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IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 821: Monastic Responses to Heresy in Late Medieval and Pre-Reformation England

Tuesday 14 July 2009, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:University of Bristol
Organiser:James G. Clark, Department of History, University of Exeter
Moderator/Chair:R. I. Moore, School of Historical Studies, Newcastle University
Paper 821-aMonks versus Lollards: The Case of Durham
(Language: English)
Margaret Harvey, Department of History, Durham University
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism, Religious Life
Paper 821-bConfraternity and Orthodoxy at St Albans and Durham
(Language: English)
Lynda Rollason, Department of History, Durham University
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism, Religious Life
Abstract

This session examines a neglected topic, English monastic attitudes to, and involvement in, the defence of orthodox religion, from the advent of Wycliffism and Lollardy, to the emergence of Luther on the eve of the Reformation. It is generally understood that the front line in the battle for orthodoxy in England was the parish. Yet the monks of greater abbeys and priories recognised the danger posed by popular anticlericalism and the apparent resurgence of heresy at an early stage, and responded with a volley of apologia, sermons, and active expressions of orthodox spirituality which are only now attracting the attention of historians. These three papers offer case-studies from some of the most important centres of monastic England.