The Investiture Controversy in the Diocese of Liège reconsidered. An Inquiry into the Positions of the Abbeys of Saint-Hubert and Saint-Laurent and the Canonist Alger of Liège (1091-1106) (original) (raw)
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There has been some debate regarding the evolution of the diocesan borders of Liège. 1 It is generally accepted that the diocese's territorial limits were based on the Civitas Tungrorum, a Roman province with the city of Tongeren as its capital. 2 The basic assumption in Liège's historiography is that the fixed, Late Medieval boundaries of the diocese had not changed since the Roman period. However, several authors have recently questioned the supposed continuity between Roman administrative divisions and Medieval bishoprics, using case studies from modern-day Europe and England. 3
Church History, 2013
An important element of monastic penance and conflict resolution was its repetitive, almost cyclical nature. The manuscripts that were used during these performances often proceed implicitly, which makes them difficult to contextualize and understand. This article considers a possible example of such “hidden” reconciliatory discourse in a manuscript that was produced for the congregation of St. Laurent in Liège around the turn of the eleventh century: Brussels, Royal Library 9361–9367. It examines the sin of pride in monastic dignitaries, discusses the best way to atone for it, and provides tools for the penitent to start living a more virtuous life in the future. The surviving evidence suggests that this manuscript was produced in reaction to the deeds of abbot Berenger, whose actions in 1095 were considered scandalous by contemporaries because he had led his monks into confusion and sin. The article shows how the combination of texts in this manuscript takes on a different meaning...
2016
From 925 onward, the archiepiscopal city of Reims became the stake of a prolonged and fierce struggle between the major dynasties that dominated the West-Frankish heartland. Until around 961, two claimants, each backed up by powerful secular magnates, disputed the right to the see. This article examines how two rival archbishops, Hugh (r. 925-31 and 940-46) and Artald (r. 931-940 and 946-61) responded to the political disturbance in their diocese through the administration and management of abbeys and canonries.
Liège in the Reformation: A City without Protestants?
Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, 1993
Not only did the city of Liège remain Catholic during the sixteenth century, it appears to have had no Protestant movement of any significance. Apart from one group of Protestants exiled in 1533, at the same time as another group made a public abjuration of heresy, Liège does not seem to have experienced any significant repression either. No case from the city of Liège is mentioned in Crespin's martyrology; even Bax's study of Protestantism in the diocese of Liège can cite no examples from the city itself. Thus Liège appears to be an exception to the rule of European, and especially northern European, cities. Was this apparent religious peace owing to strict control, tolerance, or indifference? What was the effect of Catholic reform in a city where no Protestantism existed? Unfortunately, no detailed study of the city or its experience of either Protestant or Catholic reform has yet been done. L.-E. Halkin's studies of the diocese and principality of Liège are now over fifty years old and have dealt with these questions almost entirely from an administrative point of view. The studies available do, however, raise questions that indicate the need for further research. The purpose of this paper is to review what is presently known of the city itself during this period and to establish the questions for further study. It is based on a thorough review of the available literature and some preliminary archival research. The questions proposed seek to place the proposed study of Liège in the Reformation within the context of recent studies of the Reformation in other European cities.
In his seminal book Religiöse Bewegungen im Mittelalter (1935) Herbert Grundmann studied what he called the religious movement of the twelfth and thirteenth century, a movement throughout Western Europe, inspired by ideals of poverty and the vita apostolica. He argued that this movement was met with suspicion in a Church increasingly intent upon regulating spirituality, in particular during the reign of Innocent III (1198-1216). As a result of this process of increasing ecclesiastical control, the movement diversified and religious fervor either became institutionalized -think for example of the new mendicant orders -or was branded as heretical. The religious ideals described by Grundmann thrived particularly well among women, thus adding a 'gender' complication to the process: the male dominated Church molded female spirituality and determined the framework within which this spirituality was permitted to exist.
Early Medieval Europe, 2020
At the end of the tenth century, two clerics laid claim to the archiepiscopal see of Reims: Arnulf of Reims and Gerbert of Aurillac. This episode constitutes an unprecedented opportunity to explore episcopal appointments, because of the survival of three lengthy narratives: the council acts of Saint-Basle (991), Gerbert’s letter collection and the Historiae of Richer of Reims. The primary goal of this article is to coax out the many parties involved in the decision-making process preceding an episcopal appointment as well as the multifaceted, volatile ties between these participants. This enables us to identify their strategies and motives beyond the dichotomy between Carolingian and Capetian royal power, and beyond formulaic records in narrative, diplomatic and epistolary sources that merely echo canon law.