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Conflicting expectations: Parish priests in late medieval Germany Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Dykema, Peter Alan, 1962- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 09/10/2021 02:30:12 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282607 INFORMATION TO USERS This manusoi^t has been reproduced firom the microfilin master. UMI films the text directfy firom the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in ^pewriter face, while others may be firom any type of computer printer. Hie qnali^ of this reprodaction is dqiendoit upon the qnali^ of rJie copy snbmitted. 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A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 Nonh Zeeb Road. Ann Afbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 CONFLICTING EXPECTATIONS: PARISH PRIESTS IN LATE MEDIEVAL GERMANY by Peter Alan Dykema Copyright ® Peter Alan Dykema 1998 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 9 8 DHX Number: 9829341 Copyright 1998 by Dykema, Peter Alan All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9829341 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Peter A. Dykearta entitled Conflicting Expec±ations: Parish Priests in Late Medieval Germany and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy I-A- ——. ^ ^ f ] Heiko A. Otserman Date , ' ^ c ^ Alan Bernstein Date — /11'i- Richard Cosgrove Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. / Afci kih) Dissertation Director „Heiko i A. Obennan Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special pemission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my thanks to a number of colleagues, friends, and family members who aided me and provided support during this difficult yet rewarding undertaking. Professor Heiko A. Oberman invested innumerable hours in this project, invariably with great enthusiasm. Together we debatted issues, pondered new directions, and sought always to craft a pleasing sentence. His expert advice and ready support have left a profound mark on this study and its author. I was helped to extend the scope of this project and sharpen further my analysis through conversations with scholars and friends alike. Special mention is due to Professors Alan Bernstein, Donald Weinstein, and Rolf Decot as well as to my long-time colleagues Robert Bast, Jeff Tyler, and Michael Milway. The fifteenth century is an amazing destination and I am proud to have had such fine traveling companions. Support for extended research in Europe was provided by the German Fulbright Commission, the Institut fur Europaische Geschichte in Mainz, and the University of Arizona. The explicit goal of such funding is to promote research; an implicit goal is to further cross-cultural understanding. I treasure the months spent in Tubingen, Mainz and Stuttgart. The opportunities I was afforded in each city could hardly have been imagined. I ventured into German towns said to be provincial but I met and was embraced by an open and international community of scholars and friends. Three women have walked with me during my arduous and exciting doctoral program. Carrie Grove, Marianne Mohr, and Rebecca Done have each contributed profoundly to this project in ways beyond the letters on the page. I thank them for their friendship. Finally, with deepest gratitude I wish to honor my parents. On my long road from the Midwest to the Southwest, to Europe and back, my parents blessed me by their example and encouraged me with their love. To them I dedicate the result of my labors. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 7 INTRODUCTION. ANTICLERICALISM AND THE SILENCED CLERGY: THE SEDUCTION OF HISTORIANS 9 A. From Anticlericalism to "Conflicting Expectations" 12 B. Preoccupation with Abuses and Corruption 3 0 C. The Social Network of the Parish Priest 42 D. Tracking the Lower Clergy 46 PART I. LOWER CLERGY IN THE DIOCESAN HIERARCHY 54 INTRODUCTION. INTERACTION BETWEEN PRIEST AND BISHOP ... 54 1. AUTHORITY AND RESISTANCE: THE DYNAMICS OF POWER IN THE DIOCESE OF CONSTANCE 59 A. From the Bishop to the Priest 60 B. Episcopal Taxation and "die gemeine Priesterschaft" 70 2. REFORM AND REACTION: THE DYNAMICS OF POWER IN SOUTHERN GERMAN DIOCESES 85 A. Diocesan Synods in the Fifteenth Century 86 B. Concubinage 100 PART II. INSTRUCTION AND EXPECTATIONS: THE PRAXIS OF PASTORAL CARE 118 3 . THE INSPIRATION OF LATERAN IV, THE VISION OF GERSON, AND THE MISSION OF CUSA 118 4. A "SIMPLE" MISUNDERSTANDING: THE MANUALS FOR PARISH PRIESTS 142 5. CRASH COURSE FOR THE EPISCOPAL EXAM: THE CURA PASTORALIS 165 6. THE CLERGY AT RISK: THE MANUALE PARROCHIALIUM SACERDOTUM 197 7. THE MANUALS FOR PARISH PRIESTS: ASSESSMENT 224 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Continued PART III. PERSPECTIVE FROM THE PARISH 8. PARISH RESOURCES AND TERRITORIAL DEMANDS: THE CASE OF WUERTTEMBERG 247 A. Patronage Rights, Patronage Fights 250 B. "Confessionalism" in the Fifteenth Century ... 258 C. A Territorial Model for the Secular Parish Clergy 263 9. TRACKS OF THE PARISH PRIEST: CLOSING THE DISTANCE . 277 CONCLUSION 298 APPENDIX A. MANUALS FOR PARISH PRIESTS: PRINTING AND RECEPTION HISTORY 303 WORKS CITED 314 A. Abbreviations 314 B. Unprinted Sources 317 C. Printed Sources 317 D. Secondary Literature 3 22 7 ABSTRACT This study investigates the expectations various groups in late medieval German society held of their parish priests and how these expectations were mediated through specific relationships. By analyzing the qualities, skills, duties and services required of the parish clergy by those in the priest's own social network--the episcopal and patronal structures above him and the parish and clerical communities around him--this study reveals the mutual obligations and contradictions inherent in the priest's situation. The strategies employed by individuals and groups to articulate and enforce their demands are examined as well as the means by which priests could negotiate or resist in order to protect their own interests. The result is a web of expectations, the individual strands of which are inspected in three major parts of the study, corresponding to the demands of the episcopal hierarchy, the intentions of a late medieval movement to educate the simple priest, and the perspective from the parish. In fifteenth-century Germany, the bishops of Constance sought to reduce their crushing debt by introducing new taxes upon the clergy of the diocese. The parish priests banded together and defied the bishop in 14 92, negotiating a payment favorable to them. Another source of revenue 8 directly contradicted diocesan law as bishops tolerated the presence of concubines among their priests in return for the payment of an annual fee. Manuals for parish priests were in high demand throughout the late medieval period; their popularity only increased after the invention of the printing press. Written to inform priests how to carry out their daily duties and avoid sacrilege, these manuals helped to steer the basic training of the parish priest toward a vocational profile combining the aura of the cultic priest with the standardized efficiency of the professional minister. Perspective from the parish encompasses the differing viewpoints of patron, priests and parishioners. The case of Wiirttemberg reveals how Count Eberhard {tl496) used parish resources in an attempt to reshape devotion in his lands. In towns and villages served by a number of priests, a local clerical brotherhood often existed alongside lay parish structures. Conflict and cooperation is measured both between the clergy and the laity as well as within the ranks of the priests themselves.