Dubius in fide fidelis est? Doubt and Assurance in Late Medieval Catholicism

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 186-202
Author(s):  
Robert N. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Definitive Statement ◽  
The Church

The canon law dictum that ‘dubius in fide infidelis est’ offers a seemingly definitive statement on the place of doubt and uncertainty in medieval Catholicism. Yet where Catholic teaching was open to question, doubt was inseparable from faith, not merely as its obverse but as part of the process of achieving faithfulness – the trajectory outlined by Abelard in the twelfth century. The challenge for the Church was not that doubters lacked faith, but that having tested their doubts they might end up with the wrong faith: doubt preceded assurance, one way or the other. That problem is addressed in this essay by a broad examination of the ties between faith and doubt across the late Middle Ages (from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries), arguing that uncertainty and doubt were almost unavoidable in medieval Catholicism. As the starting points in a process which could lead to heresy and despair, they also had a positive role in developing and securing orthodox faith.

Knights, Cooks, Monks and Tourists: Elite and Popular Experience of the Late-Medieval Jerusalem Pilgrimage

2006 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 99-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryne Beebe
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Popular Interest ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Church

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the late Middle Ages was the centre of a range of pilgrimage activity in which elite and popular beliefs and practices overlapped and complicated each other in exciting ways. The Jerusalem pilgrimage, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in particular, abounded in multiple levels of ‘elite’ and ‘popular’ experience. Through the pilgrimage writings of a fifteenth-century Dominican pilgrim named Felix Fabri, this paper will explore two specific levels: the distinction between noble and lower-class experiences of the Jerusalem pilgrimage (both physical and spiritual), and the distinction between spiritually ‘elite’ and ‘popular’ conceptions of pilgrimage itself – that uneasy balance between the spiritually-sophisticated, contemplative experience of pilgrimage promoted by St Jerome and the more ‘popular’ interest in traditional ‘tourist’ activities, such as gathering indulgences or stocking up on holy souvenirs and relics to take home. However, as we will see, even these tourist acts were grounded in the orthodox spirituality of late-medieval piety, and the elite and popular experiences of pilgrimage, whether social or spiritual, were not so distinct as they may first appear.

The Garden

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mailan S. Doquang
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
The Church

This section addresses the use of real plants in medieval churches from the Early Christian period to the Late Middle Ages. It demonstrates that living vegetation was a key aspect of the church experience, notably during the consecration rite, the Easter liturgy, and on other special occasions, such as baptisms, weddings, and the feast days of certain saints. Late medieval documents from the church of Saint-Mary-at-Hill in London reveal that live plants were a consistent expense for clerical communities. Alongside sculpted flora, real plants heightened the presence of the organic in sacred architectural contexts, while also engaging different sensory modalities.

Virtual Segments: The Hexachordal System in the Late Middle Ages

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEFANO MENGOZZI
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Music Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sight Singing ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Music ◽  
Basic Distinction ◽  
Medieval Music Theory

ABSTRACT Music-theoretical writings from the 13th to the 15th centuries maintained a basic distinction between two types of major sixth, customarily labeled hexachordum and deductio (or proprietas). The term hexachordum, more frequently called tonus (or semitonus) cum diapente, designated the interval of a major of minor sixth, frequently expressed by pitch letters only (such as G-e and A-F) and discussed independently of Guidonian solmization. On the other hand, proprietas and deductio indicated a ““virtual segment”” (the set of six syllables ut-la) that could be employed for the purpose of sight singing. Neither set challenged the conceptual primacy of the seven claves, expressed by the letters A-G. Hexachordum was routinely described as a portion of the octave, and the late-medieval notion of proprietas still reflected the principle of octave duplication, which had regulated musical practice since pre-Guidonian times. The ““two-tier”” model of diatonic space encountered in medieval music theory, based on the superimposition of Guido's six syllables onto the seven pitch letters, came to an end in the late 15th century, when authors such as Ramos de Pareja and Franchino Gafori began describing the Guidonian deductio——which they called hexachordum——as the primary mode of organization of the gamut that had superseded the Greek tetrachordum.

“Clandestine” Marriage in the Later Middle Ages: A Reply

1992 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Donahue
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
Marriage Customs ◽  
The Church

Andrew J. Finch has taken issue in these pages with my interpretation of “clandestine” marriage in the later Middle Ages. He is certainly correct that the phenomenon of “clandestine” marriage in the high and late Middle Ages cannot be given a single explanation. As I said in the first piece that I wrote on the topic: “The cases provide evidence for the proposition that some people were genuinely confused about to whom they were married; that the Alexandrine rules were being used to defraud the innocent; and that they were being used by people to get out of marriages which had become intolerable for reasons quite unrelated to the Alexandrine rules.” And again: “while the reasons why the parties chose to marry informally rather than solemnly is in many cases obscure, there are some cases in which we may conclude that the parties chose informal marriage in order to escape pressure from their families or lords. Howard… and Homans… both suggest that the reason for informal marriage is that the Church was unable to enforce her rules on the ingrained marriage customs of the people. Turlan…, on the other hand, sees as I do informal marriage as a way of escaping both family and ecclesiastical pressure. The two views are not necessarily inconsistent. Varying motivations may have played a part in different places and times and among different individuals.”

Pastoral Power and Algorithmic Governmentality

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Pastoral Power ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
The One

This paper contributes to inquiries into the genealogy of governmentality and the nature of secularization by arguing that pastoralism continues to operate in the algorithmic register. Drawing on Agamben’s notion of signature, I elucidate a pair of historically distant yet archaeologically proximate affinities: the first between the pastorate and algorithmic control, and the second between the absconded God of late medieval nominalism and the authority of algorithms in the cybernetic age. I support my hypothesis by attending to the signaturial kinships between, on the one hand, temporality and authority in our contemporary conjuncture, and, on the other, obedience and submission in Christian thought from late antiquity and the late Middle Ages. I thereby illustrate the hidden genealogical continuities between theological-pastoral technologies of power and technocratic-algorithmic modalities of governance. I conclude by suggesting that medieval counter-conducts may be redeployed in our present circumstances for emancipatory ends.

William Lyndwood and the Provinciale: Canon Law in an Undivided Western Church

1997 ◽  
Vol 4 (20) ◽  
pp. 615-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. E. Ferme
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Short Distance ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
The Church

Anyone coming across the fourteenth-century church of St Cornelius in Lyndewode, now Linwood, a short distance from the Lincolnshire town of Market Rasen, is struck by its stark isolation—it virtually stands alone in fields. Anyone entering the church will most likely be struck by two interesting objects which have some bearing on this lecture. The first, at the west end of the north aisle, are two fine excellently preserved brasses, both of wool men. They had clearly prospered in the economic development of Lincolnshire in the later middle ages. One of these brasses is of John Lyndwood, who died in 1419, with his wife, four sons and three daughters under smaller canopies. The other represents another John Lyndwood, the son of the former, who died in 1421.

als etlich kristen lüt … mit dien Juden getantzet hant

Aschkenas ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus J. Wenninger
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Moral Reasons ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
High Middle Ages ◽  
Provincial Councils ◽  
Anti Jewish ◽  
The Church

AbstractBased on the debate about the murals in the Jewish house »Zum Brunnenhof« in Zurich this essay discusses whether or not Christian participation in Jewish festivals was unusual and prohibited or normal in the Middle Ages. Following an outline of the relevant legal aspects – there were, up to the High Middle Ages, only occasional decrees from provincial councils that banned Christians from eating and celebrating with Jews; only from the twelfth century onwards were such bans included in the general canon law, while they were never part of secular legislation – the main part of this investigation focuses on actual reports of Christians attending Jewish festivals. These were mainly weddings, but there are also reports of Christians participating in Purim or other celebrations. Most relevant descriptions come from Germany, one from England, where the Bishop of Hereford 1286 took exception to the participation of Christians in a Jewish wedding, threatening with excommunication in an attempt to stop such behaviour. In Germany it was mostly a matter of municipal authorities punishing the dancing of Christians on days of fasting or religious holidays for moral reasons. But even in the increasingly anti-Jewish late Middle Ages, and in spite of the restrictions imposed by the church, nobody really minded the participation of Christians in Jewish festivals as such. In conclusion, various questions are being discussed which arise for the historian in connection with the participation of Christians in Jewish festivals and vice versa.

Mary Harvey Doyno, The Lay Saint: Charity and Charismatic Authority in Medieval Italy, 1150–1350. Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press, 2019, 9 b/w ill.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 511-512
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Cornell University ◽  
Medieval Italy ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Charismatic Authority ◽  
The Church

While lay spirituality and even sanctity in Northern Europe found its common expression in beguines or beguards, in Humilitati or Flagellants during the late Middle Ages, in Italy a different phenomenon emerged since the twelfth century, with lay saints being recognized by the urban communities and even by the Church. Mary Harvey Doyno here presents a detailed discussion of the large number of those saints, whose vitae and legends she studies in a number of chapters, trying to establish a historical analysis explaining the development of this phenomenon.

Holy Land or Holy Lands? Palestine and the Catholic West in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance

2000 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 228-249
Author(s):  
Norman Housley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Electrical Charge ◽  
Holy Land ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Physical Setting ◽  
The Status ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Church

In one passage in his famous account, Friar Felix Faber described how ‘some dull and unprofitable pilgrims’ to Jerusalem in 1480 mocked the excited behaviour of the devout in the courtyard in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, ‘calling them fools, hypocrites and Beghards’. The incident is revealing of the spectrum of reactions provoked by the experience of the Holy Land in late medieval and Renaissance Europe. Here more than anywhere else, tension was generated by the inescapable paradox of Christology, God become man, and the conflicts which it set up between the immanent and the representational, the universal and the elect, the eschatological and the timeless. This occurred, moreover, within a physical setting which constantly reminded the sensitive pilgrim of the difficulty of reconciling the Old and New Dispensations. But the same electrical charge which caused the Holy Land as sacred space to provoke diverse and at times contradictory responses, endowed the Holy Land as idea with a remarkable attraction. There took place a number of different ‘migrations of the holy’, to use John Bossy’s phrase. To a large extent the status of the geographical Holy Land was weakened by these developments, but in at least one respect it was strengthened.

Claire Taylor Jones, Ruling the Spirit: Women, Liturgy, and Dominican Reform in Late Medieval Germany. The Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018, pp. viii, 224.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 432-432
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Germany ◽  
The One ◽  
Late Medieval Germany ◽  
Careful Assessment

The interaction between mystically inspired beguines and nuns on the one hand and the friars as their confessors, on the other, that is, the male authorities in the late Middle Ages, certainly requires careful assessment because many different factors come into play here. In her monograph, Claire Taylor Jones pursues a host of different aspects pertaining to this complex issue in order to gain a grasp of those female writers particularly in the female Dominican monasteries in the Southwest of Germany and their male colleagues, or spiritual confessors, especially Heinrich Seuse and Johannes Tauler. She draws heavily from the Nuremberg Dominican convent of St. Katherine’s library (15th century), but this actually depends on the various chapters included here. It becomes very clear, however, that the notion of women’s lack of Latin needs to be reviewed carefully considering that that library contained ca. 726 manuscripts, of which 161 were in Latin.

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