Western society and the Church in the Middle Ages

Bibliographic Information

Western society and the Church in the Middle Ages

R.W. Southern

(Penguin books)(The Penguin history of the church, v. 2)

Penguin Books, 1990

Search this Book/Journal
Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The history of the Western church in the Middle Ages is the history of the most elaborate and thoroughly integrated system of religious thought and practice the world has ever known. It is also the history of European society during eight hundred years of sometimes rapid change. This authoritative history shows how the concept of an organized human society, both religious and secular, as an expression of a divinely ordered universe, was central to medieval thought. Professor R. W. Southern's book covers the period from the eighth to the sixteenth century, highlighting the main features of each medieval age and studying the Papacy, the relations between Rome and her rival Constantinople, the bishops and archbishops and the various religious orders in detail, providing a superb study of the period.

Table of Contents

Preface List of Abbreviations 1. Church and Society 2. The Divisions of Time I. The Primitive Age, c. 700-c. 1050 II. The Age of Growth, c. 1050-c. 1300 The main development The rise and limits of clerical supremacy The positive achievement III. The Age of Unrest, c. 1300-c. 1550 The changing environment Political change and reaction 3. The Divisions of Christendom I. The Seeds of Disunity Divergent habits Political separation Doctrinal differences II. The Two Churches III. The Search for Reunion The military way The political package deal The way of understanding Regression 4. The Papacy I. The Primitive Age, c. 700-c. 1050 The Vicar of St. Peter The supreme temporal lord II. The Age of Growth, c. 1050-c. 1300 The Vicar of Christ The growth of business The primacy and temporal power The lawyer-popes III. The Inflationary Spiral, c. 1300-c. 1520 Indulgences International politics The struggle for benefices 5. Bishops and Archbishops I. The Carolingian Church Order and Its Break-Up The formation of a bishop The break-up of the Carolingian ideal II. Bishops in the Service of the Pope An archbishop in northern France An archbishop in England A bishop in Germany An episcopal family in northern Italy 6. The Religious Orders I. The Benedictines The Rule The centuries of greatness Change and decay II. The New Orders The Augustinian canons The Cistercians III. The Friars The environment Aims and origins Growth and achievement 7. Fringe Orders and Anti-Orders I. The General Environment The behaviour of crowds The influence of women in religious life II. A Confusion of Tongues The beguines of Cologne The religious brethren of Deventer and its neighbourhood Epilogue List of Popes, 590-153Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Related Books: 1-2 of 2
Details
Page Top