Books in the Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West series

Ansgar and Rimbert, ninth-century bishops and missionaries to Denmark and Sweden, are fixtures of medieval ecclesiastical history. By revising our understanding of Carolingian northeastern expansion after Charlemagne, this title provides fresh insight into the political and ecclesiastical history of early medieval Europe.

Investigates the chantries and their impacts on the life, services and clerical community of the cathedral, from their foundation in the early thirteenth century to the dissolution. This book demonstrates the flexibility and adaptability of these pious foundations and the various contributions they made to medieval society.

Addresses issues relating to the compilation and transmission of canon law collections, the role of bishops in their dissemination, as well as the interpretation and use of law in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Explores the changing perception of the miracle in medieval western society. This book employs several sources, including canonization dossiers, hagiographical texts, theological treatises and sermons, to examine the Christian church's desire to create a sounder legal definition of the miracle.

Contains 15 studies that offer a different look at Hyacinth's early life in Rome, Paris and as legate, explain his relationship as cardinal and pope with the Christian kings, examine his promotion of the crusade in the Holy Land, on the Baltic Frontier and in the Iberian Peninsula, and analyze his role as pastor and reformer.

Looks at art in the formative period of the Augustinian Hermits, an order with a particularly difficult relation to art. This book discusses both well-known and neglected artworks, engaging with fundamental methodological questions for pre-modern art and church history, from the creation of religious iconographies to the role of gender in art.

Providing the Latin texts and English translations of the three surviving versions of Chrodegang's rule, ("Regula Originalis Chrodegangi", "Institutio Canonicorum", "Regula Longior Canonicorum") this volume provides a resource to scholars of mediaeval Christian communities.

Adrian IV was born in England, spent his early maturity in Provence, was called to Rome and sent from there to Scandinavia. Finally in 1154 he was elected Pope. These essays explore the life of Adrian and his influences on society and the church.

Focuses on the paradox of motherhood in the European Middle Ages. This book analyses the powers and the dangers of motherhood within the warp and weft of social history, beginning with the premise that religious discourse or practice served as a medium in which mothers (and others) could assess their situation, defend claims, and make accusations.

St Katherine of Alexandria was one of the most popular saints in both the Orthodox and Latin Churches in the later Middle Ages. This book provides an examination of the way how her cult spread from the Greek-speaking lands of the Eastern Mediterranean and into Western Europe.

Discusses issues such as episcopal (self-)representation, conceptualization of office and authority, cultural production (images, texts, material objects, space) and ecclesiology/ideology. This book contends that ideas about episcopal office and conduct were conditioned by and contingent upon time, place, and pastoral constituency.

A detailed study of Hugh of Flavigny and his chronicle, which is recognised as one of the most important narratives of a crucial period of European history, that is, the Investiture Contest. This work also investigates the context of the work in terms of ecclesiastical politics.

Concerns social and religious life in the city of Toulouse during the period 1150 - 1250 AD. This book reveals how religious orders managed an insurance network providing pensions, old age care and burial for lay society. The chapters on hospitals, charities, entertainers, judges, heretics and usurers bring the daily life of the period to life.

Dating from the fourth century AD, the prophecy of the 'Sibylla Tiburtina' was one of medieval Europe's most widely disseminated Latin eschatological prophecies. This study addresses the variety of non-political interests and concerns which medieval readers brought to the prophecy.

Contains papers by a number of students of Robert Louis Benson that deal with matters central to Benson's historical interests - ecclesiastical institutions and administration, emperorship and papacy, canon law, political ideology, and historiography. This book aims to contribute to the study of the Middle Ages.

Hugh of Amiens (c 1085-1164) was an important intellectual figure in the twelfth century. This book examines all of Hugh's writings to uncover a better understanding not only of this individual, but also of the twelfth-century as a whole, especially the theological preoccupations of the period.

From the mid-12th-century until its dissolution, St Albans laid claim to being the premier Benedictine monastery in England. Aiming to contribute towards a picture of monastic life, this study focuses in particular on individual abbots during the period of its greatest prosperity.

"The Book of Donors for Strasbourg Cathedral" is an extraordinary medieval document dating from ca 1320-1520, with 6,954 entries from artisan, merchant and aristocratic classes. This title analyzes the "Book of Donors" manuscript and shows the types and patterns of gifts made to the cathedral.

This text examines the Council of Bourges which took place in medieval France in order to form a representative government. In the 21st century, government by elected representatives is commonplace and taken for granted; but in 1225 it was a novelty with an uncertain future.

Starting from the premise of the letter as literary artefact, with a potential for ambiguity, irony and allusion, this analysis of the correspondence between Peter the Venerable and future saint Bernard of Clairvaux, challenges their traditional use as a source for historical reconstruction.

Explores ways in which Rome itself was preserved, envisioned, and transformed by its residents, and also by the many pilgrims who flocked to the shrines of the martyrs. This book considers how northern European cultures (in particular, the Irish and English) imagined and imitated the city as they understood it.

Presents a study of Burchard's "Decretum", a popular book of Catholic canon law compiled just after the year 1000. This book provides a window into the development of legal and theological reasoning in the medieval West, and suggests that the flowering of law and theology began far earlier, and for different reasons, than scholars had supposed.

A study devoted to the life and after-life of St John of Beverley. The hagiographic works on John extend over nearly six hundred years. The author uses these sources as an opportunity to examine the ways in which an Anglo-Saxon saint was promoted over a long period of time by different hagiographers.

Alexander III was one of the most important popes of the Middle Ages. His papacy (1159-81) marked a significant watershed in the history of the Western Church and Society. Alexander made many contributions to the law of the Church that had a major impact on Western society, notably on marriage. This title presents a reassessment of his papacy.

An approach that opens up the question of how religious reform took place and challenges ecclesiological models that remains too focussed on structures in a manner artificial for pre-modern Europe. This work takes issue with the problem of what constitutes reform, reformations, and historians' notions of the periodization of reform.

Building on recent revisionist histories of the quality and ability of the late medieval clergy, this is a comprehensive survey of the ordinations of priests at the Roman curia during the pontificates of Pius II (1458-1464) and Paul II (1464-1471).

Commemorating John Moorman's immense contribution to Franciscan history across five decades, the essays in this collection reflect upon Moorman's diverse writings on biography, hagiography, history, art, and prosopography.