DOCSLIB.ORG

The Art of the Question in Late Medieval England

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Art of the Question in Late Medieval England University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2018 The Art Of The Question In Late Medieval England Erika Dawn Harman University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Harman, Erika Dawn, "The Art Of The Question In Late Medieval England" (2018). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2915. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2915 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2915 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Art Of The Question In Late Medieval England Abstract This project uncovers the unwritten rules of the interrogative which acted as arbiters of power in religious discourse between 1300 and 1450. The central claim of the project is that scenes of question-asking dramatize the convergence of conflicting cultural and intellectual investments, as lay people leverage questions to negotiate social position, spiritual authority, and access to knowledge. Viewed as intersections between lay education and clerical learnedness, questions show how late medieval authors incorporated contemporary social concerns about the development of an educated laity. Despite the role of the interrogative in both communicating the laity’s aspirations for religious knowledge and reifying social barriers that denied them such access, there has been no extended study published on questions in Middle English literature. Individual chapters approach questioning through the clerical resources harnessed to address the laity’s demand for religious knowledge, including rhetoric, grammatical thought, and techniques of scholastic disputation. Each chapter examines a genre which represents an intersection between lay education and clerical learnedness: devotional guides such as those by Richard Rolle, Lollard tracts, lyrics, sermons, and elementary textbooks. The writtenness of medieval texts obscures the exigent desire expressed by the laity’s spoken questions, as in Piers Plowman when Will intercepts everyone he encounters to ask where to find the good life. I combine theories from pragmatics with literary analysis to reanimate the conversational, as opposed to purely textual, significance of these questions. In doing so, I bring ogethert linguistic and literary techniques to reveal fundamental assumptions about language use which marked social groups and united religious movements. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group English First Advisor Rita Copeland Second Advisor Emily Steiner Keywords British Literature, Medieval Literature, Question and Answer, Religious Education Subject Categories Linguistics This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2915 THE ART OF THE QUESTION IN LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND Erika D. Harman A DISSERTATION in English Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 Supervisor of Dissertation Co-Supervisor of Dissertation __________________________ __________________________ Rita Copeland Emily Steiner Sheli Z. and Burton X. Rosenberg Professor of English Professor of Humanities Graduate Group Chairperson __________________________ David L. Eng, Richard L. Fisher Professor of English Dissertation Committee David Wallace, Judith Rodin Professor of English THE ART OF THE QUESTION IN LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND COPYRIGHT 2018 Erika Dawn Harman ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project represents the investments of a great many people who have encouraged me in the writing process. I am thankful to the University of Pennsylvania English Department for supporting my coursework and scholarship, including travel to the British Library in London, Cambridge University Library, and the Bodleian Library in Oxford to conduct manuscript research. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my committee members, Rita Copeland, Emily Steiner, and David Wallace. Rita generously shared her vast wealth of information about medieval universities and guided my engagement with Latin commentaries and sermons. Emily’s advice was invaluable in helping me to refine my early ideas and shape the project; I hope the end result does justice to Emily’s characteristic enthusiasm for the style and performativity of the most unlikely Middle English prose texts. David’s ear for the resonances of Latin and vernacular speech taught me to nuance my readings of the Middle English texts and enriched many of my translations. I could not have weathered the many challenges of graduate school without my excellent support network. Thanks are due especially to my friends in Philadelphia for the generous gifts of encouragement, food, lodging, and companionship that enabled me to complete this project and made Philly feel like home. My parents, Ripley and Barbara Smith, taught me by example how to work hard and strive for excellence. They have cheered me on at every step and encouraged me with their unconditional love. Finally, my deepest thanks go to my husband and closest friend, Christopher, whose keen insights always sharpen my thinking. Unwavering in his support, Christopher’s confidence in me lifted my spirits, and his company brought me joy. iii ABSTRACT THE ART OF THE QUESTION IN LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND Erika Harman Rita Copeland Emily Steiner This project uncovers the unwritten rules of the interrogative which acted as arbiters of power in religious discourse between 1300 and 1450. The central claim of the project is that scenes of question-asking dramatize the convergence of conflicting cultural and intellectual investments, as lay people leverage questions to negotiate social position, spiritual authority, and access to knowledge. Viewed as intersections between lay education and clerical learnedness, questions show how late medieval authors incorporated contemporary social concerns about the development of an educated laity. Despite the role of the interrogative in both communicating the laity’s aspirations for religious knowledge and reifying social barriers that denied them such access, there has been no extended study published on questions in Middle English literature. Individual chapters approach questioning through the clerical resources harnessed to address the laity’s demand for religious knowledge, including rhetoric, grammatical thought, and techniques of scholastic disputation. Each chapter examines a genre which represents an intersection between lay education and clerical learnedness: devotional guides such as those by Richard Rolle, Lollard tracts, lyrics, sermons, and elementary textbooks. The writtenness of medieval texts obscures the exigent desire expressed by the laity’s spoken questions, as in Piers Plowman when Will intercepts everyone he encounters to ask where to find the good life. I combine theories from pragmatics with literary analysis to iv reanimate the conversational, as opposed to purely textual, significance of these questions. In doing so, I bring together linguistic and literary techniques to reveal fundamental assumptions about language use which marked social groups and united religious movements. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iv List of Illustrations ........................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1 How to Read a Question ............................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER I: The Grammar in Question .....................................................................17 Theorizing Question Form ............................................................................................ 22 The English Word that Answers the Question .............................................................. 37 Apposing and Its Discontents ....................................................................................... 47 Concluding the Masters ................................................................................................ 69 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER II: Evasive Maneuvers: Inquisitio and the Lollards ................................92 Expecting charité .......................................................................................................... 96 Lollards’ Inappropriate Questions .............................................................................. 109 Lollards’ Evasive Answers ......................................................................................... 129 Langland’s Dialogues ................................................................................................. 145 CHAPTER III: Disputing in the Parish.......................................................................150 A Brief Account of Quodlibetal Disputation .............................................................. 162 Pleasures of Asking “Why” ........................................................................................ 167 Cautionary Tales ........................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Just As the Priests Have Their Wives”: Priests and Concubines in England, 1375-1549
    “JUST AS THE PRIESTS HAVE THEIR WIVES”: PRIESTS AND CONCUBINES IN ENGLAND, 1375-1549 Janelle Werner A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2009 Approved by: Advisor: Professor Judith M. Bennett Reader: Professor Stanley Chojnacki Reader: Professor Barbara J. Harris Reader: Cynthia B. Herrup Reader: Brett Whalen © 2009 Janelle Werner ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT JANELLE WERNER: “Just As the Priests Have Their Wives”: Priests and Concubines in England, 1375-1549 (Under the direction of Judith M. Bennett) This project – the first in-depth analysis of clerical concubinage in medieval England – examines cultural perceptions of clerical sexual misbehavior as well as the lived experiences of priests, concubines, and their children. Although much has been written on the imposition of priestly celibacy during the Gregorian Reform and on its rejection during the Reformation, the history of clerical concubinage between these two watersheds has remained largely unstudied. My analysis is based primarily on archival records from Hereford, a diocese in the West Midlands that incorporated both English- and Welsh-speaking parishes and combines the quantitative analysis of documentary evidence with a close reading of pastoral and popular literature. Drawing on an episcopal visitation from 1397, the act books of the consistory court, and bishops’ registers, I argue that clerical concubinage occurred as frequently in England as elsewhere in late medieval Europe and that priests and their concubines were, to some extent, socially and culturally accepted in late medieval England.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mayor and Early Lollard Dissemination
    University of Central Florida STARS HIM 1990-2015 2012 The mayor and early Lollard dissemination Angel Gomez University of Central Florida Part of the Medieval History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015 University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIM 1990-2015 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Gomez, Angel, "The mayor and early Lollard dissemination" (2012). HIM 1990-2015. 1774. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015/1774 THE MAYOR AND EARLY LOLLARD DISSEMINATION by ANGEL GOMEZ A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honors in the Major Program in History in the College of Arts and Humanities and in The Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2012 Thesis Chair: Dr. Emily Graham Abstract During the fourteenth century in England there began a movement referred to as Lollardy. Throughout history, Lollardy has been viewed as a precursor to the Protestant Reformation. There has been a long ongoing debate among scholars trying to identify the extent of Lollard beliefs among the English. Attempting to identify who was a Lollard has often led historians to look at the trial records of those accused of being Lollards. One aspect overlooked in these studies is the role civic authorities, like the mayor of a town, played in the heresy trials of suspected Lollards.
    [Show full text]
  • The Spirit in the Liturgy by 2020, It Is Estimated That 41 Million of All U.S
    NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of PASTORAL MUSICIANS PASTORAL March 2011 Music The Spirit in the Liturgy By 2020, it is estimated that 41 million of all U.S. Catholics will be Hispanic. 41million Are you ready to serve the worship needs of the fastest-growing segment in the Church? Join over two-thirds of the U.S. Catholic churches who turn to OCP for missals and hymnals to engage, unite and inspire their assembly in worship. 1-800-LITURGY (548-8749) | OCP.ORG NPM-January 2011:Layout 1 11/18/10 1:29 PM Page 1 Peter’s Way Tours Inc. Specializing in Custom Performance Tours and Pilgrimages Travel with the leader, as choirs have done for more than 25 years! This could be Preview a Choir Tour! ROME, ASSISI, VATICAN CITY your choir in Rome! Roman Polyphony JANUARY 19 - 26, 2012 • $795 (plus tax) HOLY LAND - Songs of Scriptures JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 4, 2012 • $1,095 (plus tax) IRELAND - Land of Saints and Scholars FEBRUARY 14 - 20, 2012 • $995/$550* (plus tax) Continuing Education Programs for Music Directors Enjoy these specially designed programs at substantially reduced rates. Refundable from New York when you return with your own choir! *Special Price by invitation to directors bringing their choir within two years. 500 North Broadway • Suite 221 • Jericho, NY 11753 New York Office: 1-800-225-7662 Special dinner with our American and Peter’s Way Tours Inc. ERuerqopueeasnt Pau berio Ccahnutorere:s A gnronueptste a@llopweitnegr sfowr aysales.com Visit us at: www.petersway.com or call Midwest Office: 1-800-443-6018 positions have a responsibility to learn as much as we can about the new translation before we begin leading others to sing and pray with these new words.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation
    The Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation 1 THE OFFICE FOR RECEIVING THOSE COMING TO THE ORTHODOX CHURCH FROM THE ANGLICAN CONFESSION The Priest shall stand at the doors of the church in epitrachelion and phelonion. And he questions the one converting to the Orthodox faith, saying: Priest: Do you wish to renounce the transgressions and errors of the Anglican Confession? Convert: I do. Priest: Do you wish to enter into union with the Orthodox-Catholic Faith? Convert: I do. Then the Priest blesses him (her), making the sign of the Cross with his right hand, saying: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And laying his hand upon the bowed head of the convert, he recites the following prayer: Deacon: Let us pray to the Lord. Choir: Lord, have mercy. Priest: O Lord, God of truth, look down upon Thy servant (handmaiden), N., who seeks to make haste unto Thy Holy Orthodox Church, and to take refuge under her shelter. Turn him (her) from his (her) former error to the path of true faith in Thee, and grant him (her) to walk in all Thy commandments. Let Thine eyes ever look down upon him (her) with mercy, and let Thine ears hearken unto the voice of his (her) supplication, that he (she) may be numbered with Thine elect flock. For all the Powers of Heaven hymn Thee, and Thine is the glory: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.
    [Show full text]
  • Cycle B Lectionary
    FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT First Reading: Isaiah 63:16-17, 64:1-8 A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. You, YHWH , are our mother and father; “Our Redeemer Forever” is your name. YHWH , why do you let us wander from your ways and let our hearts grow too hard to revere you? Return to us for the sake of your children, the tribes of your heritage! Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would shake before you! As fire kindles the brushwood and the fire makes water boil, make your Name known to your adversaries, and let the nations tremble before you! When you did awesome things that we could not have expected, you came down, and the mountains quaked in your presence! From ages past no ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen any God but you intervening for those who wait for you! Oh, that you would find us doing right, that we would be mindful of you in our ways! You are angry because we are sinful; we sinned for so long — how can we be saved? All of us became unclean and soiled, even our good deeds are polluted. We have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. No one calls upon your Name, there are none who cling to you, for you hid your face from us and delivered us into the hands of our sins. Yet, you are our mother and father, YHWH ; we are the clay and you are the potter, we are all the work of your hands.
    [Show full text]
  • Millennium Development Goals (Mdgs) Needs Assessment
    Investing in the Sustainable Development of the Dominican Republic: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Needs Assessment Anexar Logos de COPDES, ONU-RD, ONAPLAN, Proyecto del Milenio (tenemos que asegurar que los logos de COPDES y ONU-RD están en Inglés, logo de ONAPLAN solo existe en español y logo de Proyecto del Milenio solo existe en Inglés) 2 Copyright © 2005 Presidential Commission on the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development (COPDES) and the United Nations Country Team in the Dominican Republic (UNCT) All Rights Reserved www.copdes.gov.do www.onu.org.do 3 Contents Prologue – H.E. Dr. Leonel Fernandez, President of the Dominican Republic i Preface – Mr. Niky Fabiancic, United Nations Resident Coordinator in the ii Dominican Republic Presentation – Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the U.N. Millennium Project and iii Special Advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Millennium Development Goals and Targets iii I. Introduction 00 II. Working Methodology 00 III. National Situation 00 IV. Interventions and Investments for Achieving the Millennium Development 00 Goals 1. Combating Hunger and Malnutrition 00 2. Education 00 3. Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment 00 4. Health and HIV-AIDS 00 5. Environment 00 6. Infrastructure 00 V. Conclusion: The Millennium Development Goals and their viability in the 33 Dominican Republic ___________________________________________________________________ Annexes Matrices of Interventions and Costs 1. Combating Hunger and Malnutrition 00 2. Education 00 3. Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment 00 4. Health and HIV-AIDS 00 5. Environment 00 Methodological Estimation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the 00 Expenditures of the Dominican Government for the period 2006-2015 Participants by Working Group and Sub-Working Group 00 Bibliography 00 4 Prologue of H.E.
    [Show full text]
  • The Complete X-Files Ebook
    THE COMPLETE X-FILES PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Chris Knowles,Matt Hurwitz | 224 pages | 23 Sep 2016 | Titan Books Ltd | 9781785654336 | English | London, United Kingdom The Complete X-Files PDF Book In one of the most tongue in cheek, unusual episodes of the series, Scully consults with a Truman Capote-like novelist who wants to write "non- fiction science fiction" based around an unusual x-file, giving an outsider's perspective to a case. You may not need files for most quick fixes. It's an unnerving, calculating episode, where the mere appearance of Modell onscreen spells very bad thing. There's also a lot of heart in the episode, with Boyle portraying a sensitive, gruff loner dealing with the worst of curses. The episode seems to be heavily influenced by the works of H. Essentially, the episode is about the government using television signals to drive people to madness. This not only makes filing faster but makes it much easier to find documents afterward. An FBI manhunt ensues, with agents in pursuit of an antagonist that can alter their very perceptions of reality. The beauty of customizing your filing system this way is that it can always be further subdivided and organized if you need to. This grisly, nightmare-inducing episode about an inbred family of killers was so terrifying and controversial that Fox famously decreed that it would never be aired again after its initial broadcast prompted a flood of complaints from concerned viewers. I could stop at that as a reason to watch, but there's more. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ormulum in the Seventeenth Century: the Manuscript and Its Early Readers
    University of Groningen The Ormulum in the Seventeenth Century Dekker, Cornelis Published in: Neophilologus DOI: 10.1007/s11061-017-9547-3 IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2018 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Dekker, K. (2018). The Ormulum in the Seventeenth Century: The Manuscript and Its Early Readers. Neophilologus, 102(2), 257-277. DOI: 10.1007/s11061-017-9547-3 Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 15-07-2018 Neophilologus (2018) 102:257–277 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-017-9547-3 The Ormulum in the Seventeenth Century: The Manuscript and Its Early Readers Kees Dekker1 Published online: 20 December 2017 © The Author(s) 2017. This article is an open access publication Abstract The most recent edition of the Ormulum by Robert Holt (The Ormulum, with the notes and glossary of Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Maryanne Kowaleski Joseph Fitzpatrick S.J
    Maryanne Kowaleski Joseph Fitzpatrick S.J. Distinguished Professor of History and Medieval Studies [email protected] 77-79 Seaman Avenue History Department Garden Apt. Rear Fordham University New York, NY 10034 Bronx, NY 10458 (212) 942-7547 (718) 817-3925 fax: (718) 817-4680 UNIVERSITY EDUCATION: University of Toronto: Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, 1982, M.A. in Medieval Studies, 1976 Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies (Toronto): M.S.L. (Medieval Studies Licentiate), 1978 University of Michigan: A.B.1974: double major in French & Medieval/Renaissance Studies University of Exeter (England): Fulbright Scholar, 1978/79 Université d'Aix-Marseille (France): Exchange Student, Study Abroad, 1972/73 GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS: International Conference Travel Grant, Fordham University (Summer 2020) Fletcher Jones Foundation Fellow, The Huntington Library (Jan.-March, 2017) Visiting Scholar Fellowship, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris (June 2016) Joy Foundation Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 2015/16 Huntington Library Andrew W. Mellon Short-Term Fellowship (2010-11, 2015/16 declined) American-Scandinavian Foundation Grant for Medieval Studies conference (2010) Delmas Fellowship, National Humanities Center, North Carolina (2005/06) Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (2001/02) Fellowship, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (2001) Fellowship, National Humanities Center, North Carolina (2001/02, declined) Fellowship, Shelby Cullom Davis Center, Princeton University (1998) Fordham University
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early M
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and Iberia A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in English by Sara Victoria Torres 2014 © Copyright by Sara Victoria Torres 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and Iberia by Sara Victoria Torres Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Christine Chism, Co-chair Professor Lowell Gallagher, Co-chair My dissertation, “Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and Iberia,” traces the legacy of dynastic internationalism in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and early-seventeenth centuries. I argue that the situated tactics of courtly literature use genealogical and geographical paradigms to redefine national sovereignty. Before the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, before the divorce trials of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in the 1530s, a rich and complex network of dynastic, economic, and political alliances existed between medieval England and the Iberian kingdoms. The marriages of John of Gaunt’s two daughters to the Castilian and Portuguese kings created a legacy of Anglo-Iberian cultural exchange ii that is evident in the literature and manuscript culture of both England and Iberia. Because England, Castile, and Portugal all saw the rise of new dynastic lines at the end of the fourteenth century, the subsequent literature produced at their courts is preoccupied with issues of genealogy, just rule, and political consent. Dynastic foundation narratives compensate for the uncertainties of succession by evoking the longue durée of national histories—of Trojan diaspora narratives, of Roman rule, of apostolic foundation—and situating them within universalizing historical modes.
    [Show full text]
  • LPS76 27April Final.Pub
    LOCAL POPULATION STUDIES No. 76 Spring 2006 Published twice yearly with support from the Department of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire. © Local Population Studies, 2006 Registered charity number 273621 ISSN 0143–2974 The cover illustration is from W. H. Pyne, Encyclopedia of Illustration of the Arts, Agriculture, &c. of Great Britain, 1845 1 EDITORIAL BOARD Peter Franklin Nigel Goose (editor) Janet Hudson Jon Stobart Chris Galley Andy Gritt Christine Jones Matthew Woollard Eilidh Garrett Andrew Hinde Tom Nutt SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES AND REVIEWS Articles, notes or letters, which normally should not exceed 7,000 words in length, should be addressed to Professor N. Goose at the LPS General Office. Material submitted should comply with LPS house style and a leaflet explaining LPS conventions can be obtained from the General Office. Books for review should be sent to Chris Galley, LPS Book Review Editor, Department of Humanities, Barnsley College, Eastgate, Barnsley, S70 2YW. SUBSCRIPTION RATES The annual subscriptions to Local Population Studies are: • individual subscription (UK and EC) is via membership of the Local Population Studies Society and is £12 (student £10) • individual subscription (other overseas) is £15 (student £13) • institutional subscription (UK and overseas) is £15. Subscriptions may be paid by Banker’s Order, forms for which may be obtained from the LPS General Office at the address below. Single copies and back numbers may be obtained from the General Office at the following rates: nos 3, 7–28, £1.40; nos 29–31, £2.25; nos 32–61, £3.00; no. 62 onwards, £4.50. All remittances should be made payable to the Local Population Studies Society.
    [Show full text]
  • C.1530 Sarah Raskin
    False Oaths The Silent Alliance between Church and Heretics in England, c.1400-c.1530 Sarah Raskin Submitted in partial fulFillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2016 © 2016 Sarah Raskin All rights reserved ABSTRACT False Oaths: The Silent Alliance between Church and Heretics in England, c. 1400-1530 Sarah Raskin This dissertation re-examines trials for heresy in England from 1382, which saw the First major action directed at the WyclifFite heresy in Oxford, and the early Reformation period, with an emphasis on abjurations, the oaths renouncing heretical beliefs that suspects were required to swear after their interrogations were concluded. It draws a direct link between the customs that developed around the ceremony of abjuration and the exceptionally low rate of execution for “relapsed” and “obstinate” heretics in England, compared to other major European anti-heresy campaigns of the period. Several cases are analyzed in which heretics who should have been executed, according to the letter and intention of canon law on the subject, were permitted to abjure, sometimes repeatedly. Other cases ended in execution despite intense efforts by the presiding bishop to obtain a similarly law-bending abjuration. All these cases are situated in the context of the constitutions governing heresy trials as well as a survey of the theology and cultural standing of oaths within both WyclifFism and the broader Late Medieval and Early Modern world. This dissertation traces how Lollard heretics gradually accepted the necessity of false abjuration as one of a number of measures to preserve their lives and their movement, and how early adopters using coded writing carefully persuaded their co-religionists of this necessity.
    [Show full text]