Patterns of Episcopal Power: Bishops in Tenth and Eleventh Century Western Europe

Description

Proceedings of a workshop held in Apr. 2009 at the University of Bayreuth and of a session of the International Medieval Congress held in July 2009 in Leeds, England. In medieval Europe, the death of a king could not only cause a dispute about the succession, but also a severe crisis. In times of a vacant throne particular responsibility fell to the bishops - whose general importance for the time around the first milennium has been revealed by recent scholarship - as royal counsellors and policy makers. This volume therefore concentrates on the bishops' room for manoeuvre and the patterns of episcopal power, focusing on the Eastern Frankish Reich and Anglo-Saxon England in a comparative approach which is not least based upon the research of a renowned medievalist, Timothy Reuter. His article about "A Europe of Bishops" ("Ein Europa der Bischöfe") is presented in English translation for the first time. Title Preface Contents List of Abbreviations Ludger Körntgen. Introduction Timothy Reuter. A Europe of Bishops: The Age of Wulfstan of York and Burchard of Worms Monika Suchan. Monition and Advice as Elements of Politics Theo Riches. The Changing Political Horizons of "gesta episcoporum" from the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries Ernst-Dieter Hehl. Bedrängte und belohnte Bischöfe: Recht und Politik als Parameter bischöflichen Handelns bei Willigis von Mainz und anderen Dominik Waßenhoven. Swaying Bishops and the Succession of Kings Catherine Cubitt. Bishops and Succession Crises in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century England Pauline Stafford. Royal Women and Transitions: Emma and Ælfgifu in 1035–1042/1043 Joyce Hill. Two Anglo-Saxon Bishops at Work: Wulfstan, Leofric and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 190 Selective Bibliography on Bishops in Medieval Europe, from 1980 to the present day List of Contributors