‘The king and the bishops have much to offer’: episcopal appointments and the legitimacy conflict over the archiepiscopal see of Reims (989–99) (original) (raw)
Related papers
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.
Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, 2018
When early medieval sources record the appointment of a new bishop, the authors occasionally provide extra information on the social, geographical, educational or ecclesiastical background of the appointee. These details were not randomly chosen, since they reflected ideas that emerged in the previous centuries and culminated in a disparate corpus of texts commonly referred to as 'canon law'. In this article, I shall take a closer look at the bishops in the church province of Rheims in the 'long' tenth century (between 888 and 1049). In particular, I will zoom in on one feature of the episcopal profile that frequently surfaces in narrative, diplomatic and epistolary sources: the pre-episcopal career. After a brief discussion of canonical prescriptions on the ecclesiastical career, I shall explore the functions the bishops exercised before their promotion to a see, in the secular clergy, in monastic milieus or at the royal court. Despite the traditional emphasis on a tenth-century 'church in the hands of the laity', this analysis demonstrates that canon law on the requirements for episcopal candidates was not necessarily disregarded. The sources representing the career of the studied bishops first and foremost paint a picture of continuity: deeply rooted in Late Antique, Merovingian and Carolingian developments, yet steadily transforming, pressed by local circumstances.
The Heythrop Journal, 2016
Michael Psellos was an eleventh century Byzantine philosopher, statesman and rhetorician, and, for his time, a pivotal exponent of Platonic philosophy. Though he is primarily known for his Chronographia, he wrote voluminously. '493 titles and 515 letters survive', Papaioannou tells us (250). In Chicago, IL Michael Rhodes Constructing Antichrist: Paul, Biblical Commentary, and the Development of Doctrine in the Early Middle Ages.
‘Robert of Jumièges, archbishop in exile (1052-1055)’, Anglo-Saxon England 42 (2013), 311-24
Archbishop Robert of Jumièges interests historians of Anglo-Saxon England chiefl y for his role in off ering the crown to William of Normandy and in the confl ict between King Edward and Earl Godwin in 1051-2. Before now, very little was known of his movements after his fl ight from England that September, but the discovery of an early source placing him in Paris casts new light on his activities. Part 1 examines the source and proposes a date for the event Robert attended. Part 2 challenges current perceptions of his career and off ers a new interpretation of its signifi cance in view of his movements in exile. Robert of Jumièges has commanded attention for his role as King Edward's chief advisor and leader of a French/ Norman faction at court, whose infl uence fuelled confl ict between the king and his powerful in-laws, Earl Godwin's family. 2 In 1051, this confl ict would break into crisis, but not before Robert attained the very highest offi ce. Formerly prior of Saint-Ouen, in Rouen, and abbot of the ducal monastery of Jumièges from 1037, he was promoted to the see of London in 1044 or 1045, and elevated to Canterbury probably in March 1051. This would seem to have been a fateful year, for the defence proposed by two Norman ducal biographers, William of Jumièges and William of Poitiers, against the charge that, in 1066, Duke William slew an anointed king and usurped his throne, involved the detail that King Edward had sent Archbishop Robert to appoint the duke his heir. 3 Although it derives from 1 The dates in the title apply to Robert's career in exile. If they cause confusion because scholars in the past have dated his death to 1052, I hope, by the end of this article, the reader will deem them defensible. 2 Neither E. A. Freeman nor anyone since has found much reason to discuss Robert's career. Biographical notes and commentary can be found in H.