.
Scott M. Manetsch
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199938575
- eISBN:
- 9780199980741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199938575.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Chapter 4 focuses on the households of Geneva’s pastors, looking for clues as to the nature of the ministers’ marriages and family relationships, and describing the material and financial ...
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Chapter 4 focuses on the households of Geneva’s pastors, looking for clues as to the nature of the ministers’ marriages and family relationships, and describing the material and financial compensation the pastors received to enable them to carry out their daily work. It will be shown that the pastoral vocation did not allow for a contemplative or isolated existence, but required intensive engagement with the concerns of household and society. The demands of family life; sick children; deceased spouses; parsonages in disrepair; critical neighbours; parsimonious wages—these were some of the real emotional and physical challenges that Geneva’s ministers faced as they performed their duties day to day.Less
Chapter 4 focuses on the households of Geneva’s pastors, looking for clues as to the nature of the ministers’ marriages and family relationships, and describing the material and financial compensation the pastors received to enable them to carry out their daily work. It will be shown that the pastoral vocation did not allow for a contemplative or isolated existence, but required intensive engagement with the concerns of household and society. The demands of family life; sick children; deceased spouses; parsonages in disrepair; critical neighbours; parsimonious wages—these were some of the real emotional and physical challenges that Geneva’s ministers faced as they performed their duties day to day.
Elisabeth van Houts
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198798897
- eISBN:
- 9780191839542
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198798897.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Social History
This book contains an analysis of the experience of married life by men and women in Christian medieval Europe c. 900–1300. The focus will be on the social and emotional life of the married couple ...
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This book contains an analysis of the experience of married life by men and women in Christian medieval Europe c. 900–1300. The focus will be on the social and emotional life of the married couple rather than on the institutional history of marriage. The book consists of three parts: the first part (Getting Married) is devoted to the process of getting married and wedding celebrations, the second part (Married Life) discusses the married life of lay couples and clergy, their sexuality, and any remarriage, while the third part (Alternative Living) explores concubinage and polygyny as well as the single life in contrast to monogamous sexual unions. Four main themes are central to the book. First, the tension between patriarchal family strategies and the individual family member’s freedom of choice to marry and, if so, to what partner; second, the role played by the married priesthood in their quest to have individual agency and self-determination accepted in their own lives in the face of the growing imposition of clerical celibacy; third, the role played by women in helping society accept some degree of gender equality and self-determination to marry and in shaping the norms for married life incorporating these principles; fourth, the role played by emotion in the establishment of marriage and in married life at a time when sexual and spiritual love feature prominently in medieval literature.Less
This book contains an analysis of the experience of married life by men and women in Christian medieval Europe c. 900–1300. The focus will be on the social and emotional life of the married couple rather than on the institutional history of marriage. The book consists of three parts: the first part (Getting Married) is devoted to the process of getting married and wedding celebrations, the second part (Married Life) discusses the married life of lay couples and clergy, their sexuality, and any remarriage, while the third part (Alternative Living) explores concubinage and polygyny as well as the single life in contrast to monogamous sexual unions. Four main themes are central to the book. First, the tension between patriarchal family strategies and the individual family member’s freedom of choice to marry and, if so, to what partner; second, the role played by the married priesthood in their quest to have individual agency and self-determination accepted in their own lives in the face of the growing imposition of clerical celibacy; third, the role played by women in helping society accept some degree of gender equality and self-determination to marry and in shaping the norms for married life incorporating these principles; fourth, the role played by emotion in the establishment of marriage and in married life at a time when sexual and spiritual love feature prominently in medieval literature.
Elisabeth van Houts
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198798897
- eISBN:
- 9780191839542
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198798897.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Social History
The conclusion centres on the four main thematic threads that run through the book. There was a marked move away from parental arrangements and frequent parental coercion to unions resulting from a ...
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The conclusion centres on the four main thematic threads that run through the book. There was a marked move away from parental arrangements and frequent parental coercion to unions resulting from a couple’s consent and their own choice. Women especially at elite level probably were persuasive enough to make their fathers, brothers, and sons see the advantages in allowing the young to express their opinion and if necessary block their parents’ plans. The couple’s consent as a validating principle for marriage gives the clergy a supporting and enabling role rather than a creative one which should be attributed to the laity. Married clergy (and their wives) stressed the good of marriage for those who provided pastoral care. The lived experience of married life suggests that compatibility, a measure of sexual attraction, affection, and love better ensured a lasting relationship than an arbitrary property transaction arranged by parents between two families.Less
The conclusion centres on the four main thematic threads that run through the book. There was a marked move away from parental arrangements and frequent parental coercion to unions resulting from a couple’s consent and their own choice. Women especially at elite level probably were persuasive enough to make their fathers, brothers, and sons see the advantages in allowing the young to express their opinion and if necessary block their parents’ plans. The couple’s consent as a validating principle for marriage gives the clergy a supporting and enabling role rather than a creative one which should be attributed to the laity. Married clergy (and their wives) stressed the good of marriage for those who provided pastoral care. The lived experience of married life suggests that compatibility, a measure of sexual attraction, affection, and love better ensured a lasting relationship than an arbitrary property transaction arranged by parents between two families.
