Alcuin Blamires
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199248674
- eISBN:
- 9780191714696
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199248674.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter argues that jurisdiction was not only a politically charged topic — following Wyclif’s intervention in it — but also one of great ethical concern to Chaucer. The Friar’s Tale combines ...
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This chapter argues that jurisdiction was not only a politically charged topic — following Wyclif’s intervention in it — but also one of great ethical concern to Chaucer. The Friar’s Tale combines both aspects in its focus on the hot topic of excommunication as the apex of the church’s abuse of jurisdiction. The widow of the tale epitomizes moral lay triumph over counterfeit ecclesiastical power by reversing the concept of the ‘curse’ (excommunication). The Physician’s Tale pursues counterfeit jurisdiction in civil government, in a design that shows Chaucer experimenting with the sort of macrocosm-and-microcosm structuring favoured by some contemporaries. The Pardoner embodies in the ‘present’ of the pilgrimage the most insidious threat posed by perversion of jurisdiction.Less
This chapter argues that jurisdiction was not only a politically charged topic — following Wyclif’s intervention in it — but also one of great ethical concern to Chaucer. The Friar’s Tale combines both aspects in its focus on the hot topic of excommunication as the apex of the church’s abuse of jurisdiction. The widow of the tale epitomizes moral lay triumph over counterfeit ecclesiastical power by reversing the concept of the ‘curse’ (excommunication). The Physician’s Tale pursues counterfeit jurisdiction in civil government, in a design that shows Chaucer experimenting with the sort of macrocosm-and-microcosm structuring favoured by some contemporaries. The Pardoner embodies in the ‘present’ of the pilgrimage the most insidious threat posed by perversion of jurisdiction.
Maijastina Kahlos
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190067250
- eISBN:
- 9780190067281
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190067250.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter looks at the limits that the aristocracy in general and the landowning elites at the local level set to imperial and ecclesiastical power. In late Roman society, aristocrats had ...
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This chapter looks at the limits that the aristocracy in general and the landowning elites at the local level set to imperial and ecclesiastical power. In late Roman society, aristocrats had remarkable power, economic resources, and prestige, especially on the local level. The wishes of the central administration and the local realities were often in tension with each other. In some cases, imperial decrees could be ignored in the local setting if they were not well received. Local authorities could even decide not to enforce a law. In the local realities of dissident groups, the patronage relationships were decisive: a powerful landowner could influence his tenants to either embrace Christianity or retain old practices. There was often a conflict of interests between local landowners and bishops in their struggle for hegemony at the regional level. Bishops expected Christian landowners to put an end to pagan practices on their estates, and they complained about the laxity if they did not.Less
This chapter looks at the limits that the aristocracy in general and the landowning elites at the local level set to imperial and ecclesiastical power. In late Roman society, aristocrats had remarkable power, economic resources, and prestige, especially on the local level. The wishes of the central administration and the local realities were often in tension with each other. In some cases, imperial decrees could be ignored in the local setting if they were not well received. Local authorities could even decide not to enforce a law. In the local realities of dissident groups, the patronage relationships were decisive: a powerful landowner could influence his tenants to either embrace Christianity or retain old practices. There was often a conflict of interests between local landowners and bishops in their struggle for hegemony at the regional level. Bishops expected Christian landowners to put an end to pagan practices on their estates, and they complained about the laxity if they did not.
Ayşe Tuzlak
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780195342703
- eISBN:
- 9780199387748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342703.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World, Religion and Literature
This chapter considers a polemical story about a third-century prophetess who is said to be possessed by a demon. In a letter to Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Firmilian describes a female prophet who ...
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This chapter considers a polemical story about a third-century prophetess who is said to be possessed by a demon. In a letter to Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Firmilian describes a female prophet who arose in the region of Cappodocia and was, according to Firmilian, possessed by a demon. Under its sway, she attracted a large following through preternatural feats and fabulous predictions. The real source of his concern, however, is that she assumed ecclesiastical powers, performed the eucharist, and baptized many of her followers. Firmilian draws on the discourse of magic to denounce her as demon-possessed, enlisting a common trope of magic accusations that served to distinguish divinely wrought miracles from demonic magic in antiquity. The chapter demonstrates how Firmilian employs this story about one woman’s illegitimate accessing of ritual power in support of rebaptism during highly charged ecclesiastical debates over the nature of authority and sacramental efficacy in the third century.Less
This chapter considers a polemical story about a third-century prophetess who is said to be possessed by a demon. In a letter to Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Firmilian describes a female prophet who arose in the region of Cappodocia and was, according to Firmilian, possessed by a demon. Under its sway, she attracted a large following through preternatural feats and fabulous predictions. The real source of his concern, however, is that she assumed ecclesiastical powers, performed the eucharist, and baptized many of her followers. Firmilian draws on the discourse of magic to denounce her as demon-possessed, enlisting a common trope of magic accusations that served to distinguish divinely wrought miracles from demonic magic in antiquity. The chapter demonstrates how Firmilian employs this story about one woman’s illegitimate accessing of ritual power in support of rebaptism during highly charged ecclesiastical debates over the nature of authority and sacramental efficacy in the third century.
