Description
Book SynopsisThese accessible translations of papal documents from Late Antiquity offer a new understanding of attitudes towards key religious issues within canon law. Most papal documents were responses to questions from bishops, and not initiated from Rome. Papal Jurisprudence, c.400 reveals what bishops were asking, and why the replies mattered.
Trade Review'The history of the papacy in the early Middle Ages is plagued with conflicting scholarly interpretations of its role, importance, and doctrines. David L. d'Avray has written a masterfully lucid analysis of the first papal letters, papal authority and institutions, and the problems the bishops of Rome faced as they strove to create a universal set of norms for the church.' Ken Pennington, Catholic University of America
'It is a superb book.' Kenneth Pennington, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies
'… d'Avray's book provides important insights for scholars and students of the medieval Church. It shows the importance of the fifth century as a formative period, when papal jurisprudence took shape as the result of the exchange of letters between popes and bishops.' Barbara Bombi, English Historical Review
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Abbreviations; Manuscript sigla; 1. Introduction; 2. State of research: Caspar and after; 3. Texts and manuscripts; 4. Rituals and liturgy; 5. Status hierarchy; 6. Hierarchy of authority; 7. Celibacy; 8. 'Bigamy'; 9. Marriage; 10. Monks and the secular clergy; 11. Heretics: Novatians, Bonosians, and Photinians; 12. Heretics: in the shadow of St Augustine; 13. Penance; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.
