Description
Book SynopsisAn investigation into the role of the high-ranking churchman in this period - who they were, what they did, and how they perceived themselves. High ecclesiastical office in the Middle Ages inevitably brought power, wealth and patronage. The essays in this volume examine how late medieval and Renaissance prelates deployed the income and influence of their offices, how they understood their role, and how they were viewed by others. Focusing primarily on but not exclusively confined to England, this collection explores the considerable common ground between cardinals, bishops and monastic superiors.Leading authorities on the late medieval and sixteenth-century Church analyse the political, cultural and pastoral activities of high-ranking churchmen, and consider how episcopal and abbatial expenditure was directed, justifiedand perceived. Overall, the collection enhances our understanding of ecclesiastical wealth and power in an era when the concept and role of the prelate were increasingly contested. Dr Martin Heale is Senior Lecturer inLate Medieval History, University of Liverpool. Contributors: Martin Heale, Michael Carter, James G. Clark, Gwilym Dodd, Felicity Heal, Anne Hudson, Emilia Jamroziak, Cédric Michon, Elizabeth A. New, Wendy Scase, Benjamin Thompson, C.M. Woolgar
Trade ReviewAttractively produced and illustrated, this volume helps to fill a scholarly gap in the study of the higher clergy of the late-medieval period and will hopefully act as a stimulus to further research. * CHURCH MONUMENTS *
A fine book full of serious thinking about prelates and the world they inhabited. * ARCHIVES *
Congratulations are due to the York Medieval Press and the Boydell Press for a well-produced volume that makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of the high-flying clergy of late medieval and early modern England and Europe. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *
Table of ContentsIntroduction - Martin Heale The Clerical Chancellors of Late Medieval England - Gwilym Dodd Prelates and the Alien Priories - Benjamin Thompson Cardinals in the Court of Francis I - Cédric Michon An Abbot and His Books in Late Medieval and Pre-Reformation England - James G. Clark Prelates and the Provision of Books: Bishop John Carpenter's Carnary Library - Wendy Scase The Bishops and the Printers: Henry VII to Elizabeth - Felicity M Heal Treasure, Material Possessions and the Bishops of Late Medieval England - Christopher Woolgar Episcopal Embodiment: the Tombs and Seals of Bishops in Medieval England and Wales - Elizabeth A. New Cistercian Abbots as Patrons of Art and Architecture: Northern England in the Late Middle Ages - Michael Carter Cistercian Abbots in Late Medieval Central Europe: Between the Cloister and the World - Emilia Jamroziak Monastic Attitudes to Abbatial Magnificence in Late Medieval England - Martin Heale Lollard Views on Prelates - Anne Hudson
