Skip to main content

IMC 2013: Sessions

Session 226: Monks and Secular Clerics in 12th-Century England

Monday 1 July 2013, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Hugh M. Thomas, Department of History, University of Miami, Florida
Moderator/Chair:Ilya Afanasyev, Hertford College, University of Oxford / University of Miam
Paper 226-aCaught in the Middle: Priests as Villains and Victims in Monastic Chronicles
(Language: English)
Jennifer Paxton, Department of History, Catholic University of America, Washington DC
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Religious Life, Social History
Paper 226-bLucian, Monk of Chester, as Peacemaker between Bishops, Clerics, and Monks
(Language: English)
Hugh M. Thomas, Department of History, University of Miami, Florida
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Religious Life, Social History
Paper 226-cShared Sins: English Monastic and Clerical Forgers as Collaborators and Competitors
(Language: English)
Robert F. Berkhofer, Department of History, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Ecclesiastical History, Religious Life
Abstract

Rivalry between monastic orders in the 12th-century is well known. Less well known is the rivalry between monks and secular clerics. This panel looks at relations between the two groups in the long 12th-century. The first paper concerns the use of miracle stories to criticize clerics in chronicles from the fenland abbeys, though often with third parties as the intended targets. The second paper is about the attempts of a monk, Lucian of Chester, to set out a blueprint of good relations between monks on the one hand and bishops and secular clerics on the other after one particularly troublesome clash in his diocese. The third explores collaboration and competition between monks and clerics at Canterbury in forging documents.