Charity, the Seven Works of Mercy, and Lay Fellowship in Late Medieval and Early Reformation England
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‘That peace shall always dwell among them and true love be upheld’: Charity, the Seven Works of Mercy, and Lay Fellowship in Late Medieval and Early Reformation England by Ayanna Sheree Brown A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in the University of Michigan 2014 Doctoral Committee: Professor Katherine L. French, Co-Chair Emeritus Professor Thomas A. Green, Co-Chair Associate Professor Catherine Sanok Professor Paolo Squatriti Dedication For my grandmother, Edwinia M. Middleton ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Kit French and Tom Green for their constant support, encouragement, and advice. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Gwyn Awai, Christine Asidao, and Kiyana Horton for their innumerable kindnesses. Lastly, I would like to thank the Medieval Academy, the Center for the Education of Women, and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender for generously funding my research. iii Table of Contents Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. v List of Maps ................................................................................................................................... vi List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................ vii Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 ‘for the helthe of his soule and of the soules of alle hys peple’: Vernacular Instruction for Parish Priests .......................................................................................................... 47 Chapter 2 ‘Mannys sowle ys lyfte vp with charite’: Lay Catechesis, the Doctrine of Charity, and the Seven Works of Mercy ........................................................................................... 91 Chapter 3 ‘a kyrke stoke of ther gud wylls’: Collective Charitability in the Parish ................... 154 Chapter 4 ‘for the increase of divine worship and the devotion of man’: Religious Guilds, Charity, and Community in Late Medieval Lincolnshire .......................................... 221 Chapter 5 ‘for the health of my sowle as it may please God’: the Seven Works of Mercy and End-of-Life Charity .................................................................................................... 292 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 352 Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 357 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 364 iv List of Tables Table 4.1 Spiritual Works of Mercy Performed by Guilds ......................................................... 238 Table 4.2 Corporeal Works of Mercy Performed by Guilds ...................................................... 239 Table 5.1 Lifecycle Makeup of Will Sample .............................................................................. 297 Table 5.2 Wills with Charitable Bequests................................................................................... 297 Table 5.3 Testamentary Provision for the Corporeal Works of Mercy ...................................... 304 Table 5.4 Geographical Makeup of Charitable Bequests ........................................................... 305 Table 5.5 Geographical Makeup of Corporeal Works of Mercy Bequests ................................. 305 Table 5.6 Types of Traditional Charity Bequests ....................................................................... 328 Table 5.7 Testamentary Provision for the Spiritual Works of Mercy......................................... 333 Table 5.8 Geographical Makeup of Spiritual Works of Mercy Bequests ................................... 333 Table 5.9 Types of Expanded Charity Bequests ......................................................................... 334 v List of Maps Map 1 Medieval Dioceses of England .......................................................................................... 43 Map 2 Principal Routes and Centers in Medieval Lincolnshire ................................................... 44 Map 3 Medieval Parish Churches in Lincolnshire ........................................................................ 45 Map 4 Medieval Ecclesiastical Boundaries in Lincolnshire ......................................................... 46 vi List of Appendices Appendix A Lincolnshire Churchwardens’ Accounts ................................................................ 357 Appendix B Lincolnshire Parish Guilds ..................................................................................... 359 vii Abstract This study utilizes legal documents, literature, religious drama, art, and material culture in a two-fold examination of the gendering of the Christian virtue of charity as effected through the works of mercy. First, it explores charity as a “religious ideology” imagined by clerics, who sought to shape lay conduct through a catechetical program that both implicitly and explicitly advocated different methods of charitable living for men and women. By situating clerical pedagogy within medieval gender theories, this dissertation considers how the clergy adapted their teachings on charity to accommodate men’s and women’s social roles. Second, focusing on the county of Lincolnshire, it investigates the different ways men and women responded to this clerical educational initiative in their religious practices and in daily life. By foregrounding the central role women played in the practice of the works of mercy, and considering ecclesiastical mechanisms of control and uniformity in conversation with the varying responses of the laity (reception and practice), this project demonstrates that late medieval catechesis had deeper social resonance than scholars have hitherto allowed. Charity was a fundamental component of medieval Christian doctrine, essential to understanding medieval piety. Therefore, this dissertation’s assessment of the effects clerical didactic efforts had on ordinary English men and women as they practiced their religion sheds light on a crucial aspect of medieval culture. It considers the influence of the clergy’s educational program by examining the laity’s performance of charity through an investigation of their charitable bequests, the corporate behavior of parish guilds, and sanctions against disobedience found in ecclesiastical and civic court records. By thus addressing the relationship between viii prescription and action between 1388 and 1534, this study traces evolving interpretations of a key Christian value, charity, at a crucial time in Christian history. In addition, this dissertation explores the gendered conceptions of charity that complicated the relationship between religious instruction and practice. While gendering charity gave women’s work a spiritual imperative and religious significance, it simultaneously reinforced traditional gender roles. Finally, a focus on the local contexts of lay catechetical appropriation demonstrates that pre-Reformation religious education affected laypeople more profoundly than earlier Reformation scholars had imagined. ix Introduction As a result of the Gregorian reform movement, the seven sacraments became the defining elements of Christian religious belief and practice in the twelfth century; they remained so throughout the course of the Middle Ages. The sacramental experience for medieval people was “profoundly social.”1 In particular, the sacraments of baptism, communion, and penance provided a religious framework that helped delineate communal boundaries. Baptism both constituted and entered one into the Christian community of believers, while the Eucharist and penance maintained one’s position in that community.2 The sacramental ritual of the Eucharist, which enacted charity and communal harmony, was the central rite of the medieval Church. Eucharistic piety and its attendant language helped clerics fashion a moral worldview in which “reception of the Eucharist could be experienced beneficially only by those who lived in a certain type of virtue, or who made amends for trespasses through the penitential system of the Church.”3 This penitential system operated both internally and externally—penitents’ contrition reconciled their souls to God and the payment of “penitential debt” in the form of the performance of good works made restitution for sin.4 In short, admittance to the Church’s Eucharistic community required adherence to a doctrine of religious charity, which was most 1 Eamon Duffy, “Lay Appropriation of the Sacraments in the Later Middle Ages,” New Black Friars 77 (1996), 59. 2 Norman P. Tanner and Sethina Watson, “The Least of