Religion Notes

Religion Tutorial Alternative essay structure ~ Reforms effects limitations of reform / isolated exceptions lack of resources and initiative popular religion - continuing 'paganism', sacrament abuse, clerical participation and cult of saints Was the cult of saints a continuation of pre-Christian veneration ~ Peter Brown's work ~ Developed from elite families in Rome Educated reformist priests are enthusiastic about local cults How do the Cistercians connect with local saints? ~ Are they totally isolated by their devotion to Mary? ~ Do they venerate local saints? Popularity of the cult of Becket Benedictines feed the poor Others participate in society Cistercians are very isolated Many more decretals from England to Rome than other European countries Royal/papal relations matter but not as much as is often asserted ~ Needed as a higher authority to appeal to ~ Stephen arrests some bishops for being too powerful decide to send appeals ~ Stephen also uses the papacy ~ Can be used as a mediating tool Mayr-Harting - 'Hilary, Bishop of Chichester' ~ Staunchly loyal to the king except when he's trying to argue that Battle Abbey should be under his authority - loses in royal courts Royal process is privileged until there is a great need to appeal to the Pope Constitutions of Clarendon ~ Attempt to articulate what Theobald has been trying to do ~ Should not be able to appeal to Rome ~ Parish priests can usurp authority Professionalisation and articulation of doctrine ~ Greater use of the written word Church is not about faith ~ Institution with territory and money ~ Justify this with pastoral care etc. Becomes a much more professional institution Standardisation After Anselm, archbishops have greater administrative structures ~ Theobald has his own chancery ~ John of Salisbury is an official letter writer Episcopal development of a standard form of writing ~ Professionalisation within a written framework Movement from symbolism to pragmatism ~ Clanchy - From Memory to Written Record Church and state are not distinct ~ Are enmeshed in each other Issues of jurisdiction Ideological acceptance of separate spheres Much overlap between government and bishops ~ Different from the 10th century - 9/10 bishops were monks Anselm and Hugh of Lincoln are holy men - exceptional cases Most of the major bishops conform to religious standards They are a form of episcopal dynasties - importance of nephews now rather than sons Ideologically, the church becomes more clearly differentiated from the king - greater articulation ~ 12th and 13th century development of separate spheres Rhetoric over property Yet they also share many views King gives in sometimes on symbolic issues ~ e.g. investiture ~ Has to try to defend himself Homage is major for the papacy in the way that Anselm interpreted it ~ Not so important for the Pope compromise ~ The king is still in contact with the Pope - not a complete break Cistercians have obscured the major influence of saints' cults - not all logical Renaissance values Cults make monastic communities and vice versa ~ Promoted through translations ~ Publicised through writings Church, Piety and Monasticism Dr Nightingale Church - has multiple meanings Ecclesia - all inclusive category includes all Christians ~ A counterpart to the secular world Boundaries between the separate tiers of secular and clergy became more sharply delineated - sense of separation Member of the Church - would probably answer that they were the shepherds who guided the Christian flock ~ Intermediaries between heaven and earth Monks - often known as the regular clergy ~ Against the secular clergy who do not follow a rule Were also the higher clergy Can think about the Church as a landowner Domesday - PS73k ~ 35 monasteries and 9 nunneries - PS11k ~ 15 bishoprics - PS9k Held 28% of the land in terms of value Also claimed the rights to tithes (10%) - lords were sometimes quite good at keeping these Do we accept that they are shepherds tending to the spiritual needs of the population? Can see it more as a corporation of wealth and land ~ Marx - exploitative mechanism Church or churches? ~ Contemporaries talked of it in the singular ~ Cut from that to talking about their own individual church - often linked in dispute with another church over jurisdictions A mass of competing or loosely connected institutions Bishops existed to rule and lead the church ~ Should be wary of exaggerating their powers Monasteries were autonomous institutions who fiercely resisted interference from bishops William founded the Abbey of Battle after Hastings - said it would be answerable to nobody, not even the Archbishop of Canterbury ~ Continuous skirmishes - bishop of Chichester continually campaigned for jurisdiction when abbots died Cistercian order - emerged from Henry I's reign ~ Argued that they were subject to the mother Cistercian house in France ~ Cuts across episcopal structures in England Parish churches are also to a large extent outside the ecclesiastical hierarchy Domesday - especially in Huntingdon and Suffolk ~ 53/83 places in Huntingdonshire had churches ~ 364-422 churches in 345/635 places in Suffolk Churches are seen as being owned by the lord Church may even have to give labour services and rent ~ Another form of valuable property to be enumerated Series of different angles on the church Are still some major themes ~ What contemporaries wrote about - Norman Conquest and Anselm ~ But people wrote about them because they were exceptional First major development was the parish churches Parish church landscape is new - revolution has occurred between the 10th and 11th centuries Evidence would suggest that there is a massive programme of church rebuilding doesn't start with the Conquest but it may give it additional momentum Emergence of baptismal fonts within parish churches in the 11th century John Blair - work on church in Anglo-Saxon society Is this because it is an age of faith? Due to status Appropriation of tithes ~ First heard of around 11th century - when lords start building their own churches ~ If you have to pay this tax then better to pay it to your own institution The church's institutions are being formalised Church emerged as an efficient and profitable bureaucracy ~ European development Royal and ecclesiastical administration are working out where their respective areas of jurisdiction fall Royal officials also became bishops Most of the time there is seamless interaction and cooperation Archdeacons pre-date the Conquest ~ Take-off of the number of them is a post-Conquest phenomenon Durham - had one archdeacon ~ By 2nd half of 12th century there were ~6 in the West Riding of York Many of them are sons or nephews of other bishops - some 9 or 10 year olds appointed ~ Their relatives farm the archdeaconary and gain the profits ~ Many remain in office for 40 or 50 years ~ Some become hereditary e.g. Huntingdon, York, London Took chrism fees and unspecified auxilia Collected Peter's Pence ~ Norwich - only send 2 thirds Synodal dues - whether or not they were held 12th century - fines on married priests key source of income Gerald of Wales talks of them conniving at immorality John of Salisbury - continually criticised their abuses Can we leave piety out? ~ Fundamental weakness is the absence of heresy in 12th and the 13th century England ~ There is much heresy on the Continent Don't feel it necessary to look elsewhere for faith - church must somehow be caring for the population's spiritual needs We should look at monasteries - were the keepers of saints' shrines Look for holy men and new establishments - much more flexible to respond to the laity Benedictine (traditional) monastery Orderic Vitalis and his Ecclesiastical History Monastery comes from the Greek word 'mono' - alone Some, however, are not there by their own choice - parents put them there Vitalis - description of how Orderic's own father persuaded an abbot to found Shrewsbury abbey ~ Sees monks to be the best Key to monasticism is someone else being pious for you on your behalf - can pay for other people to intercede for you ~ Endless donations to abbeys ~ Often termed 'pro anima' - for your soul ~ Others wish to be buried by saints The ideal is monks perfecting themselves yet in reality they are helping their patrons Orderic's father promises to give his youngest son and all his goods ~ Has already placed Orderic into another abbey Orderic has his father saying 'I renounce my first born son and renounce him to strangers...he may devote himself totally to the worship of God' ~ He never saw his father again Augustinian canons An abbey like Shrewsbury is a big foundation for the elite Augustinians and other smaller foundations took off with the economic growth of the 11th and 12th centuries Individual foundations are small and pretty obscure - receive much less attention than those such as the Cistercians ~ Do not have figures such as Bernard of Clairveaux Follow the instructions of Augustine as to how to run a religious house Much lighter rules of adherence Gerald of Wales - in the world yet avoids the corruptions of the world as much as possible ~ Not notorious for drinking or excess Attractive because they are cheap to endow Can get 3 Augustinian canons for the price of one Benedictine monk Geoffrey de Clinton endows an Augustinian foundation next to his castle in Kenilworth used other people's lands to set it up Cistercians are the new fashion sweeping 12th century Europe from the 1120s onwards Insulted their predecessors e.g. the Benedictines - accused of luxury e.g. Cluny Orderic Vitalis is stunned by these critiques - analyses his own foundation Cistercian monks wear white whereas Benedictines wear black The shrines of saints are immensely important Relics are essential for foundations St Frideswide at Christ Church Healing miracles are the dominant type Saints deliver solutions to your problems - this is what piety was about ~ Could be the reason for the lack of heresy Papal interdict over the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury John even burns a heretic in 1210 - just to show he is still religious Yet there is no major complaint 1208 - 5 years of the institutes of the church being closed The Church: Religion and Politics Dr Thompson Becket - often claimed that it is all about personality ~ Not true ~ Very difficult to ascertain personality The paradox of church history - Christianity sets higher standards than its followers can live up to Christianity encourages people to live not of the world but to go into the world as evangelisers ~ Tension is most acute for the ministerial church Live by different standards from the rest of society Reform is therefore endemic to the Christian church Church - ecclesia means the assembly of all Christians ~ In this period it tends to mean the clergy ~ Due to the 11th century Reformation 11th century Reformation was enacted from the top ~ A group of reformers got control of the papacy 10th and 11th centuries - waves of monastic reform ~ Still highly aristocratic and very thinly spread Ultimate aim of the reform was to save more souls ~ Wanted to regenerate Christian society Christianisation Christian reform had the fundamental aim of removing the clergy from secular influences ~ Dress and actions Clergy had to be removed from the laity ~ Did not want them receiving their churches from the local lords ~ Issue of simony and homage ~ Lay investiture Enforced this by making the pope the ultimate head of the pope - overarching authority Idea of libertas ecclesia Archbishop Pecham in 1271 removed those who infringed ecclesiastical liberty Clergy were seen to have a spiritual function - linked to the 3 estates ~ Idea was invented in the early 11th century - dominant idea in this period This reform movement was amazingly successful in a number of areas Reform councils Lateran IV - basic religious observance for every member of the church ~ Confession, penance and communion ~ Legislation for every layman in Europe Lanfranc was made archbishop in 1070 and had 7 reforming councils 

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