Stephen Baxter
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199230983
- eISBN:
- 9780191710940
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230983.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter examines the connections between the Leofwinesons and several monasteries in Mercia, which were remarkable in both quantity and intensity. The family was responsible for the foundation ...
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This chapter examines the connections between the Leofwinesons and several monasteries in Mercia, which were remarkable in both quantity and intensity. The family was responsible for the foundation of Coventry, and for the endowment and/or spoliation of eight other religious houses (Evesham, Worcester, Leominster, Much Wenlock, Chester St. John and St. Wærburgh, Burton, Crowland); and Earl Leofric's nephew and namesake exercised abbatial authority over five Midland monasteries in plurality. The chapter examines the evidence bearing on each of these connections closely, before considering what motivation lay behind them. It argues that monasteries formed strong tenurial, spiritual, and social bonds with the nobility in their vicinities and hinterlands. Religious patronage therefore enabled the earls of Mercia to plug into local circuits of power as a means of augmenting their own.Less
This chapter examines the connections between the Leofwinesons and several monasteries in Mercia, which were remarkable in both quantity and intensity. The family was responsible for the foundation of Coventry, and for the endowment and/or spoliation of eight other religious houses (Evesham, Worcester, Leominster, Much Wenlock, Chester St. John and St. Wærburgh, Burton, Crowland); and Earl Leofric's nephew and namesake exercised abbatial authority over five Midland monasteries in plurality. The chapter examines the evidence bearing on each of these connections closely, before considering what motivation lay behind them. It argues that monasteries formed strong tenurial, spiritual, and social bonds with the nobility in their vicinities and hinterlands. Religious patronage therefore enabled the earls of Mercia to plug into local circuits of power as a means of augmenting their own.
R. B. Dobson
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199510122
- eISBN:
- 9780191700941
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510122.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter evaluates the contribution of the religious orders to the life of Oxford University in the years from 1370 to 1530. It discusses that the university's physical appearance had been more ...
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This chapter evaluates the contribution of the religious orders to the life of Oxford University in the years from 1370 to 1530. It discusses that the university's physical appearance had been more profoundly formed by its religious houses than by any other institutional buildings. It also describes Oxford's ten religious communities. It discusses the influence of Oxford's educated university theologians during the late medieval England.Less
This chapter evaluates the contribution of the religious orders to the life of Oxford University in the years from 1370 to 1530. It discusses that the university's physical appearance had been more profoundly formed by its religious houses than by any other institutional buildings. It also describes Oxford's ten religious communities. It discusses the influence of Oxford's educated university theologians during the late medieval England.
GWILYM DODD
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199202805
- eISBN:
- 9780191708015
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202805.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter addresses similar themes as Chapter 7, but in the context of petitions from communities. The chapter is divided into three sections. It considers how far the term ‘community’, as ...
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This chapter addresses similar themes as Chapter 7, but in the context of petitions from communities. The chapter is divided into three sections. It considers how far the term ‘community’, as employed in many of these private petitions, reflected the existence of real communities or was merely a rhetorical turn of phrase.Less
This chapter addresses similar themes as Chapter 7, but in the context of petitions from communities. The chapter is divided into three sections. It considers how far the term ‘community’, as employed in many of these private petitions, reflected the existence of real communities or was merely a rhetorical turn of phrase.
Andrew D. Brown
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205210
- eISBN:
- 9780191676550
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205210.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
A broad change in pious practice from the thirteenth to the early sixteenth century appears to present itself. A book that begins with religious houses, proceeds through parishes and guilds, and ...
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A broad change in pious practice from the thirteenth to the early sixteenth century appears to present itself. A book that begins with religious houses, proceeds through parishes and guilds, and reaches heresy and Reformation might harbour the assumption that lay devotional concerns shifted — away from an attachment to religious houses and the giving of land to monasteries and nunneries, and towards the parish, guilds, and almshouses, over which they exercised greater ‘control’, culminating in an anticlericalism that paved the way for the Reformation. This book has emphasized institutional and regional influences affecting the expression of pious practices in late medieval England. Some implications can be drawn out concerning the effect of ‘class’ on religious life.Less
A broad change in pious practice from the thirteenth to the early sixteenth century appears to present itself. A book that begins with religious houses, proceeds through parishes and guilds, and reaches heresy and Reformation might harbour the assumption that lay devotional concerns shifted — away from an attachment to religious houses and the giving of land to monasteries and nunneries, and towards the parish, guilds, and almshouses, over which they exercised greater ‘control’, culminating in an anticlericalism that paved the way for the Reformation. This book has emphasized institutional and regional influences affecting the expression of pious practices in late medieval England. Some implications can be drawn out concerning the effect of ‘class’ on religious life.
Andrew D. Brown
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205210
- eISBN:
- 9780191676550
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205210.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
The clear links between the Trinity hospital, the St George guild, and the town government show that yet another layer should be added to the devotional structures within certain late medieval towns. ...
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The clear links between the Trinity hospital, the St George guild, and the town government show that yet another layer should be added to the devotional structures within certain late medieval towns. However, hospitals and almshouses also raise wider issues about charitable giving. Provision for the poor was inseparable from pious expression; it was, as canonists had emphasized since the twelfth century, one of the seven works of mercy in the penitential process of making satisfaction for sin. In return, the poor were expected to pray for the souls of the benefactors in a regular regime of prayer. M. Rubin has argued that there were changes for the worse. The difficulty is knowing how far hospital foundation is a ‘sensitive indicator’ of changing attitudes to the poor, or how far it reflects other pressures. It is important to relate hospital history to that of other institutions: religious houses, parishes, and, as the Trinity hospital suggests, guilds.Less
The clear links between the Trinity hospital, the St George guild, and the town government show that yet another layer should be added to the devotional structures within certain late medieval towns. However, hospitals and almshouses also raise wider issues about charitable giving. Provision for the poor was inseparable from pious expression; it was, as canonists had emphasized since the twelfth century, one of the seven works of mercy in the penitential process of making satisfaction for sin. In return, the poor were expected to pray for the souls of the benefactors in a regular regime of prayer. M. Rubin has argued that there were changes for the worse. The difficulty is knowing how far hospital foundation is a ‘sensitive indicator’ of changing attitudes to the poor, or how far it reflects other pressures. It is important to relate hospital history to that of other institutions: religious houses, parishes, and, as the Trinity hospital suggests, guilds.
Matthew Gabriele
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199591442
- eISBN:
- 9780191725128
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199591442.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
Chapter 1 examines the development of the Charlemagne legend in the centuries after his death in 814. This chapter is not comprehensive but rather offers a brief overview of the legend before ...
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Chapter 1 examines the development of the Charlemagne legend in the centuries after his death in 814. This chapter is not comprehensive but rather offers a brief overview of the legend before focusing in on how religious houses in the tenth and eleventh centuries used the image of Charlemagne (often through stories involving their relics) and how these religious houses remembered his empire. The borders of his empire moved, dependent upon contemporary conceptions of Christendom. His empire, however, almost always included the East.Less
Chapter 1 examines the development of the Charlemagne legend in the centuries after his death in 814. This chapter is not comprehensive but rather offers a brief overview of the legend before focusing in on how religious houses in the tenth and eleventh centuries used the image of Charlemagne (often through stories involving their relics) and how these religious houses remembered his empire. The borders of his empire moved, dependent upon contemporary conceptions of Christendom. His empire, however, almost always included the East.
Anne Jacobson Schutte
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449772
- eISBN:
- 9780801463174
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449772.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
An unwilling, desperate nun trapped in the cloister, unable to gain release: such is the image that endures today of monastic life in early modern Europe. This book demonstrates that this and other ...
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An unwilling, desperate nun trapped in the cloister, unable to gain release: such is the image that endures today of monastic life in early modern Europe. This book demonstrates that this and other common stereotypes of involuntary consignment to religious houses—shaped by literary sources such as Manzoni’s The Betrothed—are badly off the mark. Drawing on records of the Congregation of the Council, held in the Vatican, the book examines nearly one thousand petitions for annulment of monastic vows submitted to the Pope and adjudicated by the Council during a 125-year period, from 1668 to 1793. It considers petitions from Roman Catholic regions across Europe and a few from Latin America and finds that, in about half these cases, the congregation reached a decision. Many women and a smaller proportion of men got what they asked for: decrees nullifying their monastic profession and releasing them from religious houses. It also reaches important conclusions about relations between elders and offspring in early modern families. Contrary to the picture historians have painted of increasingly less patriarchal and more egalitarian families, the book finds numerous instances of fathers, mothers, and other relatives (including older siblings) employing physical violence and psychological pressure to compel adolescents into “entering religion.” Dramatic tales from the archives show that many victims of such violence remained so intimidated that they dared not petition the pope until the agents of force and fear had died, by which time they themselves were middle-aged.Less
An unwilling, desperate nun trapped in the cloister, unable to gain release: such is the image that endures today of monastic life in early modern Europe. This book demonstrates that this and other common stereotypes of involuntary consignment to religious houses—shaped by literary sources such as Manzoni’s The Betrothed—are badly off the mark. Drawing on records of the Congregation of the Council, held in the Vatican, the book examines nearly one thousand petitions for annulment of monastic vows submitted to the Pope and adjudicated by the Council during a 125-year period, from 1668 to 1793. It considers petitions from Roman Catholic regions across Europe and a few from Latin America and finds that, in about half these cases, the congregation reached a decision. Many women and a smaller proportion of men got what they asked for: decrees nullifying their monastic profession and releasing them from religious houses. It also reaches important conclusions about relations between elders and offspring in early modern families. Contrary to the picture historians have painted of increasingly less patriarchal and more egalitarian families, the book finds numerous instances of fathers, mothers, and other relatives (including older siblings) employing physical violence and psychological pressure to compel adolescents into “entering religion.” Dramatic tales from the archives show that many victims of such violence remained so intimidated that they dared not petition the pope until the agents of force and fear had died, by which time they themselves were middle-aged.
Martin Heale
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198702535
- eISBN:
- 9780191772221
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702535.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
The importance of the medieval abbot needs no particular emphasis. The monastic superiors of late medieval England ruled over thousands of monks and canons, who swore to them vows of obedience; they ...
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The importance of the medieval abbot needs no particular emphasis. The monastic superiors of late medieval England ruled over thousands of monks and canons, who swore to them vows of obedience; they were prominent figures in royal and church government; and collectively they controlled properties worth around double the Crown’s annual ordinary income. As guardians of regular observance and the primary interface between their monastery and the wider world, abbots and priors were pivotal to the effective functioning and well-being of the monastic order. This book provides the first detailed study of English monastic superiors, exploring their evolving role and reputation between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Individual chapters examine the election of late medieval monastic heads; the internal functions of the superior as the father of the community; the head of house as administrator; abbatial living standards and modes of display; monastic superiors’ public role in service of the Church and Crown; their external relations and reputation; the interaction between monastic heads and the government in Henry VIII’s England; the Dissolution of the monasteries; and the afterlives of abbots and priors following the suppression of their houses. This study of monastic leadership sheds much valuable light on the religious houses of late medieval England, including their spiritual life, administration, spending priorities, and their multi-faceted relations with the outside world. It also elucidates the crucial part played by monastic superiors in the dramatic events of the 1530s, when many heads surrendered their monasteries into the hands of Henry VIII.Less
The importance of the medieval abbot needs no particular emphasis. The monastic superiors of late medieval England ruled over thousands of monks and canons, who swore to them vows of obedience; they were prominent figures in royal and church government; and collectively they controlled properties worth around double the Crown’s annual ordinary income. As guardians of regular observance and the primary interface between their monastery and the wider world, abbots and priors were pivotal to the effective functioning and well-being of the monastic order. This book provides the first detailed study of English monastic superiors, exploring their evolving role and reputation between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Individual chapters examine the election of late medieval monastic heads; the internal functions of the superior as the father of the community; the head of house as administrator; abbatial living standards and modes of display; monastic superiors’ public role in service of the Church and Crown; their external relations and reputation; the interaction between monastic heads and the government in Henry VIII’s England; the Dissolution of the monasteries; and the afterlives of abbots and priors following the suppression of their houses. This study of monastic leadership sheds much valuable light on the religious houses of late medieval England, including their spiritual life, administration, spending priorities, and their multi-faceted relations with the outside world. It also elucidates the crucial part played by monastic superiors in the dramatic events of the 1530s, when many heads surrendered their monasteries into the hands of Henry VIII.
Levi Roach
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780691181660
- eISBN:
- 9780691217871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181660.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This introductory chapter provides an overview of medieval forgery. In the European Middle Ages, the most common form of forgery was the manufacture of false documents. Indeed, the period has, with ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of medieval forgery. In the European Middle Ages, the most common form of forgery was the manufacture of false documents. Indeed, the period has, with some justification, been seen as a golden age of documentary forgery, a time before modern means of criticism, when the counterfeit was king. Well over half of the surviving diplomas in the names of the Merovingian Frankish rulers of mainland Europe are products of forgery; a third of the charters of the Lombard rulers of northern Italy are suspect; and over a third of the documents from pre-Conquest England have been tampered with in some way. The defining feature of these early fakes is a desire to use the past to cement current claims. It is no coincidence that most of them belong to religious houses. In ancient Egypt and the Middle East, as in medieval Europe, the religious classes were specialists in literacy, some of the few capable of presenting and recording complex claims in written form. They also possessed a strong sense of corporate identity (like the later medieval clergy), which encouraged the creation of such false narratives.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of medieval forgery. In the European Middle Ages, the most common form of forgery was the manufacture of false documents. Indeed, the period has, with some justification, been seen as a golden age of documentary forgery, a time before modern means of criticism, when the counterfeit was king. Well over half of the surviving diplomas in the names of the Merovingian Frankish rulers of mainland Europe are products of forgery; a third of the charters of the Lombard rulers of northern Italy are suspect; and over a third of the documents from pre-Conquest England have been tampered with in some way. The defining feature of these early fakes is a desire to use the past to cement current claims. It is no coincidence that most of them belong to religious houses. In ancient Egypt and the Middle East, as in medieval Europe, the religious classes were specialists in literacy, some of the few capable of presenting and recording complex claims in written form. They also possessed a strong sense of corporate identity (like the later medieval clergy), which encouraged the creation of such false narratives.
