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Pastoral Care According to the Bishops of England and Wales (C.1170 – 1228)

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Pastoral Care According to the Bishops of England and Wales (C.1170 – 1228) University of Cambridge Faculty of History PASTORAL CARE ACCORDING TO THE BISHOPS OF ENGLAND AND WALES (C.1170 – 1228) DAVID RUNCIMAN Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Supervised by DR JULIE BARRAU Emmanuel College, Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2019 DECLARATION This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. ABSTRACT DAVID RUNCIMAN ‘Pastoral care according to the bishops of England and Wales (c.1170-1228)’ Church leaders have always been seen as shepherds, expected to feed their flock with teaching, to guide them to salvation, and to preserve them from threatening ‘wolves’. In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, ideas about the specifics of these pastoral duties were developing rapidly, especially in the schools of Paris and at the papal curia. Scholarly assessments of the bishops of England and Wales in this period emphasise their political and administrative activities, but there is growing interest in their pastoral role. In this thesis, the texts produced by these bishops are examined. These texts, several of which had been neglected, form a corpus of evidence that has never before been assembled. Almost all of them had a pastoral application, and thus they reveal how bishops understood and exercised their pastoral duties. Although bishops’ preaching was rarely recorded in narrative sources, combining this evidence with the extant sermons left by bishops reveals episcopal preaching to clerical, lay, and monastic audiences. Bishops also instructed the clergy through their writing. The two subjects bishops addressed most frequently were the Eucharist and confession. As new ideas about these sacraments emerged, even educated bishops fell behind the pace of change. Bishops’ treatments of the sacraments changed significantly across the period as these ideas became established. The ‘wolves’ that threatened the flock were most readily identified as heretics. England was largely unaffected by the popular heresy seen in some other regions, and bishops dealt with heretics of this kind abroad as often as at home. Other threats to orthodoxy in England were identified, however, and in some cases resisted vigorously. The evidence of these bishops’ writing confirms that, even in the midst of political turmoil and administrative innovation, pastoral care remained fundamental to episcopal office. Bishops sought to implement the ideas of Paris and Rome in their dioceses. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research would not have been possible without the Pigott doctoral studentship, administered under the Cambridge Home European Scholarship Scheme (CHESS) at the University of Cambridge. I record my thanks to the CHESS committee and to Dr Mark Pigott for his generosity and interest in my research. For their award of tenth-term funding, I also thank the Tutorial Committee of Fitzwilliam College. I thank all the librarians and archivists of the Bodleian Library, the British Library, and Cambridge University Library for their assistance, and particularly Rosemary Firman of Hereford Cathedral Library for accommodating a last-minute request to consult a manuscript then featured in an exhibit. For scholarly advice and discussion on specific points I am very grateful to Richard Sharpe, James Willoughby, Nicholas Vincent, Teresa Webber, Elisabeth van Houts, Philippa Byrne, Sabina Flanagan and Constant Mews. During my undergraduate degree at the University of East Anglia, I received excellent teaching and support from Nicholas Vincent, Julie Barrau, Stephen Church, and Tom Licence. At Cambridge I have been fortunate to benefit from seminars given by many scholars. All of these teachers have my thanks. Teresa Webber merits a special mention for her invaluable lessons on palaeography and codicology. I thank John Arnold for his encouragements, and Martin Brett for a gift of books. I am very grateful to Carl Watkins, not only for his teaching, but also for serving as academic advisor for my doctoral research. My fellow students at Cambridge have, I hope, sharpened my thinking through presentations of their own research and engagement with mine. I am grateful to Tom Forster, especially, for friendship and countless hours of conversation. I owe more to my supervisor, Julie Barrau, than most doctoral candidates to theirs, having received her teaching and supervision over several years, spanning three degrees. Her enthusiasm, guidance, encouragement, and perhaps above all her trust, have shaped my work for the better. All remaining errors and deficiencies in this thesis are of my own making. Finally, I take this opportunity to thank my family, and especially my parents, for their support. My greatest debts of gratitude are to my long-suffering wife Charlie, and to God. CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS 8 INTRODUCTION: THE BISHOP AS PASTOR 9 Staves not swords 9 Bishops as political figures and administrators 11 Additional evidence: spiritual and theological texts 18 The nature of episcopal office 29 Pastoral care in theory and practice 32 Intellectual culture and the transmission of ideas 35 The bishops of England and Wales, c. 1170-1228 38 This thesis 41 PART ONE FEEDING THE FLOCK BISHOPS’ PREACHING AND PASTORAL INSTRUCTION CHAPTER I – EPISCOPAL PREACHING: THE SERMON COLLECTIONS 44 Aaron’s unction 44 Preaching and pastoral care 45 Written sermons as source material 47 Gilbert Foliot’s homilies 48 Bartholomew of Exeter’s sermon collection 55 Baldwin of Forde’s sermons 68 A sermon of Richard Poore? 72 Summary 73 CHAPTER II – EPISCOPAL PREACHING: THE NARRATIVE SOURCES 75 Quality and quantity 75 How often and how well were bishops preaching? 75 Gerald of Wales’ Itinerarium Kambriae 84 Hugh of Lincoln’s vitae on his teaching and preaching 87 Stephen Langton’s preaching as archbishop of Canterbury 92 Summary 96 CHAPTER III – PASTORAL INSTRUCTION BEYOND PREACHING 97 False prophets 97 Teaching by example 98 Councils and synods 103 Patronage of schools and scholars 107 Bishops’ writing: escapism or pastoral instruction? 110 Summary 113 PART ONE: CONCLUSION 114 PART TWO TENDING THE FLOCK BISHOPS AND THE CURA ANIMARUM CHAPTER IV: THE EUCHARIST 116 The saint and the sacraments 116 Bishops and the cura animarum 117 The real presence in the Eucharist 119 How should the Eucharist be received? 121 Bartholomew of Exeter 121 Gilbert Foliot 123 Baldwin of Forde 125 Hugh of Lincoln 126 Richard Poore 128 How should the Eucharist be administered? 129 Summary 134 CHAPTER V: CONFESSION 135 Unsatisfactory penance 135 Why was confession so important to bishops? 136 Penitence and confession in bishops’ sermons 138 Penitential manuals and treatises 148 Bartholomew of Exeter’s penitential 149 Senatus’ treatise for Roger of Worcester 150 Guy of Southwick’s opusculum for William de Vere 152 Stephen Langton’s penitential and De penitentia sub persone Magdalene 155 Alexander of Stainsby’s De confessionibus 158 Cadwgan of Llandyfai’s De modo confitendi 161 Excommunication 163 Summary 170 PART TWO: CONCLUSION 171 PART THREE PROTECTING THE FLOCK EPISCOPAL DEFENCE OF ORTHODOXY CHAPTER VI: A VARIETY OF THREATS 173 Herod the heretic 173 Bishops and the defence of the Church 174 Popular heresy 176 Roger of Worcester, Gilbert Foliot and the heretical weavers 176 Reginald fitz Jocelin and the Toulouse Inquest 179 Stephen Langton and the Bogomils 181 ‘Practical’ heresies 183 Intellectual error: Roger de Pont l’Évêque and the Salomites 186 Summary 189 CHAPTER VII: BARTHOLOMEW OF EXETER AND BALDWIN OF FORDE 190 The Synagogue of Satan 190 Bartholomew and Baldwin 191 The penitential 192 Baldwin’s De commendatione fidei 194 Bartholomew’s Contra fatalitatis errorem 197 Bartholomew’s Dialogus contra Iudeos 208 Baldwin’s Liber de sectis hereticorum et orthodoxe fidei dogmata 216 Summary 222 PART THREE: CONCLUSION 224 CONCLUSION: THE BISHOP AS PASTOR 225 Buffoon’s betrayal 225 The sources: towards pastoralia 226 Episcopal office and the pastoral priority 228 Between Paris and parish: bishops and the transmission of ideas 230 Conclusion: the bishop as pastor 233 BIBLIOGRAPHY 234 ABBREVIATIONS AM H. R. Luard (ed.), Annales monastici, 5 vols., RS 36 (London, 1864-9) Bartholomew, ‘Dialogus’ Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 482. Bartholomew, ‘Sermons’ Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 449 BFO Balduini de Forda opera: Sermones et De commendatione fidei, ed. D. N. Bell, CCCM 99 (Tournai, 1991) C&S, I, ii D. Whitelock, M. Brett and C. N. L. Brooke (eds.), Councils and Synods with other Documents Relating to the English Church, 871– 1204, vol. II (Oxford, 1981) C&S, II, i F. M. Powicke and C. R. Cheney (eds.), Councils and Synods with other Documents Relating to the English Church (1204-1313), vol. I (Oxford, 1964) CCCM Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina EHR English Historical Review GCO Gerald of Wales, Giraldi Cambrensis opera, 8 vols., ed. J. S. Brewer, J. F. Dimock and G. F. Warner, RS 21 (London, 1861-1891) Gilbert, ‘Homilies’ London, British Library, MS Royal 2 D. XXXII GRHS W. Stubbs (ed.), Gesta regis Henrici secundi Benedicti abbatis: The Chronicle of the Reigns of Henry II and Richard I, AD 1169–1192, 2 vols. RS 49 (London, 1867) LCGF Gilbert Foliot, Letters and Charters of Gilbert Foliot, ed. A. Morey and C. N. L. Brooke (Cambridge, 1967) MVSH Adam of Eynsham, Magna vita sancti Hugonis, 2 vols., ed. D. L. Douie & D. H. Farmer, OMT (Oxford, 1961–62) ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004-2015) OMT Oxford Medieval Texts PBO Peter of Blois, Petri Blesensis opera omnia, J.-P. Migne, PL 207 (Paris, 1855) PL Patrologia Latina RS Rolls Series Regula Pastoralis Gregory the Great, Règle pastorale, ed.
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