Description
This important study of episcopal office and clerical identity in a socially and culturally dynamic region of medieval Europe examines the construction and representation of episcopal power and authority in the archdiocese of Reims during the sometimes turbulent century between 1050 and 1150. Drawing on a wide range of diplomatic, hagiographical, epistolary and other narrative sources, John S. Ott considers how bishops conceived of, and projected, their authority collectively and individually. In examining episcopal professional identities and notions of office, he explores how prelates used textual production and their physical landscapes to craft historical narratives and consolidate local and regional memories around ideals that established themselves as not only religious authorities but also cultural arbiters. This study reveals that, far from being reactive and hostile to cultural and religious change, bishops regularly grappled with and sought to affect, positively and to their advantage, new and emerging cultural and religious norms.
Table of Contents
1. The bishop and his authority; 2. Becoming bishop: clerical culture and episcopal formation in the archdiocese of Reims around 1100; 3. Restless flocks: the challenges to episcopal authority; 4. Band of brothers: episcopal networks in the archdiocese of Reims; 5. Personal histories: the revival of archiepiscopal historiography at Reims in the eleventh century; 6. Sanctity and history in a border diocese: the vita of Lietbert of Cambrai (1051–76); 7. Urban space, memory, and episcopal authority: the bishops of Amiens in peace and conflict, 1073–1164; 8. Bishops and the word; 9. Toil and togetherness in the vineyards of the Lord; 10. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
