De Consideratione is St. Bernard of Clairvaux's last work, a treatise addressed to Pope Eugenius III. Eugenius had been one of Bernard's Cistercian brDe Consideratione is St. Bernard of Clairvaux's last work, a treatise addressed to Pope Eugenius III. Eugenius had been one of Bernard's Cistercian brothers before being elevated to the papacy in the mid-twelfth century, and Bernard writes this work to him as both encouragement and incitement to reform what Bernard perceived as a declining atmosphere of piety in Rome. It's central emphasis is that the Pope, despite all of his temporal cares and the demands of those around him, absolutely must make some time for individualized consideration and contemplation of himself, those he serves, and the hierarchy of divinity above him. It's a really wide ranging treatise, touching on subjects from the swelling flood of legal appeals being brought before the Pope to the management of the papal household, to the hierarchy of angels and the nature of the Trinity. It's ambitious and it's frequently lyrical. Though some of the sections can get a bit dense, it would probably work well as an introduction to lots of the currents of thoughts flying around during the 12th century.
Some of the most interesting parts are those that are only addressed obliquely. Bernard keeps coming back to the idea of the ideal pope as a shepherd, cultivator, or watchman rather than as a temporal lord, and there as hints at the perpetual struggle to precisely define the boundaries of authority between the papacy and the various lay princes and kings. There are also references to the efforts to precisely define how ecclesiastical authority worked - did episcopal power come from the pope or right from God? Could abbots skip over their local bishop and claim to be answerable to Rome alone? All very interesting stuff. Bernard also openly dislikes what he perceives to be the growing pettiness and avarice of the papal court, increasingly flooded by courtiers, flatterers, and influence-seekers.
Though only the last section deals with Bernard's patented brand of mystical theology, it does serve as a nice example of his thought. Even when he's discussing political or administrative issues, it's clear to see the emphasis on love and individuality that characterizes Bernard's theology.
Overall, very interesting read for those who like the 12th century or issues surrounding church/state relations.
Edit: Re-read this for a paper about a year later. It's fun to take another look at it now that I've learned a little bit more about the people involved - when I first read it, it read like a tract on the the papacy (which it is). But on this go-through, it seemed like a much more personal letter that Bernard was writing to his old pupil Eugene who had gotten pulled out of his monastery to become the leader of the Christian world, and who may or may not have been in a little bit over his head. In this light, it's interesting not only for illuminating the 12th century papacy but about showing the difficulties of Eugene's papacy itself.
Bernard must have been rough to have around as your adviser. You never get the benefit of the doubt....more
Brian Tierney is definitely becoming one of my favorite medievalists, and this book is a fascinating read for anyone at all interested in church/stateBrian Tierney is definitely becoming one of my favorite medievalists, and this book is a fascinating read for anyone at all interested in church/state relations during the Middle Ages (and, honestly, anyone interested in the Middle Ages at all).
Tierney starts his work with the observation that - unlike a lot of other world civilizations - medieval Europe was never really a theocracy. Lots of societies, realizing that force is insufficient in the long term to control a group, wind up as theocratic states, as their religious observations grow up along with the state structure. Christianity, however, originated as minority group within a mature Roman Empire, and this led to the establishment of two alternate sources of power and authority - the papacy and the empire. Tierney starts with this concept and works his way through about 1300 years of thought on precisely how these two spheres should be positioned or how they should interact. He touches on Augustine, Gelasius, the deposition of Childeric and the coronation of Charlemagne and the rise of sacred kingship in the 9th and 10th centuries. The second section deals with the Investiture Controversy (at its simplest level, whether the Church or the Empire got to appoint bishops) and the related rhetoric and argumentation over whether kings or popes could depose each other. Tierney then moves on to the effects of growing legal culture on the debate by the twelfth century and the rise of nation states (based on the political theories of Aristotle) in the 13th.
The book is pretty much an annotated source book - Each chapter is prefaced by a few pages of historical context and analysis, and then Tierney presents translations from the most relevant and informative sources on his subject. All in all, a really great introduction to the subject. My only complaint is that I wish it was a bit more comprehensive - it covers 1300 or so years in about 200 pages, so some sections fly by a bit too quickly....more
This will probably be the most exciting book that you will ever read about corporate law! Brian Tierney traces the development of conciliar theory - tThis will probably be the most exciting book that you will ever read about corporate law! Brian Tierney traces the development of conciliar theory - that the power of the Catholic Church is derived from the universal body of the faithful rather than from the pope alone - from its earliest roots in 12th century canon law. That sounds rather dry, but it's honestly a fascinating read that delves into the problem of exactly where authority rests within the medieval church, and how the different bodies within the church relate to each other.
Tierney's main point is that conciliarism isn't an external imposition on canon law, the quasi-heretical ideas of Marsilius of Padua or William of Ockham superimposed onto a solid foundation of papal monarchy. And it's not simply a translation of conceptions of constitutional monarchies that were developing in the emerging secular nations around the same time. Instead, it's the natural culmination of 200 years of canon law development that resulted when the ideas of the first Decretists joined with the concepts of corporate law explore by their successors.
Tierney writes exceptionally clearly and compellingly, and this is a must read for anyone who is interested in the medieval church or in the Catholic Church of the present day....more
This was a great idea for a book, and the subject matter is pretty fascinating. Blumenfeld-Kosinski examines the reaction to the Great Schism - the peThis was a great idea for a book, and the subject matter is pretty fascinating. Blumenfeld-Kosinski examines the reaction to the Great Schism - the period in European history during which the Church was led by two (then three!) popes at the same time due to politics and disputed elections - through the eyes of those on the outskirts of the action. Aiming to get a grasp on what she calls the imaginaire of the era, she explores the poetry, letters, visions, and prophecies that address (explicitly or implicitly) the Schism.
I'm a sucker for anything involving medieval visions/prophecy/mysticism, so I had rather high hopes for this book. And while I think that Blumenfeld-Kosinski has some rather good insights, and she makes use of a lot of fascinating and little-known texts, the book suffers from its structure and lack of context. The book is divided into sections on visionaries, poets, and prophets, which is not a terribly helpful approach. While I think she's right that there are distinctions - Birgitta of Sweden wasn't a Jean de Roquetaillade - they are somewhat artificial ones, and I think a purely chronological or thematic structure would have been far more interesting and effective. More seriously, the book occasionally reads like a laundry-list of observations about the different texts presented. And they're very interesting laundry lists! But they're also nearly always devoid of historical context, leaving it very difficult to determine when a common image/trope illustrates a specific response to the Great Schism and when it is simply a medieval trope used by visionaries before and after. I wish she had spent more time exploring each text, maybe delving into why these images were used, or where they came from.
Overall, it's very close to being a fascinating book, but would need to either be much longer or much more focused to be really successful. ...more
A good - very brief - introduction to the European political stage during the pontificate of Innocent III. While the book has a tendency to exaggerateA good - very brief - introduction to the European political stage during the pontificate of Innocent III. While the book has a tendency to exaggerate Innocent's effective political power and is (by design) rather cursory on most of the subjects it covers, it's still a fairly good introduction and overview. Packard does an especially nice job explaining Innocent's relationship with the French monarchy and the Holy Roman Empire.
Canon law has a reputation for being terribly dry, and while I'm sure that's a reputation that can sometimes be well-deserved, this is a pretty fascinCanon law has a reputation for being terribly dry, and while I'm sure that's a reputation that can sometimes be well-deserved, this is a pretty fascinating book.
Elisabeth Vodola, after a quick journey through the Biblical and Roman origins of excommunication, takes a look at home the practice changed and functioned during the 12th through 14th centuries. It was at this point where minor excommunication (being banned from the sacraments) definitively split from major excommunication (broader social shunning), with the former being placed in the theological/penitential sphere and the latter becoming a legal issue. Vodola covers the development of how excommunication affected social relationships, how it deprived the excommunicate from legal rights both in and out of court, and how the practice was addressed in secular courts of the same time.
The most fascinating chapter is Vodola's study of excommunication in the community. After delving through the canon law commentaries on the subject she brings up all sorts of interesting questions that it posed to people of the high middle ages: Can you address an excommunicate on the street? What should you do if an excommunicate tries to enter a church during the celebration of mass? Should you leave your husband if he's excommunicated? Even if you aren't supposed to speak with your children as an excommunicate, can you deliver a message to them through your wife to tell them that you love them?
Quite a bit of the book is dedicated to papal/jurist struggles to determine exactly how many legal rights different levels of excommunicates could receive in and out of court. And while that's actually more interesting than it sounds, it would have been nice to see a bit more time spent on the social implications of excommunication, or perhaps the way excommunication was used as a political weapon (after a brief discussion of Gregory VII and Henry IV in the eleventh century, it never really comes up).
Still, very interesting book that does a nice job illuminating the fact that an institution that frequently sounds and seems so monolithic was often quite indefinite. ...more
This is a very well-done introductory biography to the papacy of Innocent III, one of the most active and prominent of medieval popes. Moore is a goodThis is a very well-done introductory biography to the papacy of Innocent III, one of the most active and prominent of medieval popes. Moore is a good writer and he's very familiar with Innocent's letters and the papal registry in general.
One of the most interesting things about this book is its structure. Rather than take the usual route and organize the book thematically - a chapter on the fourth crusade, on Lateran IV, on relations with John and Philip Augustus, and on the Hohenstaufen/Welf rivalry, as examples - Moore organizes his work chronologically. This allots the book quite a bit of its dynamism, and the reader gets a great sense (especially in Innocent's first few years) of how insanely busy he was, dealing with crises and triumphs and reversals all over Europe, all happening at the same time. Similarly, it nicely illuminates the almost cyclical nature of Innocent's papacy, where a few years of repeated success would rather abruptly give way to repeated difficulties. It also, unfortunately, has the side effect of making the book feel occasionally superficial, as lots of issues get briefly touched upon and then summarily dropped as Moore has to move along with his narrative. There are also several rather long asides (such as a lengthy description of Gerald of Wales desperate appeal to obtain the bishopric of St. David's) that - while very interesting - are either not central enough to warrant such a prominent spot in a short-ish biography or not shown to be representative enough to work as a case study.
That said though, I think it works well as a biography, especially as an introductory one. Moore does a nice job of providing extensive quotations from Innocent's letters and sermons and he takes the time to consider Innocent's concern for scriptural exegesis and pastoral care instead of the typical focus solely on law and politics. It's a sympathetic portrayal of the pope, but Moore never allows it to slide across the line to hagiography. Definitely recommended. ...more
The study of the history of heresy is an exercise in imagination. It requires of the historian a near impossible task: to meticulously pick out the faThe study of the history of heresy is an exercise in imagination. It requires of the historian a near impossible task: to meticulously pick out the facts that are woven in with fictions, to figure out what in the sources were what men and women actually believed, and what was attributed to them by men and women who feared the impact of their ideas and were desperate to discredit them. It also requires an exercise in imagination to determine how and why these heresies could have arisen: a task that requires one to step into the shoes of regular medieval people, a notoriously undocumented group and sift through the infinite array of influences, hopes, and disappointments.
This is why studying heresy is hard, and why it's really interesting. It's also why it's very, very hard to write a textbook about medieval heresy: you'd have to touch on pretty much everything to do it comprehensively and satisfactorily. It would have to be an economic history, a history of folklore, a history of politics, and a history of theology (to name just a few).
Malcolm Lambert's book is not a bad textbook by any means, and if you want a broad survey of different heretical movements of the period, it's an excellent place to go (If you prefer primary documents, you can also head over to Heresies of the High Middle Ages). I've used it quite a few times over the years as a nice little encyclopedia of heresies, and I think that's how it works best. It does an especially nice job with the Waldensians and the Hussites.
But, maybe unsurprisingly, it feels a bit incomplete. There's nothing to really tie it together, except for a loose thread of emphasis on the failure of reform. The sections on the background in which these heresies emerged remains very cursory and contain some pretty broad generalizations. Most problematically, it can be a bit too accepting of its sources, often describing a heresy based largely on its inquisitorial record, a very difficult source to use. Modern historians of heresy like Mark Gregory Pegg will probably not be a fan of this methodology. But a lot of these problems are not really Lambert's fault, particularly in the context of writing a textbook: they're the result of asking tough questions and lacking the requisite number of places to go for answers. Lambert's book works as an answer to the question of what a lot more than to the question of why, and while that can be frustrating, it's also not necessarily a bad thing. In a lot of ways, this remains a very helpful book. ...more
I have a bit of an irrational love for this book, so maybe take that into consideration in regards to the 5-star rating. Or don't! This book is fantasI have a bit of an irrational love for this book, so maybe take that into consideration in regards to the 5-star rating. Or don't! This book is fantastic and totally deserving of 5 stars!
David Burr explores the history of the Franciscans Order after Francis, especially the escalating disagreements about precisely what the order meant and the debate over precisely what entailed Franciscan poverty. He explores how accusations of laxity grew into debates on what defined poverty, and how these debates grew into full-scale disputes, tinged with apocalyptic speculation, over obedience and authority. He also examines how the debate impacted lay piety in the area.
It's a really wonderful story, and Burr makes fascinating what would be dry in less capable hands. It's also rather fun to read as background if you're a fan of The Name of the Rose. Ubertino plays a starring role here, and Bernard Gui makes a cameo. Overall, Burr is careful with his sources, imaginative, empathetic, and a wonderful story-teller. He writes clearly and enjoyably. This book is a model for how historical scholarship should be done....more
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