Engraved portrait ofJean Gerson from Histoire du Concile de Constance by Jaques [sic]
Lenfant (Amsterdam: Pierre Humbert, 1714), Vol. I, facing p. 75

Vl

The Catholic Historical
Review
VOL. LXXXII

JULY, 1996

No. 3

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT:

GERSON, BELLARMINE, SARPI, RICHER,
AND THE VENETIAN INTERDICT OF 1606-1607
BY

Francis Oakley*

You Papists, though your brawles be endlesse one with another, Canonists

against Schoole-men; Franciscans against Dominicks; Nomináis against
Reals; Thomas against Lumbard; Scotus against Thomas; Occam against
Scotus;Alliacensis against Occam; Peter Scot against Catharine; Catharine
against Caietan; Caietan against Pighius; Jésuites against Priests, and
Priests against Jesuits: yet forsooth these dogs and cats are all of one Cage,
they are all members of the Romish Church.
William Middleton, Papisto-Mastbc

or the Protestants Religion defended (London, 1606)
In this oddly engaging and coincidentally timely effusion, Middleton
was concerned, of course, to identify, postulate, or construct a unifying
context of deplorably shared commitment within which the conflicting
views and activities of a seemingly disparate array of historical agents

could properly be understood. And in this, had not the practitioners of

what is sometimes referred to as "the new history of political thought"
themselves proscribed the use of the word in that way, Middleton might
well have been said to have "anticipated" their own later preoccupation
with contextualization.1 In focusing our attention over the past quartercentury and more on the difficulty of wresting genuinely historical
"Mr. Oakley is professor of history in Williams College, of which he is president emeritus.

'See Quentin Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas" History

and Theory, VlII (I960), 3-53; reprinted in James Tully (ed.), Meaning and Context:
Quentin Skinner and His Critics (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 29-67, at p. 35, where he derides
the practice of "pointing out earlier" 'anticipations' of later doctrines" as a kind of "histori369

370

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

meanings from the texts handed down to us from the past, these particular representatives of the linguistic turn in the study of the history
of ideas have persistently emphasized the importance of reading such
texts in their historical (and especially linguistic and ideological) contexts.2 Straightforward enough, it might seem, but it is one of the intriguing and fruitful byproducts of this approach that it has served also
to draw to our (perhaps reluctant) attention the less obvious difficulties
and complexities attaching to the very notion of context itself.3 It is
with this latter issue that I shall be concerned in what follows.

Dominick LaCapra has well reminded us that if, in pursuit of the interpretation of texts, we wish to address the matter of context, we must
begin by recognizing that "contexts of interpretation are at least threefold: those of writing, reception, and critical reading."4 Even if, endorsing
the preoccupation with authorial intentionality characteristic of the
"new historians," we concentrate on the first of those contexts, the picture is complex enough. And not least of all because such contexts "are
encountered through the 'medium' of specific texts or practices, and
cal absurdity." Fair enough, so long as one steers clear of an excessive degree of literalism
likely to deprive one of an eminently useful piece of shorthand which, in the constructing of historical narratives, it would be cumbersome to do without. (As Skinner himself
appears, willy-nilly, to have discovered—see David Boucher, "On Schlar's and Franklin's

Reviews of Skinner," Political Theory,VIII [1980], 406-408—speaking of Skinner's Foun-

dations ofModern Political Thought [2 vols.; Cambridge, 1978] :"In searching for the origins of the modern conception of the state, . . . Skinner is constantly looking for signs in
earlier works of later doctrines as if they are somehow immanent. [But) instead of using
the language of 'anticipations' he favors that of 'hints.'")
2Skinner's principal expositions of his position are helpfully reprinted (along with
those of some of his critics and his own lengthy reply to those critics) in Tuily, op. cit. Cf.
for related (though by no means identical) approaches John Dunn, "The Identity of the

History of Ideas," Philosophy, XIiII (April, 1968), 85-104. J. G. A. Pocock, Politics, Language and Time: Essays on Political Thought and History (New York, 1971), pp. 3-41.
For history and "the linguistic" turn in general, see John E. Toews, "Intellectual History
after the Linguistic Turn: The Autonomy of Meaning and the Irreducibility of Experience,"
American Historical Review, XCII (October, 1987), 879-907, and Dominick LaCapra,
"History, Language, and Reading: Waiting for Grillon," ibid., C (June, 1995), 799-828.
5A point, it should be noted, now readily conceded by Skinner himself. See his "A reply
to my critics," in TuUy, op. cit., pp. 274-283. Cf. David Boucher, Texts in Context: Revision-

ist Methods for Studying the History of Ideas (Dordrecht, 1985), esp. pp. 214-218,
253-256.

4Dominick LaCapra, History and Criticism (Ithaca, New York, 1985), pp. 127-128. He

describes the context of writing as including "the intentions of the author as well as more
immediate biographical, sociocultural, and political situations with their ideologies and
discourses," as well as "discursive institutions such as traditions and genres."

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

371

they must [themselves] be reconstituted on the basis of textual evidence."5 In one of the earliest (and most anguished) of critical responses to the type of linguistic and ideological contextualism
proposed by Quentin Skinner, Parekh and Berki felt it necessary to insist that "context is not something obvious and given," but something
that "has to be constructed, indeed, created by the commentator."6 Reaffirming that point a decade later, David Boucher noted further that

"the scale of [contextual] construction depends upon the historian and

the lengths to which he is prepared to go in order to relate what may
on the surface seem disparate utterances."7 And he did so, having confessed, in the course of commenting on a whole series of "new histories" of political thought inspired by Skinner's approach, that he simply
could not "elicit any agreement from the literature on what a context
actually is and how it is related to the texts."8
A gloomy confession, it may be, but it is one well adapted to the role
for which I wish to press it into service, namely, that of setting the historiographie stage for the introduction of the very particular contextual
5LaCapra, History and Criticism, p. 128, where he properly notes that "the difficulties
in the process of inferentially reconstructing contexts on the basis of texts (in the large
sense) are often obscured or repressed, especially when one is convinced that a context
or set of contexts must be a determinative force with full explanatory power." For a similar emphasis on the textual mediation of contexts, see also Charles Bernheimer, "The Anxieties of Comparison," in Bernheimer (ed.), Comparative Literature in the Age of

Multiculturalism (Baltimore and London, 1995), p. 16, where commenting on apprehensions "that the positivities of context [might] be used to resolve the ambiguities of text,"
he observes that "contexts can be just as ambiguous as texts, from which given that contexts are to a large extent textually mediated their difference is not clearcut."
''Bhikhu Parekh and R. N. Berki,"The History of Ideas: A Critique of Quentin Skinner's

Methodology,"/owra«/ of the History ofIdeas, XXIV (1973), 163-184 (at 182).

7David Boucher, "New Histories of Political Thought for Old," Political Studies, XXXI
(1983), 112-121 (at 117-118).
"He continues {ibid., p. 117): "The methodology purports to offer a new type of contextualism. . . . Ideas form the context for ideas; therefore this form of contextualism also

embodies a considerable measure of textualism. That is, the apparent meanings of texts,
gleaned without knowing the intentions they embody are juxtaposed to construct the linguistic framework in terms of which the intentions of one or two prominent thinkers are

inferred. But that leaves a lot of room for maneuver." Cf. Boucher, Texts in Context, pp.
255-256. For a critique of the efficacy of Skinner's form of contextualism when applied

to the particular case of Hobbes, see Preston King, "The Theory of Context and the Case
of Hobbes," in Preston King (ed.), The History ofIdeas:An Introduction to Method (London, 1983), pp. 285-315. And for a more recent and full-scale onslaught on both what he
calls the "hard linguistic contextualism" of Pocock and the "soft linguistic contextualism"
of Skinner, see Mark Bevir's stimulating article, "The Errors of Linguistic Contextualism,"

History and Theory, XXXI (1992), 276-298.

372

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

tangle on which I propose in this essay to focus and which may serve, I

believe, as a good illustration of the degree to which the contexts we
construct in our efforts to interpret historical texts determine what we
see or (perhaps, more important) what we fail to see or to regard as
noteworthy in those texts.
I

Although our own effort at contextualization will draw us back insis-

tently as far as the fifteenth century, that effort is rendered somewhat
problematic in that our story actually begins in Venice toward the end

of April, 1606. But it does so with the anonymous publication, suppos-

edly in Paris though in Italian translation, of two short treatises directed
against the abuse of the power of ecclesiastical censure that were written almost two centuries previously by the great French theologian,
Jean Gerson (1363-1429)·9 Their republication in the vernacular was

the work of Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623), best remembered today as the

great, acerbic historian of the Council of Trent but serving, at that time,
in the official capacity of legal and theological adviser to the Venetian
Republic. It was a move that constituted the opening shot in the great
war of words and battle of the books occasioned by Pope Paul Vs excommunication of the Venetian Doge and Senate and by his imposition
of an interdict on all Venetian-ruled territories. Those censures, bruited

already in 1605, had come to seem inevitable by mid-April, I6O6, were

to go formally into effect in May of that year, and were to remain in

force until April, 1607.10 For the Venetian Republic the experience of interdict was itself no novelty. In 1 509, less than a century earlier and for

The tracts in question date to the spring of 1418, either to the very last days of the
Council of Constance or to the weeks immediately after its dissolution. They are entitled:
Resolutio circa materiam excommunicationum et irregularitatum and De sententia

pastoris semper tenenda and are printed in Palemón Glorieux (ed.), Jean Gerson: Oeuvres complètes (10 vols.; Paris, 1960-1973), VI, 291-296. The Italian translations were

printed (along with a prefatory statement) atVenice (though supposedly in Paris) as: Trattato e resoluzione sopra la validità delle scommoniche di Giovanni Gersono Teólogo e
Cancelliero Parisino, cognominato il dottore Cristianissimo tradotto dalla lingua
latina nella volgare con ognifedeltà. In opusculi due. I cite from the edition included in
Fra Paolo Sarpi, /sion« dell'Interdetto e altri scritti editi e inediti, ed. Giovanni Gambarin
(3 vo!s.;Bari, 194O)1II, 171-184.

"The story of the Interdict has often been told, with the fullest and most helpful recent
account being that ofWilliamJ. Bouwsma, Venice and the Defense ofRepublican Liberty:
Renaissance Values in the Age of the Counter Reformation (Berkeley and Los Angeles,
1968), esp. pp. 359-482. For good shorter recent accounts, see Frederick C. Lane, Venice:

A Maritime Republic (Baltimore and London, 1973), pp. 481-496, and Luigi Salvatorelli,

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

373

the second time in little more than twenty-five years, the papacy had re-

sorted to the same tactic. On both earlier occasions it had done so primarily in pursuit of its diplomatic, military, and territorial objectives in
Italy." In the 1605-1607 crisis the precipitating factors were rather dif-

ferent. But if they were clear enough—the Senate's passage in 1602,

1603, and 1605 of laws controlling the construction of new churches,

prohibiting the ecclesiastical resumption of land leased to laymen, and
limiting the alienation of land by laymen to the Church12—the significance one attaches to those factors will very much depend on the particular historical context in which one has chosen to understand the

crisis as a whole. Not only, that is, the politics of the interdict itself, but
also the great ideological battle to which it gave rise.
In the historiography of the interdict the contexts evoked have been
multiple: the long and proud history of the Serenissima Repubblica itself;15 the history of the resurgent Counter-Reformation papacy;14 more
precisely, the situation "of the Venetian Church in the post-Tridentine
era as compared with the situation of the Church in other parts of Europe at that time;"15 the biography of that great Venetian historian and
propagandist, Paolo Sarpi, in the shaping of whose life the experience

"Venezia, Paolo V, e fra Paolo Sarpi," in Vittore Branca (ed.), Storia délia Civtttà Veneziana

(3 vols.; Florence, 1979), IH, 23-26. Cf. A. D. Wright, "Why the Venetian Interdict?"English

Historical Review, ????G? (July, 1974), 536-550. Among the many earlier accounts, ref-

erence should be made to Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popesfrom the Close of
the Middle Ages,Vol. XXV, trans. Ernest Graf (London, 1937), pp. 1 1 1-216, and to Antonio
Battistella, La Repubblica di Venezia ne'suoi undid secoli di storia (Venice, 1921), pp.

613-643. For a standard bibliography of primary sources and the earlier scholarly literature, see the introduction to Carlo de Magistris (ed.), Carlo Emmanuele lela contesafra
la Repubblica Veneta e Paolo V (1605- 1067): documenti (Venice, 1906), pp. xxvi-lii.
"Bouwsma, op. cit., p. 99, though in the case of the 1509 interdict Julius II had also

specified as a secondary grievance the Republic's resistance to the papal right to dispose
of benefices in Venice.

"Bouwsma, op. cit. ,pp. 344-347; Federico Chabod,Xa Política di Paolo Sarpi (Venice

and Rome, 1962), pp. 50-53. Note that the laws of 1603 and 1605 merely involved the extension to the terraferma or mainland territories of regulations long since enforced
within the city of Venice itself.

"Thus Battistella, op. cit., pp. 613-643; Lane op. cit., pp. 481-496; Salvatorelli, op. cit.,
pp. 23-26; Gaetano Cozzi, // Doge Nicola Contarini: Ricerche sul Patriziato Veneziano
agli inizi del seicento (Venice, 1958), pp. 93-147.

"Thus (classically) Pastor, The History of the Popes,XXV, 111-216, and, more recently
(and more generally), Aldo Stella, Chiesa e Stato nelle relazioni dei nunzi pontifici a
Venezia. Ricerche sul giurisdizionalismo veneziano del XVI and XVIII secólo ("Studi e

Testi.'No. 235 [Vatican City, 1964]), esp. p. 65-83,98-101.
"Thus Wright, op. cit. ,p. 534.

374

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

of the interdict was determinative;'6 the biography, again, of his most
powerful opponent, the great controversialist theologian, Robert, Cardinal Bellarmine (1 542-162 1), in whose life, on the other hand, it was but
an aggravating episode;17 or, more broadly now, and focusing on the
ideological aspect of the crisis, what has been described as "the antithesis between the political and cultural achievement of the Italian Renaissance and the ideals of medieval Catholicism . . . reinvigorated by
the counter Reformation";18 or, again, the great Europe-wide ideological
strife concerning the doctrine of the indirectpower of the pope in matters temporal—a doctrine refurbished by Francisco de Vitoria (d. 1546)
and transformed into a commonplace by Bellarmine.19 That enormous
outburst of ideological energy, a fully integrated history of which has

still to be written, was generated in 1606 by the flourishing of that indi-

rect power in relation not only to Venice but also to England and
France. In England, in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot, it led to the imposition of an oath of allegiance on English Catholics, and in France it

eventuated, in the wake of the murder of Henri IV in 1610 by a Catholic

assassin, in the attempt of the Estates General to impose a similar oath
on French office-holders. The ideological strife that followed lasted from

1606 to the early 1620's, generating an enormous body of controver-

sialist literature (some of it contributed by James I of England himself)
and coming, particular Venetian and French issues notwithstanding, to
converge progressively on the English Oath of Allegiance controversy.20
And while this, I believe, is the broader context in which the meaning
"Thus Chabod, op. cit., pp. 43-103;Vincenzo M. Buffon, Chiesa di Cristo e Chiesa romana neue opere e neue lettere difra Paolo Sarpi (Louvain, 1941), esp. pp. 97- 103; Boris
Ulianich "Considerazioni e document! per una ecclesiologia di Paolo Sarpi," in Erwin Iserloh and Peter Manns (eds), Festgabe Joseph Lortz (2 vols.; Baden-Baden, 1958), II,

363-444; idem, the long introduction to his edition, Paolo Sarpi, Lettere ai Gallicani
(Wiesbaden, 1961), pp. xiii-cxlv; David Wootton, Paolo Sarpi: Between Renaissance and
Enlightenment (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 46-68. Cf. Giovanni Gambarin,"Il Sarpi alia luce di
studi recenti" Archivo véneto, Ser. 5,L-LI (1959), 78-105.
"James Broderick, Robert Bellarmine: Saint and Scholar (Westminster, Maryland,

1961), esp. pp. 24 1-263; cf. John Courtney Murray, SJ,"St. Robert Bellarmine on the Indirect Power," Theological Studies, IX (December, 1948), 491-535.
"Bouwsma, op. cit., p. 417.
"Francisco de Vitoria, Political Writings, ed. Anthony Pagden and Jeremy Lawrence

(Cambridge, 1991), pp. 45-108 (and esp. 82-101); cf. Murray, op. cit.

20For the Franco-Venetian aspect of the controversy, see Ulianich 's introduction to
Paolo Sarpi,Lettere at Gallicani, esp. pp. xix-xxxvii, and William J. Bouwsma,"Gallicanism
and the Nature of Christendom," in Anthony Molho and John A. Tedeschi (eds.), Renaissance Studies in Honor of Hans Baron (Decatur, Illinois, 1971), pp. 809-830. For the
Franco-English aspect, Charles H. Mcllwain (ed), The Political Works ofJames I (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1918), esp. pp. lxv-lxx;John Bossy, "Henry IV, the Appellants and the

Jesuits," .RecMSoní/ítóory,VIII (1965), 80-1 12; and J. H. M. Salmon's fine essay, "Gallican-

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

375

and historical significance of the polemical exchanges that accompanied the Venetian crisis can most fruitfully be assessed, I also believe
that their significance will not fully be disclosed unless one reads the
particular group of writings (by Bellarmine, Sarpi, and Richer) stimulated by the republication of the Gerson tracts in the context also of the
long tradition of conciliarist thinking which had persisted on into the
centuries after the dissolution in 1449 of the Council of Basel.

The grounds of such a belief are not likely, I realize, to be immediately
obvious. In his recent and very useful history of Catholic conciliar ideas
from the age of Reformation to the Enlightenment, Hermann Josef
Sieben makes no mention, after all, of the publicistic literature associated with the Oath of Allegiance controversy in general or the Venetian
interdict in particular.21 His silence on the matter, moreover, almost certainly reflects the fact that historical treatments of the Venetian crisis
themselves acknowledge in only glancing fashion the pertinence of the
conciliarist tradition. And that is true, not only of the general accounts,
from those of Pastor and Battistelli to those of Salvatorelli and

Bouwsma,22 but also of works devoted to Paolo Sarpi, to the propagandistic role he played during the crisis, to his religious ideas in general
and his ecclesiology in particular.23
Given the portrayal of the fate of the conciliar movement and conciliar theory in the years after the dissolution of Basel which, by the midism and Anglicanism in the Age of the Counter Reformation," ch. 7 of his Renaissance
and Revolt: Essays in the Intellectual and Social History ofEarly Modern France (Cambridge, 1987), pp. 155-188. And for the Venetian-English connection, G. Cozzi,"Fra Paolo
Sarpi, l'Anglicanesimo e la Historia del Concilio Tridentino,"i?ífista storica Italiana, LXIII

(1956), 556-619. Cf. Chabod,qp. cit. All of these intricate linkages are judiciously assessed
and set in their broader context by J. H. M. Salmon, "Catholic Resistance Theory, Ultra-

montanism, and the Royalist Response, 1580-1620," in J. H. Burns and Mark Goldie
(eds), The Cambridge History of Political Thought, 1450-1700 (Cambridge, 1991), pp.
247-253.

2,Hermann Josef Sieben, Die Katholische Konzilsidee von der Reformation bis zur
Aufklärung (Paderborn, 1988).
22Though Bouwsma is perhaps more alert than most to the pertinence of the conciliarist tradition. See his "Gallicanism and the Nature of Christendom," pp. 805-830, and his
Venice and the Defense ofRepublican Liberty.
"Thus Wootton, op. cit., pp. 45-76; Chabod, op.cit., pp. 43-103; Buffon, op. cit., pp.
102-103; Luigi Salvatorelli, "Le idee religiose di Fra Paolo Sarpi," in Atti della Accademia
Nazionale dei Lincei. Anno CCCCLI, Serie 8, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filo-

logiche, Memorie,V (1954), 31 1-360 (at 330); Ulianich,"Considerazioni e documenti per
una ecclesiologia di Paolo Sarpi," pp. 303-444. Ulianich pays somewhat greater attention
to the persistence of conciliarist ideas (at least in France) in his subsequent introduction
to his edition of Paolo Sarpi, Lettere ai Gallicani, pp. xiii-cxlv.

376

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

twentieth century, had long since become canonical, this state of affairs
should occasion little surprise. It was, after all, during a wholly extraordinary period in the life of the Latin Church that conciliar theory had
flourished. Though we now know its origins to have been located in a
more distant past,24 it was the disputed papal election of 1378, the subsequent protracted schism with rival lines of claimants competing obdurately for the papal office, and the dismal failure of repeated attempts
to put an end to the scandal that had ensured its growth to prominence
in the early-fifteenth century. As conciliarist ideas crystallized in the
thinking of the leading conciliar theorists at the Council of Constance

(1414-1418)—Pierre d'Ailly (d. I420),jean Gerson and Francesco Za-

barella (d. 1417), and in that of Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1464) at the Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence (1431-1449)—they coalesced into three

affiliated clusters or strands. The first involved the demand for reform of

the Church in head and members and the belief (ratified at Constance

in 1417 in the decree Frequens) that that reform could best be
achieved and consolidated through the regular assembly of general
councils. The second envisaged the constitution of the Church in quasioligarchic terms, its government ordinarily in the hands of the Roman
Curia, the pope being limited in the exercise of his power by that of the
cardinals, with whose "advice, consent, direction and remembrance" he

had to rule.25 The third strand, which may be referred to as "the strict
conciliar theory" (and which the Council of Constance at its fifth gen-

eral session endorsed in 1415 in the historic superiority decree Haec

sancta synodus/Sacrosanctä), involved the assertion that the pope,
however divinely instituted his office, was not an absolute monarch but
in some sense a constitutional ruler; that he possessed a merely ministerial authority delegated to him by the community of the faithful for
the good of the Church; that that community had not exhausted its inherent authority in the mere act of electing its ruler but had retained
whatever residual authority was necessary to prevent its own subversion or ruin; that it could exercise that authority via its representatives
assembled in a general council, could do so in certain critical cases even

against the wishes of the pope, and, in such cases, could proceed if need
be to judge, chastise, and even depose that pope.
With the triumph of Pope Eugenius IV over the Council of Basel,
these three strands, however, had come to be teased apart. Thus, while

"See Brian Tierney, Foundations of the Conciliar Theory.The Contribution of the Medieval Canonistsfrom Gratian to the Great Schism (Cambridge, 1955).
"The words are taken from the alleged professio fldei of Boniface VIII. See S. Baluzius
and J. Mansi (eds), Miscellanea (J vols.; Lucca, 1761-1764), HI, 418.

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

377

the quasi-oligarchic tradition certainly endured beyond that event, it did
so not among the defenders of the strict conciliar theory but at the
Roman Curia itself and in the writings, for example, of the great high pa-

palist, Juan de Torquemada (d. 1468). Similarly, as the fifteenth century

wore on, those who believed that the necessary reform in head and
members could be achieved only by means of general councils increasingly recoiled from advocacy of the strict conciliar theory. Hence, when
in 1511 Louis XII of France, in the teeth of papal opposition but with
the help of several dissident cardinals, succeeded in securing the assembly of a general council at Pisa, the majority of those churchmen
most committed to reform dashed his hopes by choosing to align themselves with the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517), which Pope Julius II
had convoked by way of retaliation.
Thus, as recently as a quarter of a century ago, both in his contribu-

tion to Fliehe and Martin's authoritative Histoire de l'Église and else-

where, Paul Ourliac could depict the year 1440 as a great ecclesiastical
and ecclesiological turning point, after which theologians and canonists alike had turned energetically to the "constructive" task of vindicating the papal monarchy.26 From that historiographie point of view,
which had long since established itself as the dominant one, the strict
conciliar theory was interpreted as an extreme position with little or no
basis in the orthodox doctrinal tradition and with suspect origins in the

antipapal speculations of those fourteenth-century radicals, William of
Ockham and Marsiglio of Padua. Already thrust into the shadows by the
promulgation in 1439 at the Council of Florence of the decree Laetentur coeli (which concluded with a definition of the Roman primacy), it

was portrayed as having been proscribed in 1460 by Pius II's bull Execrabilis (forbidding appeals from the pope to a future general council),

and as having been labeled clearly as a heterodox opinion in 1516 by

the Fifth Lateran Council's decree Pastor aeternus. If it was conceded

to have enjoyed a continuing half-life in France among the Gallican jurists and theologians, that fact was itself viewed as constituting something of an historical aberration and one destined in the fullness of time
to be obliterated.

But history, of course, tends usually to be written by the victors. The
view of the conciliar movement and of conciliar theory described
26See Ourliac in E. Delaruelle, E.-P Labande and P. Ourliac, L'Église au temps du Grand
Schisme et de la crise conciliaire (1378- 1449), Vol. XTV oí Histoire de l'Église, edd. A.
Fliehe and V Martin (21 vols.; Paris, 1946-1964), p. 285; cf. Paul Ourliac and Henri Gilles,

"La problématique de l'époque: les sources," in Gabriel le Bras (ed.), Histoire du Droit et

des Institutions de l'Église en Occident (18 vols.; Paris, 1956- 1986), XIII, 1,51.

378

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

above, and dominant for the past century and more down at least to the
time of the Second Vatican Council, constitutes no exception to that
rule.27 That view can be traced back to the historical arguments Juan de
Torquemada had developed to defend the papal cause during the Council of Basel and had later incorporated in his enormously influential
Summa de Ecclesia (ca. 1453)· Those arguments, further refined in the

early sixteenth century by Thomas de Vio, Cardinal Cajetan (d. 1534),

were put in canonical form a century later by that great "administrator
of doctrine,"28 Robert, Cardinal Bellarmine. Though contested for centuries by writers of Gallican sympathies, they succeeded finally in
sweeping the historiographie field in the wake of the political, ecclesiastical, and theological developments which culminated in 1870 with
the First Vatican Council's triumphant definition of papal primacy and
infallibility.
The years since World War II, however (and certainly since the publication in 1949 of the first volume of Hubert Jedin s fine History of the
Council of Trent),29 have witnessed a marked revival of scholarly interest in the history of the conciliar movement and in the career of conciliar thinking during the centuries subsequent to the ending of Basel.30
As a result, though it has yet to be fully assimilated into late-medieval
and early-modern historiography in general (and is certainly not reflected in the literature devoted to Venice), there has been a significant
shift in the way in which scholars have come to view the nature, orison which, see Thomas M. Izbicki.'Papalist Reaction to the Council of Constancejuan

de Torquemada to the Present," Church History, LV (March, 1986), 7-20.
28BoUWSnIa, Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty, p. 297, is responsible for
this felicitous designation.
"Hubert Jedin, A History of the Council of Trent, trans. Ernest Graf (2 vols.; London

and Edinburgh, 1957, 1961), I, 1-165. The first volume of the original Geschichte des

Konzils von Trient was published at Freiburg in 1949.
J0The body of pertinent scholarly literature is now enormous. For useful reviews of
that literature down to 1981, see Hans Schneider, Der Konziliarismus als Problem der

neueren katholischen Theologie (Berlin and NewYork, 1976); Remigius Bäumer, "Die Erforschung des Konziliarismus," in Bäumer (ed.), Die Entwicklung des Konziliarismus:

Werden and Nachwirken der konziliaren Idee (Darmstadt, 1976), pp. 3-50; Giuseppe Al-

berigo, "Il movimento conciliare (xiv-xv sec.) nella ricerca storica rícente," Studi medievali, XIX (1978), 913-950; idem, Chiesa conciliare: Identité e signifleato del

conciliarismo (Brescia, 1981), pp. 340-354;Francis Oakley,"Natural Law.the Corpus Mys-

ticum, and Consent in Conciliar Thought from John of Paris to Matthias Ugonius," Speculum, LVI (1981), 786-910. Among subsequent contributions to the field special note
should be taken of Hans-Jürgen Becker, Die Appellation vom Papst an ein Allgemeines
Konzil. Historische Entwicklung und kanonistische Diskussion im späten Mittelalter
und derfrühen Neuzeit (Vienna, 1988), and Sieben, op. cit.

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

379

gins, and ultimate fate of conciliar thinking. It is now recognized that
conciliar theory long predated both the Great Schism itself as well as
the writings of Ockham and Marsiglio, and that it had well-articulated
roots in the teaching of the twelfth- and thirteenth-century canon
lawyers.31 Similarly, and more to our point, it has also come to be recognized that its demise was by no means as rapid as it long was customary
to suppose. In its own day, it turns out, Execrabilis was viewed less as
an authoritative pronouncement than as a statement of the views of
one particular faction. The subsequent and repeated papal condemnations of the appeal to a future general council themselves witness eloquently to the fact that the decree's proscriptions were widely ignored
right on into the sixteenth century. It now seems clear, again, and as the
Gallicans had long ago insisted,32 that the crucial phases of the 1516 decree Pastor aeternus are simply too restricted in meaning to constitute
any unambiguous condemnation of the strict conciliar theory33 It is
also clear that that theory endured through the late-fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, not only in France but also in Germany, Scotland, and
Poland, and, perhaps more surprisingly, in England and in Italy itself—

where, in Venetian territory for example, it continued to be champi-

oned at the University of Padua.34 Indeed, without the persistence of
such ecclesiological tensions into the Age of Reformation, it would be
hard to explain the failure of the churchmen assembled at the Council

"This is largely the achievement of Brian Tierney; see above n. 24.
"For a classic statement, see Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Defensio Declarationis Conventus Cleri Gallicani de ecclesiastica potestate, Bk. IV, ch. 18, in Oeuvres Complètes de
Bossuet (12 vols.; Paris, 1836),LX, 312-313.

"See Francis Oakley, "Conciliarism at the Fifth Lateran Council?" Church History, XIi

(December, 1972), 452-463.

"See Francis Oakley, "Constance, Basel, and the Two Pisas: The Conciliarist Legacy in

Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England," Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum, 26

(1 994), 87- 1 1 8, in which I venture the claim that "people in England for much of the seventeenth century [were] better acquainted with conciliar history and the writings of the
conciliarists than at any time preceding—the fifteenth century itself not excluded." One
of the surprising conciliarist survivals in Italy was the presence of more than one conciliarist at the court of Pope Julius II himself. See Hubert Jedin, Giovanni Gozzadini, ein
Konziliarist am Hofe Julius' IL," in Jedin, Kirche des Glaubens, Kirche der Geschichte:
Ausgewählte Aufsätze und Vorträge (2 vols.; Freiburg, 1966), II, 17-74; Nelson Minnich,
"Girolamo Massaino: Another Conciliarist at the Papal Court, Julius II to Adrian VI," in

Nelson H. Minnich et ah, Studies in Catholic History in Honor ofJohn Tracy Ellis
(Wilmington, Delaware, 1985), pp. 520-565. For other Italian exponents of conciliarist
ideas in the mid-sixteenth century at Padua and elsewhere, see Thomas P Mayer, "Marco
Mantova, a Bronze Age Conciliarist," Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum, XTV (1984),

385-408, and his Thomas Starkey and the Commonweal: Humanist Politics and Reli-

gion in the Reign of Henry VHl (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 172-187.

380

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

of Trent,55 and despite the challenges handed down by the novel Protestant ecclesiologies of the day, to promulgate any decree on the nature of
the Christian Church. And if we recognize that fact, then the idea of undertaking a re-reading both of Gerson's tracts on excommunication and
of the responses they stimulated in the context of the ongoing history
of conciliar thinking should properly seem less obviously quixotic.
II

When one sets out to undertake such a reading, however, the first
thing that strikes one is the degree to which these particular Gersonian
tracts focus on ecclesiastical authority in general rather than on the
papal office in particular or on the relationship of conciliar authority to
papal. The second of the tracts, Esamine di quell'asserzione: Sententia
pastoris, etiam injusta, timenda est* though it refers glancingly to the
Council of Constance, makes no reference at all to the relative jurisdictional standing of council and pope. And if the first does so in its eighth
considerazione—and does so, indeed, quite forcefully, it still devotes no
more than a single, 150-word paragraph (about a tenth of the whole
text),37 to the matter. That this should be so is not altogether surprising,
given the fact that both tracts postdate the election of a pope of undoubted legitimacy and the ending, therefore, of the long agony of the
Great Schism. They were written, in effect, in April, 1418, either during
the very last days of the Council of Constance or in the days immediately after its dissolution.58 It has been claimed that the idea of translating them was suggested to Sarpi by the prominent Gallican theologian,

Edmond Richer (1559-1631), future Syndic of the Sorbonne (1608-

1612), who was working hard to wean his Parisian colleagues from
their growing ultramontane sympathies and to reattach them to a form
of theological as well as political Gallicanism. And Richer was unquestionably a person of conciliarist sympathies. His De ecclesiastica etpolítica potestate, a highly controversial work which he was to publish in
"Among whom, as Sarpi claimed, apprehension about the potential recrudescence of
conciliar ideas was widespread. See Paolo Sarpi, The History of the Council of Trent,
trans. Nathaniel Brent (London, 1676), Bk. II, 216;Y 473;VI, 482-483, 529.
"Printed in Gambarin, II, 180- 184 (at 183). See above, note 9.
"Resoluzione circa la materia delle scommuniche ed irregolarita, in Gambarin, II,
175-179 (at 177-178). Of the twelve considerazioni only 8 to 12 focus specifically on
the pope's exercise of his authority.
"See Jean Gerson, Oeuvres complètes, éd. Glorieux, !,"Essai biographique," p. 133.

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

381

l6ll, was among other things distinguished by its approving evocation

of the superiority decrees of Constance and Basel and of the conciliarist
teaching of Nicholas of Cusa, Gerson, and the "other Parisian Doctors."39

But if Paolo Sarpi had long been interested in such Gallican commitments and had been in correspondence with leading Gallican authors
since 1604, Ulianich, in his careful study of Sarpi's relations with the
Gallicans, finds no evidence at all to back the claim that Richer had any
involvement in the republication of the Gerson tracts.40 Even if he had
had such an involvement, and had Sarpi at this point actually wanted to
evoke against Paul V the spectre of conciliarism, there were certainly
other works of Gerson that would have served his purpose far better
than the two he actually chose to translate. Also dating to the period immediately after the Council of Constance, for example, was the An
liceat in causis fidei a Papa appellate?'1 a succinct piece "whose defense of the legitimacy of appeals from pope to general council would
certainly have been directly pertinent to the situation in which Venice
now found itself.

'The work was repeatedly republished, and in French as well as Latin. See the Latin
edition printed in Melchior Goldast (ed.), Monarchia S. Romani Imperii (3 vols.; Frank-

furt, 1611-1614), III, 797-806 (at 800-802, 804-805). For an analysis of the work and an
account of its publishing history, see E. Puyol, Edmond Richer: Étude historique et cri-

tique sur la Rénovation du Gallicanisme au commencement du xvif siècle (2 vols.;
Paris, 1876), 1, 212-271; II, 423-424. For the general background, see Aimé-Georges Martimort, Le Gallicanisme de Bossuet (Paris, 1953), pp. 13-20; Bouwsma, "Gallicanism and
the Nature of Christendom," pp. 809-830; Salmon, Renaissance and Revolt,p. 188. Puyol,
op. cit., is still the standard biography; for a more recent biographical sketch, see J. Carreyre in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique (17 vols.; Paris, 1909-1972), XIII, Pt. 2,
2698-2702 s.v. "Richer, Edmond."
"See Paolo Sarpi, Lettere ai Gallicani, ed. Ulianich, p. 1 27, where, in a letter to Jacques
Gillot, Sarpi noted that he had been interested in Gallicanism for some twenty years now;
cf. Ulianich's lengthy introduction, pp. xiii-cxlii (at xxii). See also Bouwsma, Venice and
the Defense of Republican Liberty, p. 236; Salvatorelli, "Venice, Paolo V, e fra Paolo
Sarpi," p. 28.
41TeXt in Jean Gerson, Oeuvres complètes, ed. Glorieux, VI, 282-290. The tract was oc-

casioned by the decision of the Polish delegates at Constance (in response to Martin Vs
unwillingness to condemn the Teutonic knight, John of Falkenberg, for his advocacy of
tyrannicide) to appeal to the next general council. Though the surviving evidence is
scanty, it seems that, by way of reaction, the pope had had read in consistory on March 1 0,

1418, the sketch of a proposed bull denying the legitimacy of such an appeal. Gerson

wrote, then, to defend that right and the commitment to the ecclesiological principle in
which it was grounded, namely, that of the superiority of council to pope. In the event,
MartinV refrained from promulgating the putative bull. For the incident and its outcome,
see Remigius Bäumer, "Das Verbot der Konzilsappellation Martins V in Konstanz," in A.
Franzen and W Müller,Z?as Konzil von Konstanz: Beiträge zu seiner Geschichte und The-

382

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

During the interdicts of 1482 and 1509, it should be noted, the Republic had appealed from the judgment of the pope to that of a future
general council, and though it was not formally to adopt that tactic in
the I6O6-I607 crisis, Sarpi, in his official capacity as legal and theologi-

cal adviser was far from ruling it out.42 On January 28, 16O6, it is true, in

his first public consultation immediately prior to his appointment to office (and in the wake of an earlier private consultation in which he had
suggested the advisability of an attempt at accommodation),43 he had
advised that the appeal to a council was at that time inopportune. Nothing, he had argued, could be more odious to the pope than such a move.

It would call into question his very authority, placing it below that of
the council and recalling to mind the indignities Eugenius IV had endured at Basel as well as the dangers that had still threatened even at
Trent. But if such an appeal, therefore, was to be viewed as a weapon of
last resort, it was still (as in his own day Gerson had also insisted), a perfectly legitimate response di ragione to a papal abuse of power and one
with a long history of use by princes and ecclesiastics alike.44 Toward
the end of April then, when Sarpi returned to the issue in a further advisory to the Doge and Senate after the interdict had actually been im-

posed, he once more defended the legitimacy of appealing to a future

council. And he also concluded that if the Republic were now to deem
it helpful to resort to such an appeal, it should not allow itself to be deflected from that course either by previous papal prohibitions or by assertions of the superiority of pope to council.45
That being the case, it is perhaps the more striking that the tracts of
Gerson he actually chose to translate at this very time were so little con-

ologie (Freiburg, 1964), pp. 187-213; Paul de Vooght, Les pouvoirs du Concile et l'autorité du Pape au Concile de Constance (Paris, 1965), pp. 73-76; Alberigo, op. cit., pp.
233-237.

42Chabod, op. ai, pp. 70-71; Salvatorelli, "Venezia, Paolo V, e fra Paolo Sarpi," p. 27— ar-

guing here against Pastor's claim {History of the Popes,XXM, 123-134) that Sarpi was responsible for instigating at this time a hardening in the position the Senate had adopted
vis-à-vis the pope.
<JSalvatorelli, "Venezia, Paolo y e fra Paolo Sarpi," p. 27.
"See Sarpi, Scrittura sopra laforza e validità delta scommunica giusta e ingiusta e

sopra Ii remedii "dejure" e "defacto"da usare contro le censure ingiuste, in Gambarin,

II, 29-40 (at 33-34). Cf. Chabod, op. cit., pp. 70-71; Salvatorelli, "Venezia, Paolo y e fra
Paolo Sarpi," pp. 27-28.
"Sarpi, Scrittura intorno l'appelazione al concilio o altro dafarsiper mortificare gli

atti delpontífice, in Gambarin, II, 74-85 (esp. 85). Cf. Chabod, op. cit., pp. 80-82.

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

383

cerned with the issue and were so much more generally focused on the
abuse of the power of excommunication. That had long been something of a standard topos in the literature of ecclesiastical reform.46 As
Sarpi himself was careful to point out in his preface to the translation, it
had recently found a clear reflection in the Tridentine canon decreeing

that the penalty of excommunication be imposed only with modera-

tion and circumspection.47 And that sentiment was clearly shared by
Bellarmine himself. Though in his reply to the first tract Bellarmine labored mightily to disagree with Gerson (to the extent, indeed, of misrepresenting at one point what the latter had actually said),48 he was

clearly in accord with the substance of more than half of the twelve
considerazioni that made up the work.

Why, then, the promptness and vehemence of his reply to it? Two
things in particular, and both resonate to the fear that conciliarism was
still a present threat and something that called for unremitting viligance

on the part of the Church. First, Bellarmine's outraged sense that the

purpose of disseminating in the vernacular Gerson's exaggeratedly negative view of the papacy of his own unquestionably troubled era was
that of encouraging among contemporary Venetians the fallacious
sense that the papacy of their own day was no better.49 Second, his disapproval of the choice of a "suspect author "like Gerson to speak to this
sensitive matter of the force of excommunication when there was no

lack, after all, of "safer" authorities to invoke—people such as Saints
ÄSee, for example, the typical condemnation in the Tractatus de materia conciUi ge-

neralis, which Pierre d'Ailly, Gerson's mentor, wrote in 1402/3 when he was Bishop of
Cambrai—edited by Francis Oakley, The Political Thought of Pierre d'Ailly: The Voluntarist Tradition (New Haven and London, 1964), App. Ill, pp. 244-342 (at 325-326).
"Cañones et Decreta Sacrosancti Oecumenici et Generalis ConciUi Tridentini sub

Paulo 111, Julio 111, Pio TV Pontiflcibus Max. Celebrati, ed. J. LePlat (Antwerp, 1779), Sess.
25,De Reform, c. 3,pp- 301-302. Sarpi,"Al pio e religioso lettore," Trattato e resoluzione
sopra la validità delle scommuniche di Giovanni Gersone, in Gambarin.II, 173.

*As Sarpi was quick to point out, and as Bellarmine in a later tract was ruefully to concede. See Sarpi, Apologia per Ie opposizioni fatte dalTillustrissimo e reverendissimo
Signor Cardinale Bellarminio alii Trattati e risoluzioni di Giovanni Gersone sopra la
validità delle scommuniche, in Gambarin, III, 43-189 (at 1 16-1 17); cf. Robert, Cardinal
Bellarmine, Risposta alle oppositioni di Fra Paolo Servita contra la scrittura de Cardinale Bellarmino— printed with continuous pagination (and after the tract of the title) in
Risposta di Card. Bellarmino al Trattato de i sette Theologi di Venetia sopra l'interdetto

délia Santità di Nostro Signore Papa Paolo Quinto (Rome, 1606), pp. 73- 1 39 (at 109).

"Bellarmine, Risposta alle oppositioni di Fra Paolo Servita contra la Scrittura de
Cardinale Bellarmino, p. 118. Cf. Risposta de Card. Bellarmino, ad un libretto intitulato Trattato, e resolutione sopra la validità de le scommuniche di Gio. Gersono (Rome,

1606), p. 77.

384

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

Thomas, Bonaventura, or Antonino.50 Gerson, he says, may doubtless
have been a scholar "of great knowledge and piety, "but his views on the
matter of the papal authority were of "no moment whatsoever." On that
issue, the problem with Gerson was that "the unhappiness" of the times
through which he had lived—the protracted nature of the schism and
the hope of ending it through the agency of a general council—had
conspired to lead him improperly to downplay the authority of the

pope and to aggrandize that of the council. As a result, he had fallen into

"manifest error contrary to the Sacred Scripture and to the common
teaching of the theologians who lived both before and after those
times."51 That "most grave and manifest error" Bellarmine saw as being
encapsulated so poisonously in the eighth consideration of Gerson's
first tract that he viewed the translator who put it forward as pertinent
to the present Venetian situation as having revealed himself, by so
doing, to be "something less than Catholic" (Si dimostra poco
Catholico).51 On this consideration, then, he spent most of his time, and
against it he leveled his heaviest artillery."
v'Risposta . . . ad un libretto intitúlate Trattato e resolutione sopra la validità de le

scommuniche, pp. 64-65.
"Ibid.

"Ibid.,p.71.
"As we shall see, the precise wording of this eighth consideration turns out to be important, and it may be helpful to reproduce here both the Italian and original Latin versions, as follows: For the Italian, see Gambarin.II, 177-178:"CONSIDERAZIONEVIII. Porta
piu pericolo Io sprezzo delle chiavi verso la persona del summo pontefice che verso l'inferiore, perché dagli abusi degl'inferiori è aperto il ricorso al papa per il beneficio del-

l'appellazione. E se alcun dica che parimente si puè appellare dal papa al concilio

generale, dicevano altre volte, inanzi il concilio generale pisano e costanziense, che questo
non era in alcun modo lecito; ed allegavano le sue ragioni a favor loro, molto chiare, per
quanto loro pareva. Ma nondimeno al presente costantemente si afferma che il negare la
superiorità del concilio sopra il papa sia eresia, condannata per constituzione expressis-

sima e praticata nel detto concilio di Costanza, si come altrove più diffusamente è stato
mostrato: per il che si risponde altramente, cioè che non si puè né debbe celebrar cosi

fácilmente e per leggier causa un concilio per udir le appellazioni (dove anco fusse lecito
appellarsi), si corne fácilmente si ha ricorso al papa." And the Latin text (Gerson, Oeuvres

complètes, ed. Glorieux, VI, 295): "Considerado octava. Contemptus clavium plus habet
periculi erga pesonam Summi Pontificis quam erga inferiores, quoniam ab abusibus inferioribus patet recursus ad papam per appellationis subsidium. Et si dicatur quod ita potest

a papa fieri appellatio ad concilium generale, dixerunt olim ante concilium generale
Pisanum et Constantiense quod hoc nullo modo licebat; et allegant jura sua pro se valde,

sicut eis videtur, expressa. Sed constanter nunc asseritur quod est haeresis damnata per
constitutionem expressissiman et practicatam in concilio praedicto Constantiensi, prout
alibi diffusais est ostensum. Respondetur igitur aliter quod non pro levibus causis ubi
etiam liceret, potest aut debet pro appellationibus prosequendis passim concilium celebran sicut habet recursus ad papam."

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

385

In Bellarmine's eyes, Gerson's greatest offense in the brief paragraph

in question was that of having insisted that the Council of Constance
had pronounced it to be heretical to deny the right of an appeal from

pope to council. That claim Bellarmine not unreasonably inflated into
the assertion that Constance had declared it "to be heresy to deny the
superiority of the council to the pope," and he then went on to attack it
on three grounds.54 First, that despite having read and re-read that coun-

cil's proceedings, he himself had been unable to track down any such

declaration. Second, that the superiority decree of Constance's fourth
session (the first version of Haec sancta synodus)" was not to be read
as applicable to any pope whatsoever and certainly not to any canonically elected pope universally held to be legitimate. Instead, it was to be

viewed as applicable only to the three dubious claimants of that day,

over whom the universal Church and the council representing it could
unquestionably exercise authority and from whom it could legitimately
demand obedience. Third, that the decree in question, dating as it did to
a time when there was no unquestioned pope and lacking the subsequent legitimating approbation of Martin V, had no pertinence to anything but the remediation of the Great Schism itself. As a result, Pius II,
Julius II (and subsequent popes in their reissues of the bull In coena
dotnint) had imposed a sentence of excommunication on anyone appealing from pope to general council. Reason and the teaching of the
Scriptures both served to underline the "manifestly erroneous" nature
of Gerson's position. So, too, did the general councils of the Church.

The Fifth Lateran Council in 1516, for example, had expressly affirmed
that the pope is above any council whatsoever. In any case (and this asserted by way of triumphant conclusion), "the Holy Church is not like
the Republic of Venice which can be said to be . . . above the prince."

"Nor is it like a worldly kingdom," where the power of the monarch is
derived from the people. Instead it is "a most perfect kingdom and an
absolute monarchy, which depends not on the people . . . but on the di-

vine will alone."56

In the absence of a tradition of conciliarist thinking that he thought
to be of continuing vitality and capable still of constituting a potent
threat to papal authority, it would be hard to explain the forcefulness of
Bellarmine's response, or the fact that he devoted a full third of his criMFor what follows see Bellarmine, Risposta de Card. Bellarmino ad un libretto intitúlate Trattato, e resolutione sopra la validità de le scommuniche di Gio. Gersone, pp.

72-77.

"See below, note 69.

''Bellarmine, Risposta de Card. Bellarmino ad un libretto . . . di Gio. Gersone, p. 76.

386

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

tique of Gerson's first tract to a refutation of the strict conciliar theory.
And it would be similarly difficult to explain his willingness to dismiss
some of the reasoning of Gerson's second tract on the mistaken ground
that it, too, presupposed the principle of the superiority of the council
to pope." Such was his preoccupation (obsession even) with the ever
present danger posed by that conciliarist principle that he misunderstood what Gerson was actually saying in the eighth consideration of
the first tract and (instinctively, it seems) took him to be speaking, not
of the heightened danger attaching to contempt for the power of the
keys when that contempt was directed toward the person of the pope,
but rather when it sprang from the abuse of that power by the pope.58
Noting later on, in turn, in his own reply to Bellarmine's Risposta, that
this eighth consideration of Gerson's was in fact "in favor of the Apostolic See" (italics mine), Sarpi wryly commented that if one were to ignore the claim about conciliar superiority (which Gerson had advanced
only incidentally), there would be nothing in the consideration worthy
of reprehension even from Bellarmine's own point of view. But from
that latter point of view, of course, what was merely incidental to Gerson and to Sarpi was, in effect, the truly central issue. And by devoting
disproportionate attention to it, Bellarmine in fact succeeded in promoting what it had clearly been his intention to deflect, that is, nothing
less than the clear insertion of the old conciliarist claim into the growing body of publicistic literature now being generated by the imposition of the interdict upon Venice and by that republic's efforts to defend
itself and to rally support for its cause in the capitals of Europe—most
notably in Paris and London.
The connection with France was particularly important. It went beyond Sarpi's own long-standing interest in the Gallican Church, in
which, he confessed later on to the Huguenot Jérôme Groslot de 1 Isle,
alone among the churches owing allegiance to Rome could still be detected "some vestiges of the ancient liberty."59 During the crisis of the
interdict Venice had appropriated some 2,000 scudi to encourage
French writers to enter the lists in defense of the Republic, and Pietro
Priuli, the Venetian ambassador to Paris, was urged to secure such help
from the theologians of the Sorbonne.60 Given the growth of ultramon'7IbId. pp. 80-84.
wHe himself later conceded that he had misread Gerson on this point. See above,
note 49.

"See Fra Paolo Sarpi, Lettere at Protestanti, ed. M. D. Busnelli (2 vols.; Bari, 1931), I,

36—September 13, 1608. Cf. Ulianich (ed), Lettere ai Gallicani,p. cxliv.

Tor this whole effort see the introduction to Ulianich (ed), Lettere ai Gallicani, pp.

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

387

tane sympathies among them, it is not surprising that he had less success with that group than he did with the Gallican jurisconsults. Among
the latterjacques Leschassier and Louis Servin both wrote in support of
the Venetian cause and, by so doing, suggested an alignment of Gallican
and Venetian interests in opposition to the papacy.61

In September, 1606, moreover, Priuli was able to forward to Venice a

list of older theological writings whose republication might help the
Venetian cause. It had been drawn up for him, he said, by "one of the
leading and oldest doctors" of the Sorbonne, and it included works by
such conciliarists or protoconciliarist authors as John of Paris, William
of Ockham, Pierre d'Ailly, Jacques Almain, John Mair, and Philippus Decius.62 Priuli may also have been responsible for inducing Edmond

Richer to produce in I606 his influential edition of the works of Ger-

son. That edition included also some of the conciliar tracts of d'Ailly, Almain, and Mair, and Cardinal du Perron, in his famous Oration of I6I6
to the Third Estate, later identified it as the source to which "the Mais-

ters of the Kinges retinue of the Parliament of Paris do remit and refer
their Readers, to understand what be the batteries and strongest defences of the Jurisdiction Spiritual and temporal [i.e. against the
Pope] ."63 Despite Henri IV's policy of strict neutrality vis-à-vis the Venetian affair, Priuli succeeded further in having one of Sarpi's most important public defenses of the Venetian position—the Considerazioni
sopra Ie censure délia santità di papa Paulo V contra La Serenissima

República di Venetia (I606)—translated into French and republished
in Paris.64 And Ulianich concludes that the "principalissimo Theologo"
whom Priuli claimed finally in January, 1607, to have induced to write in
xxii-xxxvii; Bouwsma, Venice and the Defense ofRepublican Liberty, pp. 397-404.
6lFor the sympathies of the Sorbonne theologians, see Martimort, op. cit. ,pp. 17-56; cf.
Bouwsma, Venice and the Defense ofRepublican Liberty, p. 399;Wootton,o/>. cit. ,p. 50.

Leschassier contributed the Consultatio Parisii cujusdam de controversia inter sanctitatem Pauli V et Serenis. Rempublicam Venetam, ad virum clariss. Venetum (Paris,

1606), and Servin the Pro libértate status et reipublicae Venetorum Gallofranci ad
Philenetum epístola (Paris, 1607). Melchior Goldast later made the first of these tracts
(along with other Gallican writings, and tracts in support of Venice) readily available in
his Monorchia S. Romani Lmperii,Vo\. IH.

62See Ulianich (ed.~),Lettere ai Gallicani, pp. xxvi-xxvii.
65I quote from the contemporary English translation of Jacques Davy, Cardinal du Pert??,?? Oration made on the Part of the Lordes Spirituall in the Chamber of the Third

Estate (St. Omer, I6l6),pp. 49-50; cf. pp. 121-122.

"See Ulianich (ed.), Lettre ai Gallicani, p. xxviii; Bouwsma, "Gallicanism and the Nature of Christendom," pp. 828-830. Chabod, op. cit. , p. 97, dates the Considerazioni to no

earlier than the end ofApril, 1606. Printed in Gambarin, II, 185-254.

388

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

support of Venice was none other than Richer himself, and that the
work in question was the short Apologia pro Ecclesiae et Concilii auctoritate, adversasJoannis Gersonii doctoris christianissimi obtrectatores, which, without publisher or place of publication indicated, was

first printed in Italy in 1607.65

In that work Richer pursues a line of march that witnesses eloquently
to the damage Bellarmine had done to his own papalist cause by his disproportionate focus on the conciliarist element in Gerson's tracts on
excommunication. As we have seen, Gerson had devoted no more than

a brief paragraph to that matter. Bellarmine, however, had belabored it
for some seven long pages. And Richer, writing by way of rebuttal to

Bellarmine's representation of Gerson's doctrine as temerarious and

evocative of contemporary heretical opinions, was now moved to devote the bulk of his Apologia to the Church's constitution in general
and the central role of general councils in particular, turning only in the
last three pages of a forty-eight-page discourse to the issue of the abuse
of the power of the keys, which had, in fact, been Gerson's chosen subject. If Bellarmine, he argued, was right in his imputation of heterodoxy
to Gerson's teaching, what then, are we to make of the similar teaching
of those great cardinals, Pierre d'Ailly, Francesco Zabarella, and Nicholas
of Cusa—or, for that matter, the cognate views of such conciliarists as
Panormitanus, Jacques Almain, John Mair, and Philippus Decius? And
what, indeed, of the Gallican Church itself, which "has always received
and defended the teaching of Gerson as Catholic and orthodox"?66 If

people like Cajetan or Bellarmine were permitted to impute doctrinal
deviancy to that teaching, were Almain, Mair, or, in these latter days,
Paolo Sarpi himself, not to be permitted to rise in its defense (p. 3)?

In the pages that follow this introductory flourish Richer, then, sets
forth some fifty-three axiomata designed to demonstrate that Gerson's
teaching was "altogether in conformity with natural, divine, and canon
law."67 In so doing, he is led—in sweeping fashion, and with multiple in"Ulianich (ed.), Lettere ai Gallicani, p. xxix. Though the work was republished later
on in the seventeenth century, this first edition (published in Italy and marred by mistakes) does not appear to have enjoyed a wide circulation. I used the copy in the British

Library and there appear to be no copies in any North American library. For the background to the work and a publishing history, see Puyol, op. cit., 1, 97-101; II, 422.
"Richer, Apologia pro Ecclesiae et Concilii aiictoritate, p. 3, ending: "Quid [eveniet]
denique toti Ecclesiae Gallicanae, quae Gersonii doctrinam pro Catholica et Orthodoxa
semper imbibit atque propagavit." In what follows, the numbers in parentheses will refer
to the pagination of Richer's work.

''Richer, Apologia pro Ecclesiae et Concilii auctoritate, p. 10:". . . Gersonii doctrinam

legi divinae,naturali,et canonicae penitus conformem esse demonstrare aggrediamur."

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

389

vocations of the conciliarist views of d'Ailly, Gerson, Almain, Mair, and
the doctores Parisienses in general—to insist, among other things, on
the fact that absolute or despotic monarchy is repugnant to natural and

divine law (p. 14), that the best political regimen is monarchy tempered

by aristocracy (p. 15), that the universal Church, therefore, is a monarchical polity, instituted by Christ for a supernatural end, and, via the
agency of the ecumenical council, tempered in its makeup by an aristocratic component (p. 20). Its monarch and "essential head" being Christ
himself, Peter and his papal successors are no more than "mutable,""secondary," and "accidental" heads (p. 22). As a result, and if need be, the
general council, which represents the universal Catholic Church and
has its power immediately from Christ, is capable of assembling itself
without and even in opposition to the pope (p. 31), of performing
every act of jurisdiction that he can (p. 33),68 and, beyond that, being
"superior to the pontiff in infallibility and authority," can act as it did at
Constance in the case of Pope John XXIII to curb the pope's abuse of
his authority (pp. 35-36).
Thus, the existence of a right of appeal from pope to general council
is not to be gainsaid (p. 35)· Nor, given Bellarmine's own earlier admission that the conciliar status of the fifth Lateran Council had remained
in dispute among Catholics "down to this day," was he warranted in
brandishing its decree of 1516 in order to demonstrate the validity of
his counter claim that the pope was superior to the council (p. 39).
Nor, again, was that same Bellarmine correct in his claim that the Constance superiority decree Haec sancta synodus was applicable only to
Constance itself and to the particular conditions of schism then pre-

vailing. Had he read the final version of that decree approved at thefifth

general session of Constance (and not simply the earlier version concurred in at the fourth), he would have seen that it applied to any general council whatsoever (p. 1 1), and not simply to pontiffs of dubious
legitimacy but to those whose titles were wholly uncontested (pp.

38-39)69 Hence, and pace Bellarmine's argument to the contrary, was

demonstrated the rectitude of the claim that Gerson advanced in the
"Though it cannot administer the sacraments or preach, acts which presuppose individual human agency, Richer is distinguishing here, and in traditional canonistic and theological fashion, between the potestas ordinis, the sacramental power conferred on
clerics by ordination, and the potestas jurisdictionis, or power of governance or administration, which does not presuppose for its exercise priestly ordination.
69AHd here Richer cites the crucial phrases of the final version oí Haec sancta. For the
formation of the decree and the differing texts approved at the fourth and fifth general

sessions of the council, see the careful discussion in Alberigo, op. cit. , pp. 165-186. The actual texts are printed side by side on pp. 168-173.

390

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

eighth consideration of his first tract on excommunication to the effect
that the Council of Constance had dubbed it heretical to deny the superiority of council to pope.™
And so on. In the sweep and the insistence of its affirmation of the
strict conciliar theory, Richer's Apologia is, if anything, more focused
and forceful than his subsequent De ecclesiastica et política potestate

(l6l 1), the notorious work that proved to be too radical for the taste of
his colleagues on the Paris theology faculty and led to his dismissal
from the position of Syndic of the Sorbonne.71 In comparison, indeed,
Sarpi's own (and earlier) reply to Bellarmine's critique of Gerson, a

much lengthier work than Richer's and published in September, 1606, is

at once more comprehensive, more cautious, and more measured.72
Nonetheless, in that about a quarter of it is devoted to matters conciliar
and especially to a long rebuttal of Bellarmine's attack on Gerson's
eighth consideration, it clearly continued the process that Bellarmine
had hoped to derail but had unwittingly succeeded in fueling, namely,
that of drawing to the attention of a new generation of Europeans the
enduring presence in the Church of a strong tradition of conciliarist
thinking. Similarly, Sarpi acquainted contemporaries with the nature
and history of that tradition and the degree to which it was grounded in
modalities of Catholic ecclesiological thinking dating back to a very distant past.

In the course of the lengthy and sometimes convoluted arguments
with which he buttressed that effort, Sarpi understandably touched
upon many of the same issues as Richer was to do. Thus, he "anticipated" Richer's needling of Bellarmine by reminding the latter that
there was little point in his flourishing the authority of the Fifth Lateran
'"Richer, Apologia pro Ecclesiae et Concilii auctoritate,p. 11. Here, having discussed
the fourth and fifth sessions of Constance and the decree Haec sancta synodus, Richer
concludes: "Ex his principiis, directe, evidenter, et necessario concludit Gersonius decretum istud fide Catholica, credi oportere, et propterea haeresim esse per Concilium Constantiense damnatam, asserere Papam non subesse jucidio correctivo Concilii universalis.
Ut quid ergo Cardinalis Bellarminus, in examine considerationis octavae tractatus Gersonii, confidenter asserit, Concilium Constantiense nullibi déclarasse haeresim esse negare superioritatem Concilii supra Papam? An non obsecro haeresis est decretis
Conciliorum universalium, et Ecclesiae auctoritati pertinaciter resistere?"

"Puyol, op. cit., 1, 329-366; cf. Martimort, op. cit., pp. 53-55.
72Sarpi, Apologia per le opposizioni fatte dall'illustrissimo e reverendissimo Signor
cardinale Bellarminio alli Trattati e Risoluzioni di Giovanni Gersone sopra la validità
délie scommuniche. In the Gambarin edition (III, 43-189), it runs to some 146 pages,
about 44 of them devoted to the conciliar issue. For the dating of the work, see Gambarin,
III, 284.

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

391

Council to demonstrate the superiority of pope to council when he
himself had earlier conceded that the ecumenicity of that particular
council was still a matter of dispute among Catholics.73 And he went beyond Richer in the range and richness of his historical argument, which
traversed the centuries from the apostolic era and the general councils
of antiquity down to that of Constance and Basel, the conciliabulum of
Pisa (1510-11), and the Fifth Lateran Council, not omitting a tart reminder to Bellarmine that his dismissal of the contemporary pertinence
of Gerson's arguments (on the grounds that he had been writing during
a time of schism when there were three claimants to the papal office)
hardly held much water in view of the fact that Gerson had written the
two works in question after Martin V had been accepted as the sole legitimate pope and after the Council of Constance was over.74
Nevertheless, there was nothing particularly complicated about
Sarpi's basic tactical move in this work of his, which was simple enough
and, in effect, two-pronged. First, he insisted that the arguments which
Bellarmine had directed against Gerson's conciliarist commitments had
already been assessed and rebutted, either by Gerson himself or by such
subsequent and like-minded thinkers as Almain and Mair.75 If he (Sarpi)
was now reproducing some of those rebuttals (and he certainly was), it
was not to affirm the truth of Gerson's position but "solely to show that
the question needs to be treated on more solid grounds, and that writers as outstanding in learning and piety [as were these conciliarists]
were not so easily to be condemned."76 Second, he also insisted not that
Gerson was necessarily right in his affirmation of the jurisdictional superiority of council to pope, but rather that Bellarmine was certainly
wrong in his stubborn refusal to acknowledge what such theologians as
John Mair, Martinus Navarro, Juan de Mariana, and Melchior Cano had
persistently underlined, namely, that the question of the relationship of
pope to council had continued to be a matter of controversy, so that
"while in Rome it is not permitted to hold the doctrine of Panormitanus
which maintained the superiority of the council, neither does the Uni™Sarpi,Apologia,in Garabarin, III, 135, 146-149.
74Sarpi,Apologia, in Gambarin, III, 171-173. He is commenting here on Bellarmine's response to the twelfth consideration of Gerson's first tract—see Bellarmine Risposta . . .
ad un libretto . . . sopra la validità de le scommunicbe di Gio. Gersone, p. 80.
"Sarpi, Apologia, in Gambarin, III, 120.

16[bid:."lo non voglio affermare che l'opinione di Gerson sia la vera, né apportar la sua

dottrina e ragioni in questa Apologia . . . E io qui partarö alcune di esse risoluzioni, non

per diffinir cosa alcuna, ma solo per mostrar che bisogna trattar di questa questione con
piú sodi fondamenti, e non dannare con tanta facilita gli scrittori di eccelente santita e
dottrina."

392

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

versity of Paris tolerate the upholding of the contrary position."77 For
surely "an opinion which enjoys the concurrence of as many famous
scholars as may have held to the contrary, and which has the support of
an equal, if not greater, number of universities, regions, and kingdoms,
can hardly be said to be proposed 'without reason or authority, still less
audaciously."78
A quick comparison with the Trattato del Interdetto del Santità di

Papa Paulo V, also published in 1606 after the Gerson translations but

prior to his Apologia, reveals the degree to which the vehemence and
particular focus of Bellarmine 's attack on Gerson had nudged Sarpi further to explore the propagandistic value of emphasizing the pertinence
to the present Venetian discontents of both the conciliarist tradition
and the history of the late-medieval general councils.79 In the Trattato,
it is true, he had also been at pains to insist that the old question of the
superiority of council to pope (or vice versa) had "not yet been decided
but remains in doubt in the Church of God." In support of that position
he had also invoked (as he would later on in the Apologia) the witness
of John Mair as well as the fact that Bellarmine himself had conceded
the ecumenical status of the Fifth Lateran Council still to be in dispute
among Catholics.80 But he had done so very much by way of conclusion

to an examination of the limits of the obedience owed to the orders of

an ecclesiastical superior, of the notion that not even the pope's powers
were unlimited and absolute, of the possibility that popes were capable
of being wrong in particular legal judgments, and that they were, indeed, able to fall into heresy.81 What had been in the Trattato very much
the conclusion of a line of reasoning became, in the Apologia, nothing
less than the premise or point of departure for the lengthy exploration
of conciliar history and conciliarist claims which we have just discussed.

None of which was destined, of course, to bring much cheer to BeIlarmine, who felt compelled to return (somewhat wearily) to the fray
with responses both to the Trattato and to the Apologia.'1 These two
77Sarpi, Apologia, in Gambarin, III, 1 17-1 18.
7"Ibid.:"Ma una opinione che ha tanti e tanto celebri dottori quanto ne ha la sua contraria, e che è seguita da ugual, se non maggiore numero di università e regioni e regni,
non si puè dire asserita senza ragione e autorità né meno audacemente."
"Though signed by seven Venetian churchmen, the Trattato dellnterdetto was, in fact,

Sarpi's work. It is printed in Gambarin, III, 3-41.

"Sarpi, Trattato del'' Inderdetto, in Gambarin, III, 17-18.
"Ibid., esp. pp. 3-17.
"Ttoth responses are printed in a single volume bearing the title: Risposta de Card. Bel-

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

393

responses coincide somewhat in tone (testy and legislative) as also in
content. Thus, in response to Sarpi's Apologia he tried to neutralize the
latter's claim that Gerson's tracts on excommunication postdated the
ending both of the schism and of Constance by first asserting (without
any supporting evidence whatsoever) that they were "most probably"
written before the election of Martin V, when there was no true pope
but only three rival claimants to the papacy. And to that assertion he appended the nervous "back-up" argument that, even if the tracts were indeed written after the council was over, it was important to remember
that the Avignonese pontiff, Benedict XIII, had refused to abandon his
claim to the papacy so that there -were still two contenders for the
papal office.83 In the response to the Trattato, moreover, denying that
there was any doubt among Catholics about the superiority of pope to
council, he likewise insisted that that truth was "taught and defended"
in all the schools of Catholic theology, even "in France itself."84 And in
both Risposte he struggled mightily to rebut Sarpi's accusations of inconsistency in what he had had to say about the teaching of the Fifth
Lateran Council concerning the relationship of pope to council.85 In
any case, he added, to dare to set the teaching of Constance and Basel
against that of the Fifth Lateran Council and to suggest that legitimate
general councils could actually disagree one with another smacked of
nothing less than "the reasoning of heretics." If those who toyed with
such noxious ideas were "truly Catholic teachers," then they would finally recognize where true legitimacy resided and realize that both
Constance and Basel were of dubious legitimacy at the moment when
they issued their superiority decrees. For (triumphantly now) "legitimate councils do not contradict one another, and that [council] alone is

legitimate which has asserted the authority of the pope to be superior
to all the councils."86

larmino al Trattato de i sette Theologi di Venetia sopra l'interdetto délia Santità di Nos-

tro signore Papa Paolo Quinto (Rome, 1606). But the response to the Trattato actually

occupies only the first seventy-two pages of a continuously paginated volume and is followed (pp. 73-1 39) by a reply to Sarpi's Apologia which bears the title: Risposta alle Oppositioni di Fra Paulo Servita contra la scrittura de Cardinale Bellarmino.
"'Risposta alle oppositioni di Fra Paulo Sarpi Servita contra la scrittura de Cardinale Bellarmino, pp. 127-128.
"Risposta de Card. Bellarmino al Trattato de i setti theologi di Venetia, p. 27.
KIbid., p. 29; also Risposta alie oppositioni di Fra Paulo Servita, p. 114.
MRisposta del Card. Bellarmino al Trattato de i setti theologi di Venetia, pp. 22-28,
concluding with the words:"Et cosi non sono tra se contrarii, Ii Concilii legittimi, et quello
solo è legittimo che afferma l'autorità del Papa essere superiore à tutti Ii Concilii."

394

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

m

On this note of elegant circularity (the appeal of which to theologians continued with unabated force down into the second half of our
own century),87 the exchange among Bellarmine, Richer, and Sarpi stimulated by Gerson's glancing evocation of the superiority of council to
pope drew, at long last, to a close. In that it had served to focus so very
much attention on the late medieval councils and the ecclesiology of
the conciliarist authors, it seems fair to conclude that it had not had the

effect that Bellarmine must have desired but quite the opposite, in fact,
and not only in Italy itself. If Richer's Apologia did not enjoy a wide circulation, within three years of its publication his later De ecclesiastica
et política potestate certainly did, and, along with it, the Latin texts of
the other protoconciliarist, conciliarist, Gallican, and Venetian writings
(the Trattato included) that Melchior Goldast was also to include in
his influential collection, the Monarchia S. Romani Imperii (1611-

1614).88 And within a year of its first publication in Italian, an English
translation of Sarpi's Apologia (as also of his Considerazioni) was published in London, where its long conciliar section can only have encouraged the already established tendency among English contributors
to the Oaths of Allegiance controversy to mine for their own purposes
the arguments elaborated in the conciliarist literature.89

That this particular feature of the ideological warfare of the day
should have escaped the attention of historians to the degree that it has
speaks directly to the issue that served as our point of departure. In urging upon us the importance, if we wish to wrest genuinely historical
meanings from the texts that come down to us from the past, of placing
those texts in the linguistic and ideological context which helped

frame them, Quentin Skinner was largely concerned with the threat of
anachronism. He was intent upon precluding or reducing the possibility of our attributing meanings to such texts that might make perfectly
"7For a latter-day commitment to much the same point of view, see the alarm raised in

1964 by the distinguished historian of the Council of Florence,Joseph Gill, S.J., in his "The
Fifth Session of the Council of Constance," The HeythropJournal,V (1964), 131-143, and
in his "Il decreto Haec sancta synodus del concilio di Costanza," Rivista di storia delta
Chiesa in Italia, XII (1967), 23-30. And for the enduring impact on Catholic ecclesiological thinking of the line of argument pioneered by Torquemada and developed further by
Cajetan and Bellarmine, see Izbicki, op. cit., pp. 7-20.

"»Goldast, op. cit., Ill, 178-385, 405-564, 762-773, 797-806 (Richer's tract).
"See Oakley,"Constance, Basel, and the Two Pisas:The Conciliarist Legacy in Sixteenthand Seventeenth-Century England."

BY FRANCIS OAKLEY

395

good sense in the present but could hardly have been available to the
author in his own day.90 That concern, of course, is a perfectly justifiable
one, but it is important that it be complemented by a comparable sensitivity to the danger of our misreading the contexts to which we have
turned in our effort to comprehend the text. That parallel danger is at
least as threatening because of the degree to which contexts are themselves textually mediated. And it is the more threatening, given the
range of choice open to us in the selection or construction of those
contexts, as well as the degree to which we have to depend, as we go
about that task of selection or construction, on historiographie traditions which will certainly be marked by their own flaws, which may
well incorporate their own anachronisms, and which will not themselves be wholly unburdened with a measure of ideological freight.
The apparent failure of historians to perceive the centrality of the
conciliarist issue to the polemical exchange occasioned by the sharpness of Bellarmine's critique of Gerson speaks to this point. As late as
1818 the English historian, Henry Hallam, could describe the Constance
decrees Haec sancta and Frequens as "the great pillars of that moderate
theory with respect to papal authority which [not only] distinguished
the Gallican Church, . . . [but] is embraced by almost all laymen and the
major part of ecclesiastics on this side of the Alps."91 Had that historiographie viewpoint set the context in which historians read Bellarmine's
contributions to the Venetian war of words, then the vehemence of his

reaction to the republication of Gerson's tracts and his extreme sensitivity as a loyal papalist to even an oblique evocation of the conciliarist
ecclesiology would have been more readily understandable and more
appropriately handled. But that historiographie viewpoint did not in

fact set the interpretative context. By the end of the nineteenth century, what Hallam had seen as a live ecclesiological option embraced by

most northern European Catholics had been consigned, by an ecclesiastical version of "the politics of oblivion,"92 to the junk heap, if not of
""Skinner, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," in Tully (ed.), op. cit.,
pp. 29-67.
"Henry Hallam, View of the State ofEurope during the Middle Ages (3 vols., London,

1901), III, 243 and 265. The work was first published in 1818.

"Thus in 1908 the editors of The Catholic Encyclopedia did not even deem it necessary to include in that work an article on conciliarism. The subject was given some attention under the heading of "Gallicanism," but the author of that article made the
prevailing sentiment of his day quite clear. See A. Degart, in The Catholic Encyclopedia,
VI, 355, s.v. "Gallicanism": "Stricken to death, as a free opinion, by the Council of the Vatican, [theological] Gallicanism could survive only as a heresy; the Old Catholics have en-

deavored to keep it alive under this form. Judged by the paucity of the adherents whom

396

COMPLEXITIES OF CONTEXT

history, at least of historiography. Right down to the postwar years and
the era of the Second Vatican Council, the historiographie tradition
which shaped our picture of the conciliar movement and the fate of
conciliar ideas after the ending of the Council of Basel was in some
measure a reflection of, or, at least, unwittingly complicit with, that particular manifestation of the politics of oblivion.
A situation complex enough, no doubt, but the more complex, so far
as it helped frame the interpretative context for our modern understanding of the Venetian battle of the books, in that it was fraught with
irony. For if the historiographie tradition in question had its roots in
Juan de Torquemada's efforts to vindicate the papal cause during Eugenius rV's darkest days at the Council of Basel, it was a tradition that had
been put in canonical form by none other than Bellarmine himself. And
it was, or so I would argue, the very triumph of Bellarmine's own portrayal of the heterodox nature and early demise of conciliarism that has
stood in the way of our grasping the historical significance of his sharp
attack on Gerson's tracts and of the intriguing polemical exchange to
¦which that attack gave rise.

they have recruited—daily becoming fewer in Germany and Switzerland, it seems very evident that the historical evolution of these ideas has reached its completion."

DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH: KIRK, STATE1AND

CATHOLIC MISSIONERS IN SCOTLAND, 1653-1755
BY

Daniel Szechi*

In March, 1708, the Scottish Privy Council was meeting daily in emergency session in a frantic attempt to put the kingdom in a defensible
state before the Franco-Jacobite invasion poised to strike from Dunkirk
could arrive in Scotland. While examining reports from officers and
magistrates from all over the country, their deliberations suddenly focused on the threat of a Roman Catholic uprising in support of James
Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender, and as Lord Grange reported
in a letter to his brother the Earl of Mar,
This occasioned severalls of the Council to complain that notwithstanding
the many complaints there has been made of the encrease of Popery and
the swarming of priests openly and avowedly in many places of the north
and Galloway and Nithsdale, that yet nothing was effectually done to restrain them.'

Strangely, the government does not seem to have heeded such complaints even in the aftermath of the abortive invasion of 1708, for six
years later the author of an anonymous, but strikingly similarly worded,
"condescendance," written in response to the General Assembly of the
Kirk's representations to the government regarding "the encreasce of
poperie," was warning Scotland's rulers that the Kirk was in danger of
being overwhelmed by the Catholic tide. In the Highlands in 1714, the
author lamented:

In the paroch of Lochaber the priests swarm like locusts, running from house
to house, gaining multitudes to their anti-Christian idolatry, baptizeing and
marrying. In the presbytery ofAbernethie the priests keep publick meetings,
visite, preach, declare people marryed and say Mass without fear of the laws.2
*Mr. Szechi is a professor of history in Auburn University. He wishes to express his grat-

itude to the scholars who read early drafts of this article and gave him sage advice and
help, in particular Dr. Donna Bohanan, Dr. Christine Johnson, the Reverend Brian Halloran, and Dr. Mark Dilworth.

'Historical Manuscripts Commission, Mar and Kellie MSS, p. 430.
2Noel MacdonaldWilby, 'The Encreasce of Popery' in the Highlands 171 4-1 747," /«nes

397

398

DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH

Nor was the writer a voice in the wilderness. A special committee of
the commission of the General Assembly begged for immediate action
by the Court of Police in 1718, arguing that it was "evident from the last
accounts that the disease grows and will encresce if some stop be not
put to the progress of it."3 In 1720 another memorial writer declared
that, "such a height have the papists and Jacobites now arrived at in
[the] Duke [of] Gordon's countries, that Protestant friends to the government are in hazard of their lives," and he cited the cases of two con-

verts to the Kirk who were assaulted by mobs of "papists" and in one
case at least forced to flee the area.4 Even in the aftermath of the suppression of the '45, another memorialist felt moved to complain to the
Duke of Newcastle that in consequence of the efforts of Catholic
priests throughout Scotland, "popery is prevailing dayly."5 The nigh-

annual petition of the General Assembly of the Kirk after 1688, that a

diligent search be made for popish priests, eloquently attests that the
memorialists' concern was generally shared by ministers throughout
Scotland.6

Moreover, underpinning the professed anxiety of ministers and elders about the apparent success of the missionary efforts of the
Catholic Church, there was apparently solid cause for concern. Since

the 1650's the Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome had been

funding a sustained effort to re-establish a permanent Catholic presence in Scotland. The Scots Colleges in Paris and Rome annually turned
out dedicated young Scotsmen devoted to this missionary effort. Between 1653 and 1753 their efforts produced an eightfold increase in
the number of secular priests operating in Scotland. The Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, Franciscans, and even Cistercians briskly seconded their efforts by sending over substantial numbers of additional

mission priests. The number of professed Catholics nearly tripled between the l690's and the 1750s. Prima facie, it would appear that the
Kirk was on the defensive and the "encreasce of popery" was a reality.

And yet, with perfect hindsight, we of course know that Protestantism in Scotland was never in any danger from the Catholic mission
effort. The eightfold increase in secular priests on mission in Scotland
Review, 17 (1966), 93.

'ibid., p. 96.
'Ibid., pp. 109-110.
'Ibid., pp. 112-113.
'See, for example, Scottish Catholic Archives, Edinburgh (henceforth SCA), Blairs Letters (henceforth BL) 2/82/8: James Carnegy to Lewis Innes.April 3, 1703.

BY DANIEL SZECHI

399

conceals a leap from an insignificant five priests in 1653 to a puny forty

in 1753.7 The number of Catholics massively increased, it is true: from

less than 6000 in the 1690's to around 16,500 in 17638 According to

Alexander Webster's mid-eighteenth-century demographic calculations, this put the Catholic minority at less than 2% of Scotland's population.9 Moreover, much as they may have wished for more widespread
conversions (in the best of all possible worlds) and though they undoubtedly welcomed the expansion of their flock, the Catholic hierarchy realistically focused its efforts on sustaining the existing Catholic
community rather than proselytization.10 All things considered, the
Catholic Church in Scotland hardly posed sufficient threat to evoke the
kind of moral panic displayed by Scotland's rulers, the General Assembly, and so many of the Kirk's ministers.
Precisely because the Kirk's fears were manifestly unwarranted, in
that Catholicism was not in fact advancing by leaps and bounds, this is
the point at which most historians have abandoned consideration of
7J. F. S. Gordon (ed.), The Catholic Church in Scotlandfrom the Suppression of the Hi-

erarchy to the Present Time: Being Memorabilia of the Bishops, Missioners, and Scotch
Jesuits (Aberdeen, 1874) p. 627; William Clapperton, "Memoirs of Scotch Missionary
Priests Compiled from Original Letters, Formerly Preserved at Preshome, now at Blairs
College" (4 vols.; unpublished manuscript transcribed by George Wilson held at the SCA),
IY1753.

"Reporting to Rome in 1763, the bishops of the province claimed that "the number of

Catholics in the whole of Scotland did not amount to 6000" at the end of the seventeenth

century, and estimated the current number of communicants at about 18,000 (Gordon,

op. cit. , p. 637). A figure which is close to Alexander Webster's figure of 16,490 "papists" in
the whole of Scotland. James Darragh in his article, "The Catholic Population of Scotland
Since the Year 1800," Innes Review, 4 (1953), 49-59, argues that since the 1763 figure
counts only communicants, it should be multiplied by at least 1 .75, and that Webster's estimate counts only adult Catholics. It is not clear that Webster was counting only adults
(he was certainly trying to count the whole population in the rest of his figures), and in

any case a jump from the bishops' figure of 6000 ca. 1700 to the 40,000 projected by Darragh in the 1740's seems highly unlikely. Overall, pending further research on the subject,
it would seem best to rely on the lower figure posited by Webster. I am grateful to Dr.
Mark Dilworth for having brought this article to my attention.
'It is notoriously difficult to estimate the size of Scotland's population in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because of the dearth of reliable records. The most recent authoritative study of the subject, however, suggests that Scotland's population was

probably about 1 .25 million in 1690, after nearly forty years of relatively good harvests, declined sharply to perhaps 1-1.1 million as a result of the famine of the later 1690's, then
slowly recovered to around 1,265,000 in 1755 (Webster's estimate). Unfortunately, all
these figures—with the possible exception of Webster's survey—are give or take 20%.
See M. Flinn (ed.), Scottish Population History from the 1 7th Century to the 1930s

(Cambridge, 1977), pp. 13, 58, 242.

10I am grateful to Dr. Mark Dilworth for explaining this point to me.

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DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH

the phenomenon. What need to consider what was keeping popery in
check if it was so inconsequential? Yet this begs a very important question. Why did the best efforts of the Scots mission, with its substantial
infrastructure of colleges and monasteries on the Continent and the

steady support of the Propaganda Fide, yield such meagre results? Of
course, an increase from ca. 6000 to ca. 16,500 in the number of communicating Catholics might be argued to have been not a bad result,
given the circumstances. Yet if we take into account the eightfold increase in the numbers of secular priests alone, an (at most) threefold increase in the numbers of Catholics begins to look rather feeble. When

the (theoretically) favorable circumstances in which the mission was

operating in certain areas after 1688 are taken into account, this aspect
of the mission's history grows even more puzzling. For the period

1688-1746 was characterized by a bitter, fratricidal schism in the Kirk

brought on by the purge of episcopalians following the Revolution of

1688 which left parishes disputed and untenanted all over Scotland, es-

pecially north of the Tay" Many Episcopalian Scots were also finding
common cause with their Catholic neighbors in support for the exiled
Stuarts. If ever there existed an opportunity for the Catholic mission to
"fish in drumly [muddy] waters,"12 it was between 1688 and 1746. In addition, it is well known that the ruling elite in the British Isles was be-

coming defacto more tolerant of religious diversity after 1688." Formal

religious toleration for all Protestants was enacted in England in 1689
and for Scotland in 1712. Discreet Catholicism was indirectly sheltered
by the extension of legal toleration to Protestant dissent, and thereafter
increasingly tended to be ignored by the authorities in both countries.
Even in Ireland, where formal religious toleration was much slower to
arrive, the Catholic Church was usually allowed quietly to go about its

business without official interference.14

In order to answer the question as to why the Catholic mission performed as poorly as it did we clearly need to gauge the impact of its
most obvious opponent, the Kirk-state combination, on the Catholic
missionary effort. One way to do this would be to assemble a statistical
"Bruce Lenman, The Jacobite Risings in Britain 1689-1746 (London, 1980), pp.

55-67.

12A. Fergusson (ed.), Major Eraser's Manuscript (2 vols. ; Edinburgh, 1 889), 1, 1 60.
"Christopher T. Smout, A History of the Scottish People, 1560-1830 (London, repr.
1985), pp. 2 14-220;William A. Speck, Stability and Strife. England, 1714-1 760 (London,
repr. 1984), pp. 103-104; Geoffrey Holmes and Daniel Szechi, The Age of Oligarchy. PreIndustrial Britain, 1722-1783 (London, 1993),p. 91.

"Theodore W Moody and William E. Vaughan (eds.),^4 New History ofIreland, Vol. IV.·
Eighteenth-Century Ireland 1691-1800 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 95-97.

BY DANIEL SZECHI

401

picture of the mission's experience over the period. If the missioners
were in fact being consistently harassed and hounded from place to
place—and were consequently demoralized—the mission's effectiveness 'was bound to be compromised.
The obvious way to build up such a picture of the missioners' experience would be to employ either the government's records of its operations against the underground church, or the Catholic mission's record
of its casualties and captives. The besetting problem with doing so has
always been that too many government records have been lost and unfortunate encounters with Kirk and state in Scotland were not the sort

ofthing the administrators of the Scots Catholic mission were likely systematically to document. Because they depended on direct financial
support from the Propaganda Fide to sustain their efforts in Scotland,
official accounts of the progress of the mission naturally tended to emphasize the successes they were already achieving, how much more
they might achieve if they were more strongly supported, and the inspiring zeal and commitment of the missioners.15
Among the records of the Scots College in Paris preserved at the Scottish Catholic Archives, however, is a list of the secular clergy who
served on the mission between 1653 and 1742, with additional notes

on their years of service, failures, and troubles.16 It was compiled, almost
certainly as an act of piety, by a missioner, George Gordon of Fochabers,

in the 1760s, and a continuation to 1800 was written up by Canon

William Clapperton in the late nineteenth century.17 When added to the
prosopographical studies of the secular clergy of the Highland and
Lowland episcopal districts published by the twentieth-century scholars Christine Johnson, F. Forbes, and W J. Anderson in the Innes Review,1' and the obscure, but generally sound, prosopographical account
of the mission as a whole (both secular and regular) compiled by the
nineteenth-century Episcopalian divine J. F. S. Gordon,19 however, it be"For an example of which see, William J. Anderson, "Narratives of the Scottish Refor-

mation, IV: Prefect Ballentine's Report, c. 1660. Part One," Innes Review, 8 (1957), 40 and
passim.
16SCA, SM 14/3, "Annual Account of the Number and Names of Clergy Missioners in

Scotland from 1653."This list is accurately transcribed in an appendix at the back of Gordon, op. cit., pp. 627-636.
"Clapperton, op. cit., IV, 2884-2942.
"Christine Johnson,"Secular Clergy of the Lowland District 1732-1829," Innes Review,
34 (1983), 66-87; F. Forbes and W. J. Anderson, "Clergy Lists of the Highland District,
1732-1828," Innes Review, 17 (1966), 129-184.

"Gordon, op.cit., pp. 514-626.

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DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH

comes possible to construct a statistical picture of the mission's experi-

ence of the Protestant state in the century after 165320

In common with most of its early modern European counterparts,
the Scottish state had, prima facie, only limited means with which to

oppose the Catholic mission. The most direct pressure it could exert

naturally stemmed from its judicial and military arms, but the first was
heavily dependent on the co-operation of local elites and the second
was chronically undermanned and subject to equally important calls on
its time and resources, such as pursuing cattle raiders, smugglers, and
other outlaws. The upshot of which was that direct harassment by the
state tended to be geographically patchy (if not downright haphazard)
and episodic. When there was generally agreed to be a crisis, as in
1689-1692 and 1745-1746, the lairds and heritors would overcome
their distaste for interfering in their Catholic neighbors' business, and
the garrisons stationed in their various posts around Scotland would
make determined efforts to seize priests known to be abroad in the area.
At other times the arrest of priests seem to have stemmed in about equal
measure from the zeal of individual magistrates and sheer bad luck.

Thus, for example, Robert Davidson was caught at Leith in 1704 dur-

ing a general search of the Edinburgh area ordered by the beleaguered
Lord Commissioner, the Duke of Queensberry, who was probably trying

to prove the authenticity of the trumped-up "Scotch Plot" (which con-

veniently implicated his political opponents in plans for a Jacobite invasion) by rounding up a few popish priests.2' Whereas James Nicol

ended up languishing for two years in Edinburgh's tolbooth 16941696, simply for having had the misfortune to be aboard a French ship

20WRh regard to the statistics which follow, it should be noted that Gordon's and Clap-

perton's lists are skeletal, and consistently record only three aspects of a missioner's life:

his years on the mission, if and when he was imprisoned by the authorities, and whether

or not he was subject to any major moral lapses. Using "W. F. S. Gordon's prosopographical
account of the early missioners and Johnson et al. 's of the later, it is possible to fill in some
more detail, such as the missioners' ages, where they were educated, etc., but much still
remains obscure, particularly for the seventeenth-century missioners. Moreover, George
Gordon and Clapperton and their twentieth-century heirs deal almost exclusively with
the secular clergy and are primarily interested in priests who actually served in Scotland.

Their accounts correspondingly often leave out those whose primary duties kept them at
the Scots College in Paris or elsewhere on the Continent. Hence, all the statistics cited
below are necessarily partial, and any conclusions derived from them must be taken as
preliminary rather than final.
21Gordon, op. cit. , p. 540;John S. Gibson,Playing the Scottish Card. The Franco-Jacobite
Invasion of 1 708 (Edinburgh, 1988), pp. 25-26.

BY DANIEL SZECHI

403

en route to Scotland that was intercepted and captured by an English

vessel.22

The pattern of arrests indicated by the lists is hence episodic. Long
periods elapsed without a single recorded arrest of a secular priest. Between 1658 and 1672, 1673 and 1689, 1705 and 1726, and 1727 and

1745 the secular clergy appear to have entirely escaped the long (actu-

ally somewhat short) arm of the Scottish state. This is not to say that the
authorities were not picking up an occasional victim from the regular

branches of the mission. A Dominican friar named Primrose was caught
in 1671, for example, and subsequently died in prison.25 Likewise the

only recorded arrest of a priest in 1715 was of James Hudson, the Jacobite Earl of Nithsdale's Jesuit chaplain.24
When the state and the ruling elite in Scotland co-operated in exerting themselves, however, the results could be spectacular. Out of
twenty-four secular clergy active in Scotland in 1689, six were arrested
and five of these were imprisoned for over a year. At least seven Jesuits
were caught in the same sweep, and virtually all the mission's clergy
were obliged to go to ground or flee the country.25 Nonetheless, despite

the important part played by enthusiastic Protestant mobs and godly

magistrates in routing the mission, it would be a mistake to ascribe their
success solely to Protestant zeal and enthusiasm. In part, the Scottish
state's unwonted efficiency in this drive against the Catholic mission
may have arisen from the fact that the pro-Catholic regime of James II
and VII had virtually required the underground church to come into the
open in order to serve the chapels it was establishing at places like

Holyrood House in order to begin the process of evangelization it hoped
would win Scotland back to Catholicism. As a result, pro-Revolution

rioters and magistrates had a much better idea of the whereabouts of
Catholic clergy than they ever had before or would again.26
Hence on the next occasion when the authorities truly exerted themselves with the full co-operation of a significant section of the local
"Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 602.
""Annual Account," 1671 .

"Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 565.
""Annual Account," 1689 (plus James Nicol, who was left out by Gordon, op. cit.,
p. 602); Mark Dilworth, "The Scottish Mission in 1688-1689," Innes Review, 20 (1969),
70-77, especially 73-74.
^'Francis C. Turner, James II (London, repr. 1950), pp. 375, 377-378; Wendy Doran,
"Bishop Thomas Nicolson: First Vicar Apostolic 1695-1718," Innes Review, 39 (1988),
114-116.

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DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH

elite, in 1745-46, they managed to catch only four27 out of twenty-nine

secular priests. Admittedly, of six or seven28 more who were directly involved in the 45 one was probably killed in the fighting and two fled
the country, but the long-term damage to the mission was without a
doubt much less than that inflicted in 1689. Because the principal focus
of the state's vindictiveness was obviously the Highlands, the much
larger Lowland mission, despite yielding three arrests, was able to continue operating (though doubtless more circumspectly) throughout the
crisis. George Duncan, for example, despite being briefly imprisoned in
1746, was able to go and minister to the Jacobite prisoners being held
at Carlisle as soon as he was released, apparently without any interference from the authorities.29 The only clergy who appear to have been
badly hit by the harrying of the Highlands were the Jesuits. At least five
were caught (four of whom were certainly stationed in the Highlands),
and two of them died in prison.50
The episodic aspect of the pattern of arrests must thus be borne in
mind when any assessment is made of the overall impact of imprisonments on the Scottish mission. Nevertheless, the numbers are striking.

Of 105 secular priests who served on the Scottish mission 1653-1755,

at least twenty-three (21.9%) were seized by the authorities at some
point. Of these, five (4%) are known to have been caught more than
once.31 The years of experience of those taken show no pattern, ranging
randomly from rookies with less than one to veterans of fourteen,
twenty-six, and even thirty-four years, all of which strongly suggests that
interception by the authorities occurred almost randomly, with very little an individual priest could do to improve his chances of escaping detection. The usual term of imprisonment 'was less than a year, though
several of those unfortunate enough to be swept up in 1689 were not
released until 1693 s2 Despite legislation stipulating capital punishment
2I have followed Johnson's account, op. cit., p. 73, here rather than Gordon's entry in
Catholic Church, p. 559, which would suggest that the tally should be five.
"Colin Campbell, John Tyrie, James Leslie, Angus MacGillis, Alan Macdonald, and
Alexander Gordon of Glencat (SJ.) were certainly involved in the rising, and Neil MacFie
may have been. 1 am grateful to Father Brian Halloran for advice on this point.
2'Johnson op. cit., p. 70.
'"Alexander MacWilliam, "A Highland Mission: Strathglass, 1671-1 777," Innes Review,
24 (1973), 98-99; Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 545 (John Farquharson), pp. 552 and 553 (Alexander

Gordon—both entries refer to the same person), p. 566 (Robert Innes).

31The statistics given here and below are all derived from Gordon, "Annual Account";

Catholic Church, especially pp. 627-636;Johnson, op. cit.; and Forbes and Anderson, op.
cit.

52Cf. the fates of Robert Davidson and Thomas Nicolson (Gordon, op. cit. ,pp. 1 , 540).

BY DANIEL SZECHI

405

for all captured priests, the incarcerated missioners' imprisonments instead all ended with their formal banishment from Scotland on pain of
death if they returned. Since most did in fact eventually return, and
some were indeed arrested and banished a second time, the sentence

does not seem to have been much of a deterrent.

More intimidating perhaps was the captured missioners' collective
experience of contemporary Scottish gaols. Certainly, priests released
from them tended to recuperate on the Continent for some time, and
some subsequently proved very reluctant to return to the mission. The
future Vicar-Apostolic, Thomas Nicolson, for example, was given what
can only be construed as "light duties" as confessor to a convent of English nuns at Dunkirk for three years after his return from imprison-

ment in 1689·33 Likewise the Jesuit John Farquharson seems to have

been distinctly averse to returning to the Highlands after his incarceration in the aftermath of the '45.34 There was also a significant casualty
rate directly attributable to the vile conditions prevailing in seventeenthand eighteenth-century Scottish prisons. Not a single priest was exe-

cuted in Scotland for carrying out his office between 1653 and 1755,

but at least five priests (two seculars, two Jesuits, and one Dominican)35
died as a direct result of their imprisonment, and others emerged so
broken in health that they died soon after their release.36
The rate of imprisonment of mission priests is indeed compelling evidence of the pressure the Protestant state in Scotland could put on the
Catholic mission when it chose to exert itself. The hostile environment

they were usually operating in, and the dangers and temptations they
experienced daily, however, took an additional toll on the missioners.
Throughout the period 1653-1753 there was a significant rate of
priestly apostasy.

The Scots mission, naturally not wishing to dwell on its obvious fail-

ures, of which there could be few more embarrassing than priestly
apostasies, did not put itself out to record their losses in this area.
Hence, the surviving evidence is often no more than a bare mention of
the fact of the apostasy and an angry, dismissive aside by Gordon and
"Gordon, op. cit., p. 1 . He was succeeded in the post by Alexander Christie (or Crichton), another priest incarcerated after the Revolution but released only in 1693, in such
bad health that he was incapable of returning to Scotland (pp. 535-536).
"MacWilliam, op. cit., pp. 98-99.
"Ibid., p. 98; Gordon, op. cit., p. 553 (Alexander Gordon), p. 585 (Robert Munro); 'Annual Account," 1671, 1696.

"See for example, Gordon, op. cit., p. 528 (Alexander Burnet), p. 602 (James Nicol);
Forbes and Anderson, op. cit. ,p. 144 (Alexander Macdonald).

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DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH

other commentators.37 Once again, however, the total number is striking. In the century after 1653 a total of between fourteen and sixteen

priests,58 both seculars and regulars, apostatized. Of these, eleven were
seculars,39 making a total of 10.5% of the secular mission's strength. It
should be noted, however, that not all of those who apostatized were
permanently lost. Two subsequently recovered their faith,40 and three
are recorded as having died penitently.41 The net loss to the active

strength of the Catholic mission thus falls to nine priests or 8.6%, but is

none the less significant for that.

The incidence of apostasies is virtually random over the century, with
the first occurring in 1655 and the last for the rest of the eighteenth
century in 1749- There is also little correlation between the number of

years a priest had served on the mission and his apostasy, though there

may have been a slight tendency toward defections in the first few

years on mission.42 In several cases there is also no suggestion as to why

the apostasy occurred, which makes discerning any overall pattern in
such a small sample fraught with potential error. Nevertheless, the surviving record does give some hints as to the apostates' motivation, and
if we add the regulars who apostatized to the sample it is possible to
build up a tentative picture of their motives.

Two apostates among the secular clergy are known to have been af-

flicted with some form of nervous breakdown. William McNair apparently returned from a trip to England, apostatized, then went visibly
mad, "but came to himself, and died penitently"43 Colin Campbell likewise appears to have briefly succumbed to some form of mental illness
"See for example, Gordon op. cit. ,p. 525 (Archibald Bower), p. 531 Games Canaries);
"Annual Account," 1699.

"The uncertainty in numbers arises from the difficulty of assessing cases such as those

of George Gordon, who, having become a criminal and been sentenced to the galleys, was
rescued (for an undisclosed reason) by a British warship off Civitavecchia (Gordon, op.
cit., pp. 554-555). Accusations of apostasy transparently derived from malice against the
individual concerned, such as those against Procurator James Carnegy (cited in Clapper-

ton, op. cit., iy 1 164), have been excluded from consideration here.
"Colin Campbell,James Canaries, Cornelius Coan or Con,James Crichtonjohn Gordon

of Glencatjohn Gordon of Birkenbush, Gilbert Gray, Francis Macdonald, William McNair,
James Paplay, and James Tyrie.

"Colin Campbell Qames E McMillan, "Jansenists and Anti-Jansenists in Eighteenth Century Scotland. The Unigenitus Quarrels on the Scottish Catholic Mission 1732-1746,"

Innes Review, 39 [ 1 988] , 27); and John Gordon of Glencat.
"James Crichton, William McNair, and James Tyrie.
"Cornelius Coan apostatized after less than one year, as did James Paplay and the mysterious Franciscan O'Sheil, while James Crichton defected after three years.
4,"Annual Account," 1723; Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 632.

BY DANIEL SZECHI

407

and reverted to the Protestantism customary in his family, then recovered and returned to his duties as priest without apparently suffering
any penalty or difficulty, even being described in 1729 by one of the administrators of the mission as: " [in] evry way the most qualified for
being a Bishop of any whatever, being a man of excellent good sence
and experience, of great zeall and good learning."44
Two other apostate secular priests may have been impelled to transfer their allegiance in part at least because of political conflicts within
the mission. John Gordon of Birkenbush defected to the Protestant side

after sixteen years of active service on the Scottish mission. His career
had, however, been under a cloud since the 1730's, when he was ac-

cused ofJansenism by a radically anti-Jansenist faction among the lower
clergy of the Highland district led by Colin Campbell and James Tyrie.
Gordon subsequently married and settled down in northeastern Scotland, where he died, unrepentant, in 1783.45 Ironically, one of his tormentors, James Tyrie, had himself defected in 1734, was then ordained
a Presbyterian minister, married (and celebrated his new allegiance by
naming two of his sons "Cumberland" and "Hawley"), and died in 1778
serving in a kirk in the Orkneys. He tried to recant on his deathbed, but
was prevented from doing so by his wife and children, who barred the
Catholic priest Tyrie had summoned from gaining access to him.46
The only apparent motive for the defection of four other priests were
those hoary old chestnuts: sex and posterity. Cornelius Con (or Coan),
an Irish priest assigned to the Scottish mission in the Highlands presumably because he could speak Gaelic, was the most colorful (and unfortunate) offender in this regard. He seduced the daughter of a
Catholic laird in Lewis, then apostatized before being captured by
Mackenzie of Kildun. Con's captor was known for his zealous Catholicism, and so Con was lucky to get away with being marooned on an isolated island for several years.47 Charles Gordon, the second Earl of
Aboyne, became a Jesuit before 1694 and was regaled as "a most sweet
youth, and humble like the dust of the street,"48 by one enthusiastic ob"McMillan, op. cit., p. 27; BL 2/321/13: Lewis Innes to William Stuart, Paris, May 2,

1729 ns.

"McMillan, op. cit. ,pp. 21-22; Johnson, op. cit. ,p. 72.

""Annual Account," 1734; Gordon, op. cit., p. 621.
"Mark Dilworth, "The Blind Harper and Catholicism," Innes Review, 12 (1971),

113-114.

"William Jerdan Çeo.), Letters ofJames Earl ofPerth, Lord Chancellor ofScotland, &c,
to his Sister, the Countess ofErroll, and Other Members ofhis Family (Camden Society,
Publications, No. 33. [London, 1845]), p. 18.

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DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH

server, but he returned to Scotland in 1697 and subsequently apostatized and married, though he was received back into the Catholic
Church on his deathbed.49 John Gordon of Glencat had less high-

minded motives than preserving a noble lineage. He took up with a
"suppositious lady" while still a deacon at the Scots College in Paris, was
thrown out, and promptly decamped for Scotland, marriage, and Protes-

tantism.™ Francis Macdonald likewise seems to have showed too keen

an interest in sex to remain a Catholic priest: having been suspended
for misbehavior by Bishop Hugh Macdonald, he converted to Protestantism and apparently continued to indulge himself to such an extent
that he was soon being proceeded against for "gross immorality" by the
Presbytery of Mull.51
We do not know why most of the other priests defected," but there
is enough evidence in the cases cited above and in the scraps and titbits
we do know about the rest to allow some conjectures as to the reasons
why men who had trained for anything between six and twelve years in
Rome and Paris, made the most solemn commitments possible in a
highly religious age, and been scrutinized as carefully as possible for
their suitability for service on the mission53 before they were
despatched there went off the rails so relatively frequently.
Foremost among them seems to have been the poverty and insecurity that dogged the day-to-day existence of most priests.54 Those few,
such as James Carnegy who came from well-to-do backgrounds, and
those fortunate enough to be taken on as chaplains in noble house4,Dictionary ofNational Biography (63 vols and 3 supplements; Oxford, 1903), XXII,

168.

50 Annual Account," 173 1 ; Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 633. Gordon subsequently repented, however, and became the Scottish bishops' agent in London. I am indebted to Father Brian HaI-

loran for this information.

"Forbes and Anderson, op. cit. ,p. 137.
"This was a problem for contemporaries too. Hence James Carnegy's baffled observation, "I never observed an ill thing about him" when James Paplay absented himself from
his post (shortly before his conversion to Protestantism); BL 2/108/9: Carnegy to Innes,
May 1,1705.
"See for example, Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 525 (Patrick Bowers).

"Even the Scottish Mission's bishops lived in very straitened circumstances, and such

devices as "priest's holes" were still in use in the early eighteenth century (William D.
Macray (ed.), Correspondence of Colonel N. Hooke, Agent from the Court of France to
the Scottish Jacobites in the Years 1703-1707 (2 vols.; London, 1870), 1, 375, 422). For a

contrast to the suggestions about apostate motivation following below, see the interesting
case-study ofJohn Travers, in Thomas M. McCoog, "Apostasy and Knavery in Restoration
England: The Checkered Career of John Travers," Catholic Historical Review, 78 QuIy,
1992X395-412.

BY DANIEL SZECHI

409

holds, such as Robert Gordon of Kirkhill, who became chaplain to the
dowager Duchess of Gordon, were not so badly affected." But most others found themselves with a hard row to hoe and very little comfort
while doing it—particularly in the Highlands.56 On Deeside in 1702, for
example, most of the area's Catholics were poor tenant-farmers. Correspondingly, all they could offer the local Jesuit missioners to eat was
barley-bread and the only shelter available was barns and sheds.57 In
Strathglass Alexander Macrae, S.J., recorded that the local people were

so poor that their huts "will barely hold their families, and I am very

often obliged to sleep in the open air, even in very cold weather." Like
the rest of the population he was living on oatcakes, milk, cheese, and
butter.58 In the later eighteenth century the Abbé Macpherson identified one of the worst problems confronting the missioners as their lack
of a firm base or home. They were obliged, therefore, to keep company
with the local elites and thus fell into "the habit of drinking" commonplace among them.5' To make matters worse, even though very few
prosecutions of local priests by ministers of the Kirk in their parishes
succeeded per se, common prudence demanded that the priest complained against move elsewhere for a while. Consequently, the opportunity to establish and settle into a familiar local network of supporters
was denied most priests, for complaints to the authorities were frequent and vocal.
The contrast between the conditions on mission and those in Paris

and Rome, where the vast majority of the missioners spent so many
years in training, were truly enough to drive many to despair. Hence,
perhaps, William McNair's insanity at the prospect of returning to his
post, James Leslie's dogged (and ultimately successful) efforts to escape
from his assignment in the Highlands, and William Gordon's adamant refusal to leave his comfortable billet in Loreto for the privations of the
Scottish mission.60 More perniciously, it has been suggested that the
mainspring of the anti-Jansenist witch-hunt the Campbell-Tyrie faction
"Gordon, op. cit., pp. 532-533,559.

"Alastair Roberts, Gregor McGregor (1681-1740) and the Highland Problem in the
Scottish Catholic Mission," Innes Review, 39 (1988), 82. Even for the privileged few life
could become difficult and their circumstances unpleasant enough to affect their health
when an official priest-hunt was on, for which see: BL 2/108/17: Carnegy to Innes, October 10, 1705.
"Alexander MacWilliam, "The Jesuit Mission in Upper Deeside, 1671-1737," Innes Rewew, 23 (1972X32.

"MacWMiam, "A Highland Mission: Strathglass, 167 1 - 1 777," pp. 90-9 1 .
"Roberts, op. cit., p. 103.
"Gordon, op. cit., p. 559; Forbes and Anderson, op. cit., p. 134; Annual Account," 1723-

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DEFENDING THE TRUE FAITH

tried to work up in the 1730's was a concealed attempt by at least some
of the participants to get themselves "softer" Lowland postings and the
lion's share of the mission's funding.61 In the end most priests survived
the rigors of mission life with their faith and commitment intact, but,
equally, it is not surprising to find a significant proportion responding
by seeking to escape through absenteeism,62 alcohol,63 or apostasy.
As well, the social pressures virtually every missioner was subject to
must be borne in mind. Very few had the luxury of operating in wholly
Catholic communities.64 Most were peripatetic, serving a secretive minority. Thus in the normal course of events they were necessarily rubbing shoulders and socializing with the larger, confidently Protestant
community. Moreover, since by virtue of their education (and in most
cases family background) all the missioners qualified as part of Scotland's social elite, they naturally found themselves dealing with familiar,
sophisticated peers, many of -whom were doubtless perfectly well aware
of their calling and not averse to free-ranging discussion and debate.
And in the context of a phenomenon like priestly apostasy we should
not underrate the drawing power of a familiar, sophisticated milieu.65
The impact of the Kirk-state combination on the personnel of the
Scots Catholic mission was thus profound. Taking into account impris"McMillan, op. cit. ,pp. 12-45.
62See for example, the case of Alexander Grant, in Gordon, op. cit., pp. 559-560; Johnson, op. at, p. 73 (n.b. since Grant was buried in the Anglican cemetery at St. Giles-in-thefields he may well also have apostatized).
63Cf. the cases of Neil Macfie and James Thomson (Forbes and Anderson, op. cit. ,p. 1 34;
Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 619).
"According to the bishops' report of 1763, Knoydart was the only wholly Catholic

community in Scotland (Gordon, op. cit. ,p. 637).
"Research on the motives and careers of twentieth-century apostates may offer us

some insight into the underlying causes of the phenomenon in the eighteenth century.
According to Bruce Hunsberger and Lawrence B. Brown, "Religious Socialization, Apostasy, and the Impact of Family Background,"Journalfor the Scientific Study of Religion,

23 (1984), 241, 250-251, a major contributory cause of apostasy among Australian

university students in the 1980's was a liking for intellectual debate on religious issues.
Likewise, Helen R. F. Ebaugh, "Leaving Catholic Convents. Towards a Theory of Disengagement," in, David G. Bromley (ed.), Fallingfrom the Faith. Causes and Consequences

ofReligious Apostasy (Beverly Hills, California, 1988), pp. 106-107, suggests a major pre-

cipitant of female religious departures was exposure to the cut-and-thrust of intellectual
debate even in the most theologically orthodox settings. It is worth recalling that any
graduate of the Scots Colleges was, in contemporary terms, ipsofacto an intellectual, and
that, given the Holy See's reluctance to dispense priests of their vows during this period,
there were few other ways to leave the priesthood than by apostasy.

BY DANIEL SZECHI

411

onments and apostasies alone, a substantial proportion, over 30%, of the
mission's strength became casualties of one kind or another between

1653 and 1755.66 If we add to this figure those priests who became

chronic alcoholics or persistent absentees, the casualty rate approaches
40%. Not all of these losses were permanent, but such a rate of attrition
cannot have failed to impede the progress of the mission and graphically illustrates the latent power of the Protestant order in Scotland—
despite the fact that the state only spasmodically exerted itself on
behalf of the Kirk. Official interest in the pursuit and persecution of

Catholic priests was undoubtedly waning in the century after 1653, but

we must be very cautious in our interpretation of this development.
The overall trend toward the relaxation of governmental pressure is not
straightforward evidence of growing religious toleration and the easing

of confessional tensions. For it is clear that the authorities did not need

consistently to harass the Catholic Church in Scotland in order to cripple its efforts. Going by the experience of the secular clergy missioners,
the normal costs of operating in such a naturally hostile environment as
militantly Protestant Scotland were quite sufficient to keep the "popish
menace" well under control.

66By way of outré perspective, it is interesting to note that the U.S. Army during World
War II normally considered a military unit that had taken a "mere" 10% casualties as demoralized and in need of immediate withdrawal from the battle zone and extended rest

and recuperation.

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTHCENTURY LIBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN
BY

W. Michael Mathes*

The final decades of the fifteenth century witnessed revolutionary
changes in the political, cultural, and technological development of
western Europe. On the Iberian peninsula the kingdoms of Castile and

Aragon were politically unified in 1469 through the marriage of their
monarchs, Isabel and Fernando. This, in turn, led to establishment of the

Castilian language as lingua franca in what became known as the Kingdom of Spain, legalization of orthodox Roman Christianity as the state
religion through installation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in
1482, and expulsion of Moslems and Jews a decade later. Contemporary
with these events, and not unrelated to them, the intellectual revival of

Greek and Roman classical linguistics, philosophy, and literature, Humanism, a reaction to rigid medieval religious scholasticism, owed its
spread and acceptance throughout western Europe to the parallel development of printing with movable metal type, allowing production of
books in greater quantities, at lower cost, than theretofore possible. The
expansion of this intellectual movement into the New World, and its
widespread acceptance is evidenced by the presence of humanistic
works in libraries, private and conventual, in the sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries in New Spain, primarily in the City of Mexico, the
cultural center of the Americas during those years. It has often been
said that a person is known through his books, and this is certainly a
valid adage in tracing cultural trends within a society.
Humanism in Spain was initiated by Elio Antonio de Nebrija, father of
Castilian lexicology and historian of Fernando and Isabel, through publication of his lntroductiones Latinae at Salamanca in 1481. A text in

Castilian designed for use by women appeared in Salamanca in i486,

and an edition annotated by Lorenzo Valla was printed at Barcelona by
Nicholas Spindeler in 1505; Nebrija's monumental work subsequently
appeared in countless editions throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth,
*Mr. Mathes is a professor emeritus of history in the University of San Francisco.

412

BY W MICHAEL MATHES

413

and eighteenth centuries, becoming the fundamental Latin grammar in
the Spanish empire.1
As the sixteenth century opened, Humanism, as defined through the
writings of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, achieved unrivaled popularity in Spain. The first modern world power, with her American empire in full expansion, the nation forged by Fernando and Isabel
achieved intellectual distinction through Cardinal Francisco Ximénez
de Cisneros, developer of the university complex of Alcalá de Henares
and editor/publisher of the great polyglot (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic,
and Chaldean) Complutensian Bible, printed by the university printer,
Arnao Guillen de Brocar. Although unsuccessful in his invitation to Eras-

mus to join the University of Alcalá in 1516, Ximénez supported teach-

ing and publication of his works, and thus established a firm base of
humanist scholars in Iberia. Ascension to the Spanish throne in 1516 by
Charles I, himself a native of Flanders and attended by numerous Flemish advisors, provided political protection and legitimacy to the Erasmian school created by Ximénez.2
Nevertheless, for as much as the king and his Flemish court advanced
Humanism in Spain, his election as Holy Roman Emperor made it subject to criticism and dangerous disrepute. The trans-Pyrenees nature of
the crown brought Spain into central European politics, and the revolutionary propositions of Martin Luther posted at Wittenberg in 1517
alerted the Holy Office to questionable and marginally unorthodox
views, including any form of criticism of the Church and its clergy. IUuminists (alumbrados), a group of Spanish mystics, by 1 524 were generally found guilty of the former, and Erasmists, frequently involved in the
latter, by 1 527 were often intellectually associated, and thus soon found
themselves equated to heretical Lutherans in the newly expanded view
of the Inquisition. By 1529, Erasmists were subject to full prosecution
by the Holy Office, a condition present throughout the century, varying
only by degrees according to the sentiments of the tribunal.3
Throughout Europe, humanist scholars depended heavily upon
being favored by printers, who were also frequently publishers, editors,
and commentators, for divulgation and promotion of their writings.
'Antonio Palau y Dulcet,Manual del Librero Hispanoamericano (Barcelona, 1948—),
author cited.

2Marcel Bataillon, Erasmo y España (Mexcio City, 1950), pp. 1-92, 190-205, 279-315;
John E. \j3n$mrst,Erasmus and the Spanish Inquisition: The Case ofJuan de Valdés (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1950), pp. 7, 29-35.
'Longhurst, op. cit., pp. 19-20, 70-78.

414

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY LIBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

Title page: Desiderius Erasmus, De duplici copia verborum ac rerutn commentant duo
(Lyon: Seb. Gryphius, 1550). Handwritten annotations: after "autore":"damnato" ("a condemned author"); below: "1 peso costo y bale mas pesos" ("cost one peso and worth
more"); lower right: "Corregido conforme al expurgatorio del año de 1747 con licencia

del S[an]to Oficio. 6 de Ag[OsJtO. IHS. José Rafael de O. del." ("Corrected in conformity

with the expurgatory [index] of the year 1747 with license of the Holy Office. August 6.
IHS. José Rafael de O., delegate"); bottom: "Opera omnia Erasmi caute legenda [;] multa

enim insunt corre." ("All the works of Erasmus are to be read with caution, for there are in

them many things to be corrected [?] "). From the library of the Jesuit College of Tepotzotlán.

BY W. MICHAEL MATHES

415

This symbiosis often reached a stage whereby a given scholar would become a virtual in-house author for a printer who would also maintain a
practical monopoly for publication of his works. This relationship was
evidenced in Spain by Miguel de Eguía of Alcalá de Henares and by Andrés de Portonaris of Salamanca, primary printers of works of Erasmus
and Martín de Azpilcueta, respectively.
While printing of works by humanist authors tended to be widespread in western Europe during the latter part of the fifteenth and
early sixteenth centuries, with the rise of Lutheranism censorship by
the Holy Office became increasingly severe. As a result, printers located
in cities under sovereigns tolerant of Protestantism such as Antwerp,
Louvain, Paris, Lyon, Cologne, Basel, and Venice, or printers who were
Protestants, such as Johannes Froben and Henri Estienne or cryptoProtestants, such as Christopher Plantin and his successors, acquired
fame as publishers of humanist authors, irrespective of the nationality
of the latter. The Basel printer Johannes Froben was the principal producer of the works of Erasmus, and the Antwerp and Leiden printers
Christopher Plantin and Johannes Moretus were not only publishers of
the writings of Erasmus but virtual monopolists of those of Justus Lipsius. Also, in Amsterdamjohannes Steelsius, in Paris, Jodocus Badius Ascensius, Claude Chevallon, and Robert Estienne, in Lyon, Sebastian
Gryphius, and in Venice, Aldo and Paolo Manuzio were major editorprinters of humanist works.4
Full colonial expansion to the Americas by Spain was initiated after
three decades of insular occupation with the conquest of Tenochtitlan
by Fernando Cortés in 1521. This involved tranference of Spanish insti-

tutions and civilization, with necessary modifications, to the Kingdom

of New Spain, with special considerations for the incorporation of
Mesoamerican high-level cultures into the Spanish world. Far more important in this plan than political and military activity was religious
conversion and education, which, in addition to inculcating spiritual
conformity, simultaneously imparted Spanish language and culture. This
task of instruction in the years immediately following the conquest was
accorded to friars of the Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian or-

ders, and, in later decades of the sixteenth century, to priests of the Society ofJesus. These teachers, professors, and scholars in one fashion or
another were influenced by the humanist movement through their
mentors and through increased availability of printed books.
4PaIaU y Dulcet, op. cit., author cited; Leon Voet, The Plantin Press at Antwerp

(1555-1589) (6 vols; Amsterdam, 1980-1982); Lisa Jardine, Erasmus, Man of Letters
(Princeton, 1993), pp. 23-26, 160-164.

416

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH· AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY UBRAMES OF NEW SPAIN

Franciscans, initiators of evangelization in New Spain in 1523, shortly
thereafter established various monasteries and schools in the City of
Mexico and its environs, each with a small reference library for use of
the friars. The influence of Humanism was represented by Spanish friars and by their Flemish correligious as Pedro de Gante (Ghent) and
Juan de Tecto, innovators in instruction of the Indians. However, as an

intellectual institution, the movement was established in 1527 by the
appointment of the Franciscan Fray Juan de Zumárraga as first bishop
of Mexico in 1527. A native of Durango, Vizcaya, the new prelate not
only held a large personal library of over four hundred volumes, but
also demonstrated extraordinary interest in expansion of libraries,

printing, and education, enterprises realized after he returned from his

consecration in Spain in 1533· The founding in 1536 of the Franciscan

Colegio Imperial de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, conceived by Zumárraga
as a seminary for sons of Indian nobles, opened the first academic library in the New World with a gift of books from the bishop, and in
1539 the famed printer of Seville, Juan Cromberger, extended graphic
arts to the Americas by establishing a press in the City of Mexico under

Juan Pablos of Brescia.5

During the first half-century following the establishment of Spanish
hegemony in the New World, the formation of libraries, institutional and
personal, was relatively free of complications. In 1501 the crown required licensing for shipment of books to the Americas, and in 1508
control of books destined to overseas colonies was placed under the
Casa de Contratación in Seville. Royal Orders at Ocaña of April 4, 1531,
and at Valladolid of September 13, 1543, expressly prohibited export of
tales of chivalry, and on September 5, 1550, the Casa de Contratación
was ordered to maintain a register of all books sent to the New World.
However, during and following the Council of Trent, 1545-1563, control of books and their contents was substantially augmented. In 1551,
catalogues of unapproved books were printed in Toledo by Juan de
Ayala, in Valladolid by Francisco Fernández de Córdoba, in Valencia by
Juan Mey, and in Seville by Gregorio de la Torre, in accordance with deliberations of the council. Much expanded, with detailed instructions
for expurgation as well as prohibition of entire works and condemna'Miguel Mathes, Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco: La Primera Biblioteca Académica de las
Americas (Mexico City, 1982), pp. 15-22; Alberto María Carreño,"La Primera Biblioteca

del Continente Americano," Divulgación Histórica, IV (June, July, 1943), 428-431,
448-492; Richard E. Greenleaf, Zumárraga and the Mexican Inquisition (Washington,
D.C., 1961), pp. 26-14; and, Zumárraga and His Family (Washington, D.C., 1979), pp.
123-127,129-131.

BY W. MICHAEL MATHES

417

Title page: Desiderius Erasmus, Apophthegmatum ex optimis utriusq[ue] linguae scriptoribus . . . collectorum libri octo (Lyon: Seb. Gryphius, 1548). Handwritten annotation:
after "Erasmum Roterodamum": "authore[m] damnatu[m]" ("a condemned author").
From the library of the Franciscan Monastery of Cholula.

418

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY LIBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

tion of authors, the Index librorum prohibitorum et expurgatorum
was published in 1 559 under order of Pope Paul IV by Antonio Blado in
Rome, and under order of Cardinal Fernando de Valdés by Sebastián
Ramírez in Valladolid. Prohibition was absolute by work, author, or
printer, and required confiscation by the Holy Office, while expurgation
permitted retention of the work, subject to the removal of objectionable text through obliteration in ink or excision by agents appointed for
this task by the local commissary or prelate. The Index, expanded by

Pope Pius rv in 1564 after the conclusion of the Council of Trent, was

constantly updated and augmented to include virtually any authors,
printers, or imprints that might be considered marginally damaging to
orthodox Roman Christianity, as demonstrated by the editions of Alfonso Gómez and Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas published in Madrid in
1583, 1584, and 1612, respectively.6
Various humanist authors and publishers were included in the editions of the Index appearing in the sixteenth century. Extensive expurgation and annotation permitted retention of most pre-1550 titles
authored by Desiderius Erasmus, as well as his Opera Omnia in the editions of Basel, 1530, 1536, and 1565, Paris, 1544, and Lyon, 1528 and
1533. Nevertheless, he was classified as auctor damnatus primae classis and prohibited for the Opera of Paris, 1530 and 1577, and Basel,
1534 and 1537, as well as most later titles and collected editions. Also
subject to expurgation were the works of Ambrosius Calepinus, Saint

John Chrysostom edited by Erasmus in editions of Paris, 1546, Antwerp,

1553, and Basel, 1558, Marcus Tullius Cicero in editions of Lyon, 1542
and Basel, 1553, Jodocus Clichtove, Paris, 1548, Johannes Justus Landsberg, edition of Alcalá de Henares, and Saint Augustine, Paris, 1531. Editions of Johannes Fero (Wild) prior to 1587 were prohibited as being

sectarian, with only those of Lyon, 1559 and 1553, and Alcalá de

Henares, 1578, permitted following expurgation; writings of Francesco
Petrarca were expurgated, will full prohibition of the edition of Valladolid, 1541, and all works ofJustus Lipsius were prohibited. The Spanish humanist Benito Arias Montano, editor of the monumental
eight-volume Biblia Sacra, hebraice, chaldaice, graece et latine

(Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1569-1573), and Lorenzo Valla, heir to
Nebrija, were subject to extensive expurgation, as was Diego de Estela

in the editions of Salamanca, 1575, Alcalá de Henares, 1578, and

'J. M. De Bujanda (ed.), Index de l'Inquisition Espagnole 1551, 1554, 1559, Index de

l'Inquisition Espagnole 1583, 1584 (Sherbrooke, 1984, 1993); Mathes, Santa Cruz de
Tlatelolco, pp. 14, 17, 25, 27; Bataillon, op. cit. ,pp. 715-724.

BY W MICHAEL MATHES

419

Title page:Justus Lipsius, Epistolarum centuriae duae (Leiden:The Plantinian Workshop:
Franciscus Raphelengius, 1591)· Handwritten annotations: "del Padre M[inist]ro de Medi-

ano. Corregido conforme al indice de 1612. ("Corrected in conformity with the index of
1612"). Pedro de Hortigosa.Y según el Expurgatorio] novissimo de 1707 año ("And according to the Expurgatory [Index] of the year 1707"). Man[uel] Pérez." From an unidentified Mexican conventual library.

420

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY LIBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

Expurgations by obliteration of lines and paragraphs on pages 42-43 of Justus Lipsius,
Epistolarum centuriae duae.

BY W. MICHAEL MATHES

421

Expurgation by obliteration ofUnes on page 209 ofJustus Upsms,Epistolarum centuriae
duae.

422

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY UBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

Antwerp, 1584. All works printed by Johannes Froben of Basel, a
Lutheran, and of Henri Estienne of Paris, a Calvinist, were prohibited.7
Development of the Holy Office of the Inquisition as an institution
for the suppression of Protestantism also resulted from decisions of the
council. On January 29, 1570, after four decades of delegated administration by the archbishop of Mexico, a formal inquisitional tribunal was
established in that city; the following year, Archbishop Pedro Moya de
Contreras issued various edicts requiring inventories of libraries to be
filed with the Holy Office, and Bishop Francisco Gómez de Mendiola
was established as inquisitor in Guadalajara on December 7. In 1572 trials relative to the possession, sale, or production of prohibited or expurgated books were begun; on September 12 a commissary was
established in Veracruz for inspection of newly arriving ships for such
imprints, and the following year, these actions were upheld by a brief of
Pope Gregory XIII of August 13. Specific restrictions for New Spain
were decreed by the Third Mexican Provincial Council in 1585, requiring, under pain of excommunication, license of the ordinary for printing, circulating, buying, or selling any book, and prohibiting ownership
or reading of obscene books, excepting Latin classics which were permitted for instruction and better understanding of the language. This
exception was commonly employed as a means of retaining otherwise
prohibited humanistic works, particularly in conventual libraries, for
such grammatical or rhetorical works as those of Cicero and Quintillian
were generally introduced by humanist authors and were considered
an integral part of the humanist revival of classical intellectual values.8
In spite of restriction the book trade with New Spain enabled the
growth of libraries, private and conventual, all of which incorporated titles by humanist authors, editors, and printers. Inquisition documentation recorded the sale of 130 titles, including works by Azpilcueta, Fero,
and Nebrija by Alonso Losa to Pedro Garcia on July 21,1 576, and on December 22 of the same year, Losa ordered 282 titles in 1,190 volumes,
including works by Estela, Fero, Luis de Granada, Nebrija, Julius Caesar,
and Caius Crispus Sallust, from Diego de Mexía in Seville. Nevertheless,
1In(IiCe Ultimo de los Libros Prohibidos y mandados Expurgar: para todos los
Reynos y Señoríos del Católico Rey de las Españas, El Señor Don Carlos IV (Madrid:
Don Antonio de Sancha, 1790); Suplemento al índice Expurgatorio del Año de 1790
(Madrid: Imprenta Real, 1805), author cited. Itinerarium Beniamini Tudelensis (Antwerp: Chistophe Plantin, 1 575), edited by Arias Montano, was condmened in the Index of

1 584, notwithstanding the favor enjoyed by the editor in the court of Philip II.

"Mathes, Santa Cruz de lïatelolco, p. 28; Concilio III Provincial Mexicano, celebrado
en Mexico en año de 1585 (Mexico City, 1859), pp. 21-23.

BY W MICHAEL MATHES

423

bookselling was not without risk; in 1564, a merchant, Alonso de
Castilla, was tried for selling prohibited books, including six copies of
Erasmus, Enchiridion O Manual del Cauallero Christiano (Antwerp:
Martin Nucio, 1555),and between December 11, 1585, and October 14,
1586, Diego Navarro was tried by the Holy Office for receiving 1,745
volumes, including uncensored titles of Estela, Fero, and Nebrija, from
Benito Boyer of Medina del Campo.9
Private holdings reflected wide and varied interest in Humanism. The
Zumárraga library contained works by Erasmus (17), Thomas More (2),
Clichtove (2), Saint John Chrysostom, and Pedro Martyr de Anglería,
among others. Uncharacteristic of most bibliophiles, Zúmarraga lent his
De Optimo Reip. Statu, De Que noua insula Utopia, libellus uere aureus (Basel: apud Ioannem Frobenium, 1518) to his colleague, don Vasco
de Quiroga, judge of the Audiencia of Mexico, who founded his hospital-towns of Santa Fe in Mexico and Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, in 1532
and 1538 upon the concept of Utopia as communal Indian settlements.10 Recorded by the Holy Office in 1533 were holdings of Licentiate Cristóbal de Pedraza, accountant of the Metropolitan Cathedral,
including titles by Erasmus, Nebrija, Petrarch, Aristotle, Caesar, Titus
Livy, Sallust, Linnaeus Annaeus Seneca, and R Terence, in 1537 those of
Fray Juan de Gaona, who brought works of Erasmus to New Spain, and
in 1580 collections of Alonso de Santiago, S J., Pedro Alvarez de Acosta,
Alonso de Aguilar, Antonio de la Parra, Agustín Pinto and others who
owned titles by Erasmus, Gaspar Pérez and Juan de Valderrama with
works of Petrarch, and Juan Rodriguez and Rodrigo Maldonado, who
owned editions of Cicero annotated by Philip Melanchthon.11
Although Humanism as an active intellectual movement virtually disappeared by the seventeenth century, private libraries retained its

works. In 1615, Alonso de Sosa of Mexico recorded titles by Caesar, Cicero, Paolo Manuzio, Publius Ovidius Naso, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Sallust, Suetonius Tranquillus, Terence, and Publius Virgilius Maro, and on
'Mathes, Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco,pp. 34, 36; Bataillon, op. cit., p. 811.
'"Carreno, op. cit., passim; Lino Gómez Cañedo, "Viejas Bibliotecas Coloniales de México," Evangelización, Cultura y Promoción Social (Mexico City, 1993), pp. 409-415;

Mathes, Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, pp. 93-96; Bataillon, op. cit., pp. 816, 819-826. Zumárraga returned a large part of his library, including works by Erasmus, to Durango in 1 547,

the year prior to his death. Fintan B. Warren, Vasco de Quiroga and His Pueblo Hospitals
of Santa Fe (Washington, D.C., 1963), passim. Quiroga, an attorney, was designated
bishop of Michoacán in 1537 and consecrated by Zumárraga in Mexico the following

year; born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres in 1 470, he died in Uruapan, Michoacán, in 1 565 .
"Ignacio Osorio Romero, Historia de las Bibliotecas Novohispanas (Mexico City,

1986), pp. 32-35; Bataillon, op. «f., pp. 807-813.

424

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY UBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

August 11, 1620, Licencíate Domingo Lázaro de Arregui, cleric of Tepic,

listed titles by Cicero, Nebrija, and Ovid (3) in his thirty-six-volume library. In I654 Melchor Pérez de Soto, accountant of the Metropolitan
Cathedral, tried by the Holy Office for possession of prohibited books,
showed titles by Aesop, Caesar, Cicero, Erasmus, Homer, Manuzio, Valla,
andVirgil in the inventory of his extraordinary collection of some 1,500

volumes.12

Conventual libraries, equally subject to control as secular private collections, held numerous works by humanist authors, expurgated and
unexpurgated. The library of the Franciscan monastery in the environs
of Mexico at Huexotla in its 141 titles included Cicero, Erasmus, Paulo

Manuzio, Nebrija, Aurelius Prudentius, and Quintilian; those of Chalco,

Tlalmanalco, and Tecamachalco held works by Erasmus; those of Huamantla, Huejotzingo, Tecali, and Tepeaca contained titles by Juan Luis
Vives; those of Calpulalpan, Santa María de la Redonda, and Tepeaca incorporated volumes by Valla; and those of Coatlinchán and Tecomic
held Aldine editions. The Discalced Franciscan library at the Convento
de San Diego in Mexico held titles by Arias Montano, Erasmus, Marcus
Fabius Quintilian, and Seneca; the Augustinian Convento de San Agustín
contained six fifteenth-century editions of titles by Aristotle, and Dis-

calced Carmelite libraries at the Convento de San Sebastián included

the works of Aristotle and the 1536 edition of Saint John Chrysostom
edited by Erasmus.13

Larger Franciscan libraries contained multiple titles of many human-

ist authors. The earliest of these, Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, held 335 ti-

tles, many printed in centers of Humanism such as Alcalá de Henares
(11), Antwerp (20), Basel (19), Louvain (2), Lyon (51), and Paris (51),
with works by Aristotle, Azpilcueta (3), Julius Caesar, Clichtove (2), Johann Eck, Fero (2), Antonio de Guevara, Decimus Junius Juvenal, Jo"Osorio Romero, op. cit., pp. 48, 53-54; Archivo General de la Nación, México. Inquisición 486, 2a parte, exp. l,fol. 22'-22v,"Inventario de la biblioteca de Domingo Lázaro de
Arregui, 1 1 de agosto de 1620." Arregui was a skilled geographer who authored the "De-

scripción de la Nueva Galicia" in 1621; he died in Compostela in 1636.
"Gómez Cañedo, op. cit., pp. 411-412; Osorio Romero, op. cit., p. 108; Minerva Elena

Guerrero Martínez, Catálogo de la Biblioteca del Convento de San Diego de México (1)
(Mexico City, 1991); Carmen Guevara Bravo, Catálogo de la Biblioteca del Convento de
San Sebastián de la ciudad de México (I) (Mexico City, 1991); Elvira C. Quintero García;
Gerardo Hernández, Catálogo de la Biblioteca del Colegio de los Carmelitas Descalzos

de San Joaquín de Tacuba, México (I); María Rosa Avalos León; María Elena Camargo,
Catálogo de la Biblioteca del Colegio de los Carmelitas Descalzos de San Joaquín de

Tacuba, México (II) (Mexico City, 1991); Jesús Yhmoff Cabrera, Catálogo de Incunables
de la Biblioteca Nacional de México (Mexico City, 1987).

BY W. MICHAEL MATHES

425

hannes Justus Lansberg, Giovanni Pico della Mirándola, Nebrija (3),
Plutarch (2), Saint Cyprian, Saint John Chrysostom, Sallust, and Suidas;
and the Convento Grande de San Francisco inventoried 282 titles in-

cluding Azpilcueta (3), Erasmus (2), Marsilio Ficino, Luis de Granada,
Pedro Mexia, and Vives.14
Outside of the City of Mexico, the Convento de Toluca held 378 volumes including titles by Aesop (5), Aristotle, Marcus Porcius Cato, Cicero (18), Cayo Crispus, Erasmus, Ovid, Plato, Sallust, Terence (7), Valla
(7), and Virgil (6); and that of Texcoco with 246 titles incorporating
works of Arias Montano, Erasmus, Cicero, Nebrija, Ovid, Plato, C. Pliny
Secundus, Quintilian, Valerius Maximus,Valla, and Vives.15 The capital of
Nueva Galicia, Guadalajara, the center for the nortwesterly expansion of
New Spain, in the 878-volume library of the Convento de San Francisco,

inventoried by order of Fray Juan Zurita on January 28, 1610, held 479
titles including Aesop, Aristotle, Azpilcueta (15), Calepinus, Cicero (2),

Curtius, Dionysius of Alexandria, Erasmus, Estela (3), Fero (6), Homer,

Lansberg (3), Marcus Annaeus Lucan, Luis de Granada (4), Ambrosius
Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius, Marcus Aurelius (Guevara), Nebrija (2),
Ovid, Pliny, Quintilian, Saint John Chrysostom (2), Sallust, Seneca, Tauler
(2), Terence,Valerius Maximus, Valla,Virgil, and Vives.16
Although founded in the final decades of the sixteenth century, the
Colegio de San Pedro y San Pablo de México of the Society of Jesus
rapidly became a major academic center with a corresponding library.
Of seventy-six titles catalogued, humanistic works include those of Aristotle (4), Azpilcueta (5), Pico della Mirándola, Plato (2), Plutarch, Seneca
edited by Justus Lipsius, and Lucius Vitruvius Pollio.17

Unfortunately, extant catalogues and precise inventories of sixteenthand seventeenth-century libraries are few and, with the exception of
those of San Francisco de Guadalajara and Arregui, the holdings reviewed herein are based upon surviving volumes identifiable through
branding or other markings of provenance. In Mexico the imperfection
of such surveys is particularly evident when humidity, insect damage,
"Mathes, Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, pp. 47-69, 82; Julio Alfonso Pérez Luna, Catálogo

de la Biblioteca del Convento Grande de San Francisco de la Ciudad de México (I)
(Mexico City, 1988); Salvia Carmen Segura Martínez, Catálogo de la Biblioteca del Convento Grande de San Francisco de la Ciudad de México (II) (III) (Mexico City, 1991).

"Gómez Cañedo, op. cit., pp. 411-413.

"Miguel Mathes, Un Centro Cultural Novogalaico: La Biblioteca del Convento de San

Francisco de Guadalajara, en 1610 (Guadalajara, 1986).
"Salvia Carmen Segura Martínez; Alejando Flores B., Catálogo de la Biblioteca del
Colegio de San Pedro y San Pablo de México (I) (Mexico City, 1992).

426

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY UBRAMES OF NEW SPAIN

theft, warfare, and suppression of religious orders are considered. Thus,
it is reasonable to assume that when in active use, most libraries were
more extensive than currently calculated. Given the extant titles of classical and humanist authors, these were also probably far greater than
shown, and considering works retained by older libraries and those incorporated into eighteenth-century repositories such as the Oratorio
de San Felipe Neri begun in 1702 and the great Biblioteca Turriana
formed by doctors Luis and Cayetano Antonio de Torres and be-

queathed to the Metropolitan Cathedral in 1756, intellectual interest in

Humanism in New Spain was proportionately as widespread as in the
mother country.18

Nevertheless, unlike Spain the viceroyalty produced relatively few
humanist writers of note. Zumárraga authored the Doctrina Cristiana

(México, 1545), and his correligious Diego de Valadés, born in Tlaxcala
in 1533, reader in theology at the Colegio Imperial de Santa Cruz de

Tlatelolco between 1553 and 1555, authored the Rhetortea Christiana

(Perugia, 1579), both works patterned after the Enchiridion of Erasmus. Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, native of Toledo, professor of
rhetoric in the University of Osuna, and immigrant to New Spain in
1553 where, in the newly founded Real y Pontificia Universidad, he occupied a similar chair and the rectorship in 1567 and 1572, edited the
works of Juan Luis Vives, to which he appended three Latin dialogues
describing the university, the city, and its environs in Francisci Cernantes Salazari Toletani, ad Ludouici Viuis exercitationem, aliquot
Dialogi (Mexico juan Pablos, 1 554). In his Túmulo Imperial de la gran

ciudad de México (México: Antonio de Espinosa, 1560), eulogizing

Charles y Cervantes incorporated Latin poetry and quotations from the
Caesars evoking the imperial tradition. The Augustinian Fray Alonso de
la Veracruz, born in the province of Toledo about 1504, immigrated to
New Spain in 1535 and, after serving in Michoacán under Bishop Vasco

de Quiroga from 1 542 on, in June, 1553, occupied the chair of theology
at the Real y Pontificia Universidad. As a professor, he published two

Aristotelian studies, Dialéctica resolutio cum textuAristotelis (México:

Juan Pablos, 1554), and Phisica, speculatio (México:Juan Pablos, 1557).
In 1577, as a grammatical text, the Society of Jesus published in its
Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo, E Ovidii Nasonis tam de
Tristibus quam de Ponto (México: Antonio Ricardo). Although frequently not listed in contemporary inventories nor extant in contemporary holdings, it is most unlikely that these locally printed works
" María del Carmen Guevara Bravo, Catálogo de la Biblioteca de la Congregación del
Oratorio de San Felipe Neri (1) (Mexico City, 1991; Osorio Romero, op. cit. ,pp. 173, 250.

427

BY W. MICHAEL MATHES

would not have been found in major conventual libraries. Uniquely,
however, New Spain provided a functioning laboratory for the Utopia
of Thomas More in the hospital-towns of Quiroga and missionary methods of the Franciscans during three centuries.
The presence of numerous and diverse humanist works in libraries
throughout central New Spain clearly indicates a high level of interest
in contemporary European scholarship and the establishment of a foundation for continued contact with intellectual trends in the mother

country. The departure from scholasticism in the viceroyalty reflected
through humanistic followings, manifested the early establishment of
foundations for study and inquiry in the Enlightenment of the final
decades of the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries in the viceroyalty.
Humanist Works by Author and Nature of Library Surveyed
AUTHOR

Aesop

Arias Montano

CONVENTUAL

6
2

PRIVATE

1

—

Aristotle

14

1

Azpilcueta

26
1

1

3

Calepinus

1

—

Cato

1

1

Crispus

1

—

Julius Caesar

Curtius

1

1

Cicero
Clichtove

22
2

5
2

Dionysius of Alexandria

1

—

Eck
Erasmus

1
11

—
31

Estela
Fero

3
8

2
3

Ficino
Homer

1
1

—
1

Juvenal

1

—

Lansberg
Lipsius
Livy

4
1
—

—
—
1

Lucan

1

—

Luis de Granada

6

1

Macrobius

1

—

Manuzio

3

2

428

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY LIBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

Marcus Aurelius
Mexia
More

2
1
—

—
—
2

Nebrija

7

5

Ovid

3

4

Pedro Martyr

—

1

Petrarch

—

3

Pico della Mirándola
Plato

2
4

—
—

Pliny

2

—

Plutarch

3

—

Prudentius

1

—

Quintilian
St. Cryprian
St. John Chrysostom

4
1
4

—
—
1

Sallust
Seneca

3
3

3
1

Suetonius
Suidas
Tauler

—
1
2

—
—
—

Terence
Valerius Maximus
Valla

2
2
10

2
—
—

Vergil

7

2

Vitruvius

1

—

Vives

7

—

Selected Bibliography of Humanist Works in Libraries in New Spain
Aesop. Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae Graece et Latine. Venice: Ioannem Farreum &
Fratres, 1542; Basel: Ioannes Heruagius, 1544.
-------- . Libro del sabio et clarissimo fabulador Ysopo historiador et annotado. Seville: Juan Cromberger, 1533.
Arias Montano, Benito. De recta curandorum vulnerum ratione. Antwerp: Offlcina Christophori Plantini, 1574.
-------- .Antiquitatum ludaicarum libri LX. Louvain: Ofncina Plantiniana, 1593.
------ . Benedicti Ariae Montant Elvcidationes in qvatvor evangelia.
Antwerp: Chr. Plantinus, 1575.
------ . Benedicti Ariae Montant hispalensis Poemata in qvatvor tomos distincto. Antwerp: Christophorus Plantinus, 1 589.
. Commentaria in Lsaiamprophetam. Antwerp: Officina Plantiniana, 1599.

BY W MICHAEL MATHES

429

-------- . De óptimo imperio, sive in lib.Josuae commentarium. Antwerp: Chr.
Plantinus, 1583.

-------- . Hvmanae salvtis monvmenta B.Ariae Montant. Antwerp: Christophorus Plantinus, 1571.

--------, ed. Index librorvm prohibitorvm. Antwerp: Offlcina Christophori Plantini, 1570.

Aristotle. Aristotelis De anima libri tres. Lyon: Seb. Gryphius, 1546.
-------- . Aristotelis De prima philosophia seu Metaphysicorum libri XII. Paris:
I. Lodoicus, 1542.
-------- . Aristotelis Poética. Venice: Haeredes Aldi, et Andreas Asvlanus Soceri,
1536.

-------- . Aristotelis Stragiritae peripateticorvm principis Ethicorvm ad Nico-

machvm libri decern. Lyon: Ioannes et Franciscus Frellonii, 1544.

-------- .Decern librorum moralium Aristotelis. [Josse Clichtove] Paris: Officina
Simonis Colinaei, 1535.

--------. Politicorum libri octo commentary. Paris: Officina Simonis Colinaei,
1526.

Azpilcueta, Martin de. Compendium omnium operum. Venice: Robertus
Meiettus, 1598.

Cato, Marcus Porcius. De re rustica. Venice: Aldus, et Andreas Soceri, 1533;

CologneJoannes Gymnicus, 1536.

-------- . Catonis disticha moralia cum scholis Des. Erasmi Roterod. Quae
omnia emendata et nunc denuo recognita perspicies. Barcelona: Jaime
Cortés, 1561; Seville: Alonso Escribano, 1567, 1576.
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. Catvllvs, Tibvllvs, Propertius. Lyon: Gryphius, 1531;

Paris: Simon Colinaeus, 1543; Antwerp: Chr. Plantinus, 1560: Paris: Officina
Rob. Stephani, 1 577; Louvain: Officina Plantiniana, 1592.

-------- . Catvllvs, et in evm commentarivm M.Antonii Mvreti. Venice: Aldus,
1562.

Cervantes de Salazar, Francisco. Diálogos. Mexico City:Juan Pablos, 1554.
-------- . Túmulo Imperial de la gran Ciudad de México. Mexico City: Antonio

de Espinosa, 1560.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. M. Tvllii Ciceronis Orationvm . . . Cum correctionibus

Pauli Manutii. Venice: Paulus Manutius, 1559; Cologne: Haeredes Arnoldi
Birckmanni, 1579-1582.

-------- . M. T. Ciceronis epistolarvm familiarium. Alcalá de Henares: Ioannes
Gratianus, 1574.

430

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY UBRAMES OF NEW SPAIN

-------- . Pavli Manvtii in epístolas ad Atticum, ad Brutum, ad Quintum

fratrem scholis. Venice: Pavlvs Manvtius Aldi, 1540, 1546, 1547, 1550, 1553,
1557, 1561, 1562, 1568, 1572, 1579; Antwerp: Chr. Plantinus, 1567; Frankfurt:
Andreas Wechelus, 1580.

-------- . Los diziseis libros de las epístolas, o cartas de M. Tvlio Cicerón, vulgarmente llamadasfamiliares. Barcelona: I. Cendrat, 1592.
-------- . Rhetoricorvm . . . cum correctionibus Pauli Manutii. Venice: P Manv-

tivs, 1564.
Clichtove, Josse. De Sacramento Eucharistiae contra Oecolampadium.
Cologne: Petrus Quentell, 1527.

-------- .De veneratione sanctorum. Libri duo Iudoci Clichtouei Neoportuesis.
Cologne: Petras Quentell, 1525.
-------- . Iudoci Clichthovei Theologi Parisiensis De vita & moribus sacerdotum. Lyon: Haeredes Iacobi Juntae, 1558.

-------- . Propugnaculum Ecclesie adversus. Cologne: Hiero Alopecius, 1526.
Curtius Rufus, Quintus. De rebus gestis Alexandre magni. Paris: Simonem CoIinaeum, 1533;Venice:Aldus, et Andreas Soceri, 1520;Antwerp:J. Stelsius, 1565.
-------- . Quinto Curdo de los hechos del magno Alexandre rey de Macedonia.
Sevillejuan Cromberger, 1534.
Demosthenes. Demosthenous logon tmema proton-triton . . . Corrigente
Paulo Manutio, Aldifilio. Venice: Paulus Manutius, 1554.
Dionysius of Alexandria. Beati Dionysii archiepiscopi Alexandrini Epístola
aduersus Paulum Samosatensem episcopum Antiochiae. n.p.: Francisco
Turriano, 1608.
Erasmus, Desiderius. Apophthegmatvm ex optimis vtrivsqve lingve scriptoribvs libri IX. Pauli Manvtii studio. Venice: Ex aedibus Manutianis, 1577;
Venice: Ofncina Damiani Zenari, 1583.

-------- . Enchiridion o Manual del Cauallero Christiane. Antwerp: Martin
Nució, 1555.
-------- . Enchiridion militis Christiani. Basel: Ioannes Frobenius, 1519; Stras-

bourg: loan. Knobl, 1523; Antwerp: Dumaeus, 1531.
-------- . Omnia Opera. Basel: Hieronymus Frobenius et Nicolaus Epsicopius,
1538-1540.

-------- . Paraphrasis sev potius epitome scripta. Antwerp: Ioannem Hillenium,
1541; Paris: Officina R. Stephani, 1548.
-------- . Varii Ivsvs pveriles ex D. Eras., M. Corderio, & L. Viue separati in grattant puerorum. Paris:Vidua Mauricij a Porta, 1552.

BY W. MICHAEL MATHES

431

Estela, Diego de. In sanctum Iesu Christi Evangelium secundum Lucam. Lyon:
Ioannes Jacobus Iunta, 1583.
Estienne, Robert. Dictionarivm, sev Latinae linguae thesaurus. Paris: Offlcina

Roberti Stephani, 1536; Strasbourg: Ludouici Königs Bibliop., l6ll.

Fero (Wild), Johann. Historiae sacrae Dominicae passionis. Lyon: Iacobus
Boyerius, 1557.
-------- . Postillae, sive, Condones in Epístolas et Euangelia. Antwerp: Ioannes
Stelsius, 1563.
Ficino, Marsilio. /Z comento di Marsilio Ficino sopra il Conuito di Piatone.
Rome: F. Priscianese, 1544.
-------- . Il consiglio. Florence: Heredi de Philippo di Giunta, 1522.
-------- . De le tre vite. Venice: Michel Tramezzino, 1548.
-------- . De vita libri tres. Paris: Thomas Richardus, 1547.
-------- . Libro compuesto por elfamoso y singularphilosopho y gran medico.
Zaragoza: Pedro Bernuz, 1564.
-------- . Iamblichvs De mysteriis Agyptiorvm, Chaldaeorum, Assyriorum.
Lyon: loan. Tornaesivs, 1 570.
—

, ed. Divini Platonis Opera omnia. Basel: Officina Frobeniana, 1546;

Lyon:AntonivsVicentivs, 1567.

Guevara, Antonio de. Marco Aurelio con el relox de principes. Valladolid:
Nicolás Tierri, 1529.
Homer. De la Vlyxea de Homero. XIII. Salamanca: Andrea de Portonariis, 1550;
Antwerp: luán Steelsio, 1550, 1556.
-------- . Homeri Ilias et Odyssea graece cum interpretatione latina. Paris: Henricus Stephanus, 1588.
-------- . Homeri omnium poetarum principis Ilias. Lyon:Iacobus Giunta, 1538.
-------- .Homerou /fíes. Venice: Aldus, et Andreas Asvlanus Soceri, 1524.
Horace. Horativs. M.Antonii Mvreti in evm scholia. Venice: Aldvs, 1 561 .
Lansberg, Joannes Justus. Ioannis Lanspergii Carthusiani sermones de Sanctis
totius anni in modum earum. Cologne: Melchior Nouesianus, 1545.
Lipsius, Justus. De amphitheatro liber. Antwerp: Christophorus Plantinus,
1585.

-------- . De militia romana libri quinqué. Antwerp: Offlcina Plantiniana apud
Ioannem Moretum, 1598.

-------- . Epistolica institutio. Louvain: Officina Plantiniana, 1591.

432

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY UBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

-------- . I. Lipsi opera omnia. Antwerp: C. Plantinus, 1 585; Louvain: Offlcina Plantiniana, 1596.
-------- . C Cornelii Taciti Opera quae exstant. Ex Iusti Lipsi editione ultima.
Antwerp: C. Plantinus, 1585.
Luis de Granada. Operum Divi AureliiAugustini Hipponenis. Comentarij loan
Lodo Vives. Paris:Viduam Claudij Chevallonij, 1555.
Macrobius, Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius. Opera. Louvain: Offlcina Plantiniana,1597.

-------- . In Somnius Scipiones Libri II. Lyon: Seb. Gryphius, 1548, 1556; Lyon:
Haeredes Seb. Gryphii, 1560;Venice: I. Gryphius, 1565; Paris, 1585.
Manuzio, Aldo. Orthographiae ratio abAldo Manutio Pauli F. collecta ex libris

antiquis. Venice: Paulus Manutius, 1566.

Manuzio, Paulo. Adagia qvacvmqve ad banc diem exiervnt, Pavlli Mannvccii
stvdio. Florence: Ivntas, 1575;Venice: Ex Vnitorum Societate, 1585.

-------- . Antiquitatum Romanarum Pauli Manutii libri duo. Paris: Bernardus
Turrisanus, 1557; Venice: Paolo Manuzio, 1557, 1559, 1569; Venice: Aldo
Manuzio, 1 581 ; Cologne: Ioannes Gymnicus, 1 582.
-------- . De gli elementi, e di molti loro notabili effetti. Venice: Aldvs, 1557.
-------- . Epistolarum Pauli Manutii. Venice: In Academia Veneta, 1558; Venice:

In aedibus Manutianis, 1558, 1560, 1561, 1571, 1573; Venice: Hieronymus Polus, 1582; Cologne: Petrus Horst, 1586; Venice: Dominicus de Farris,
1595.

-------- . Lettere volgari. Venice: Paolo Manuzio, 1556, 1560.
-------- . Rhetoricorvm ad C. Herennivm libri IUI. Venice: P. Manvtivs, 1559;

Venice: Dominicus Nicolinus, 1584-1585.
Mexía, Pedro. Historia Imperialy Cesárea. Seville:Juan de León, 1545.
More, Thomas. De óptimo Reip. statu deque nova insula Utopia . . . Epigrammata Des Erasmi Roterdami. Basel: Ioannes Frobenius, 1518.

-------- . Epigrammata Clarissimi Desertissimique. Basel: Ioannes Frobenius,
1518.

Nebrija, Elio Antonio. Relectio nona de accento latino. Seville: Antonio Formas
Castigante, 1513; Salamanca, 1513·
-------- . Aelij Antonij Nebrisseñ. de litteris hebraicis. Alcalá de Henares: Arnao
Guillen de Brocar, 1515.
-------- . Aleij Antonij Nebrisseñ. Introductions in latinam gramaticen.
Logroño, 1513; Lyon: M. Mareschal, 1519.

BY W MICHAEL MATHES

433

Ovid Naso, Publius. Metamorphoseon Pvb. Ovidii Nasonis libri XV. Venice,

1549;Venice: I. Gryphius, 1574; Leipzig: Ioannes Steinman, 1582.

-------- . Los quinze libros de los Metamorphoseos. Salamanca:Juan Perier, 1580.
Petrarca, Francesco. Opera que extant omnia. Basel: Henrichus Petri, 1554.
-------- . // Petrarcha con l'espositione d'Alessandro Vellutello. Vinegia: Bernardino de Vidali, 1528.

-------- . Los trivmphos de Francisco Petrarcha. Medina del Campo: Guillermo
de Millis, 1554.
Pedro Martyr de Anglería. De nvper svb D. Carolo repertis insulis, simulo.
Basel: 1521.

-------- . De Orbe nouo. Alcalá de Henares: Michelem d'Eguia, 1530; Basel:
Ioannes Bebelius, 1533.
-------- . De insvlis nvper inventis. Cologne: Melchior Nouesianus, 1532.
-------- . Praeclara Fernandi Cortesii de Noua maris Oceani Hyspania narratio. Nuremberg: Fridericus Peypus, 1524.
Plato. Omnia divini Platonis opera traslatione Marsilii Ficini. Basel: Officina
Frobeniana, 1532, 1546.
-------- . Platonis axiochus avt de morte Ioachino Perionio Benedictino Cor-

moeriaceno interprete. Paris: Ioannes Lodoicus Tiletanus, 1542.
Pliny Secundus, C. C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae. Cologne: Eucharius
Cervicornia, 1524; Venice: Haeredus Aldi, et Andreas Asvlanus Soceri,
1535-1536, 1536- 1540;Venice: Paulus Manutius, 1559Prudentius, Aurelius. Psychomachia. Cathemerinon. Peristephanon. Apotheosis. Hamartigenia. Contra Symmachum, praefectum urbis, libri duo. Basel:
And. Cratandrvs, 1527.

-------- . Avrelivs Prvdentivs Clemens Theodori Pvlmanni Cranenbvrgii, et Victoris Giselini opera. Antwerp: Officina Christophori Plantini, 1564; Hanau:
Haeredes Johannis Aubrii, 1613·
Quintilian, Marcus Fabius. M. Fabii Quintiliani Institutionum oratoriarum
libri duodecim. Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1521; Paris: Nicolaus Sauetier, 1527;

Lyon:Seb. Gryphius, 1544; Lyon: Theobaldus Paganus, 1558.
Saint Augustine. D. Aurelii Augustini Hipponenis Episcopi, Omnium Operum . . . emendatus Des Erasmus Roterdamum. Paris: Claudius Chevallo-

nius, 1531·

Saint John Chrysostom. Commentarium in Acta Apostolorum Desiderio
Erasmo Rotterdamo interprete. Paris: Claudius Chevallonius, 1536;Antwerp:
Ioannes Steelsii, 1542.

434

HUMANISM IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY UBRARIES OF NEW SPAIN

-------- . Divi Ioannis Chrysostomi Archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani Opera.

Basel: Hervagiana, 1 539; Paris: Carola Guillara, 1 543.

Sallust Crispus, C. C. Sallvstii Crispí de conivratione Catilinae. Venice: Aldus, et

Andreas Soceri, 1 521 ;Venice: loan. Gryphius, 1556.

-------- . C. Crispí Sallvstii in M. T. Ciceronem Oratio. Paris: I. Badius, 1532.
Saneóles, Alonso de. Tabvla remissionvm rerum omnium, quae continentur
in libris Didaci de Stella. Salamanca: Petrus de Adurca, 1 584.
Seneca, Linneaus Annaeus. Manductionis ad Stoicam Philosophiam. Lyon:
Petrus & Iacobus Prost, 1634.

-------- . Phisiologiae Stocorum. Lyon: Petrus & Iacobus Prost, 1634.
Statius, Publius Papinus. Opera. Amsterdam: Ludovicus Elzevirius, 1653.
Suetonius Tranquillus. Suetonii Tranquili de Claris Grammaticis et
Rhetoribus. Venice: Aldus et Andreas Asulanus Soceri, 1518; Lyon: Vicentius
Portonarius, 1529; Paris: Robertus Stephanus, 1537.

-------- . Ex recognitione D. Erasmi Roterodami C. Suetonius Tranquillus. Basel:
Ioannes Frobenius, 1518;Officina Frobeniana, 1533.

-------- . Las vidas de los doze Cesares, de Cayo Suetonio Tranquil. Tarragona:
Phelipe Roberto, 1596.

Suidas. Hesychii Milesii, Illvstrii Cognomento, de his qui eruditionis fama
claruere, liber. Antwerp: Offlcina Christophori Plantini, 1572.

-------- . Isokratous Logoi hapantes, kai epistolai. Basel: T. Gvarinus, 1565.
-------- . To menparon biblion 5oí«'íí«. Venice: Aldus, et Andreas Soceri, 1514.
Tauler,Johannes. Marcaritvm spiritvale. Louvain:J. Waen, 1555.

Terence, P. Andria P.Terentii, omni interpretationis genere. Louvain: A. Birckmann, 1549.

-------- . Comoediae, Andria, Evnvchvs, Heavtontimorvmenos, Adelphi,

Hecyra, Phormio, ex emendatissimis. Venice: Hieronymuus Scotus, 1545.

-------- . P. Terentii Comoediae, vna cvm seboliis Donati, Asperi, et Cornvti
commentants . . . idque studio & opera Des. Erasmi. Basel: Officina Frobeni-

ana, 1538; Paris: Officina R. Stephani, 1541.

Tibullus,Albius. Tibullus cum commentario Achillis Statu Lusitani. Venice: In
Aedibus Manutianis, 1567.
Urbanus Bellunensis./nsíí'íMft'owes Graecae Grammatices:Aldus Manutius Ro-

manus Ioanni Francisco Pico Mirandulae. Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1497.

Valerius Maximus. Valerii Maximi Dictorum ac factorum memorabilium.
Paris: Ambrosius Girault, 1535;Venice: O. Scotus, D. Amadei F., 1541.

BY W. MICHAEL MATHES

435

-------- . Libro que Valerio Maximo romano compuso. Alcalá de Henares:
Miguel de Eguía, 1529.
Valla, Lorenzo. De linguae latinae elegantia libri sex. Paris: Simon Colinaeus,
1 529; Basel: Henricus Petrus, 1 543; Cologne: M. Gymnicus, 1 546.

Virgil Maro, Publius. Los doze libros de la Eneida de Verguío. Antwerp: Gerardo
Smits, 1557.

-------- . P. Vergilii Maronis opera, cvm Servit, Donati, et Ascensii commentariis. Venice: Ivntas, 1542; Basel: H. Petrus, 1551.
Vitruvius Pollio, Lucio. Ad Caesarem Augustum de Architectura. Venice: Simon

Bevilaqua, 1497.

-------- . De Architectura libri decern. Lyon: Héritiers de Balthazard I. de Gabiano, 1523;Lyon:I.Tornaesius, 1552.
-------- .Di Lucio Vitruuio Pollione De architectura libri dece. Como: Gotardus

de Ponte, 1521.
Vives Juan Luis, loannis Lodovici Vivis Valentini Declamationes sex. Basel: Of-

ficina Roberti Winter, 1588.
-------- . De ratione dicendi libri tres. Louvain: Bartholomeo Grauio, 1533.
-------- . Io. Lodovici Vivis Valentini opervm. Basel: 1555.

Zumárraga, Juan de. Doctrina breue muy prouechosa. Mexico City: Juan
Cromberger, 1543.

-------- . Doctrina cristiana. Mexico City: 1545.

H. A. REINHOLD:

UTURGICAL PIONEERAND ANTI-FASCIST
BY

Jay E Corrin*
His was one of the classical cases of the pioneer unnoticed, the inventor
whose rightful rewards are reaped by others, the humble hero who goes
through life unknown, unhonored and unsung and whose place is left to
history. (Msgr. George W Casey on Father H. A. Reinhold, The Pilot, February 17, 1968)

The rise of Fascism was met by a variety of responses in AngloAmerican Catholic circles. A sizable number welcomed the coming to
power of Mussolini. English writers such as Hilaire Belloc, Bernard Wall
(editor of the Colosseum), Douglas Jerrold of the English Review, and
Douglas Woodruff (editor of the London Tablet), among others, were
generally supportive of Italian Fascism, because it stood as a bulwark
against Bolshevism, greedy capitalism, and a corrupted parliamentarianism poisoned by the influence of money cliques. Various American
Catholics also praised Mussolini for similar reasons, notably the Reverend Charles Coughlin, the radio-priest of Royal Oak, Michigan, and
Patrick Scanlan, editor of the Brooklyn Tablet. Mussolini won the hearts
of many Catholics by cloaking his political programs in the robes of
papal corporatist teaching, especially that outlined in Pope Leo XIIFs
labor encyclical, Rerum Novarum.
In the United States there were very few Catholics who had immediately recognized that Mussolini was a charlatan. Perhaps the most outspoken American ground-breaking critic of Mussolini was Father James
Gillis, editor of the Paulist Fathers' Catholic World. Father Gillis refused

to hold his tongue, and after assuming editorship of the paper he in-

formed his readers about Mussolini's attacks on the Italian Church. For

years Gillis remained a lonely voice of Catholic outrage against Italian
Fascism. When the Jesuit journal America finally published an anonymous article critical of Mussolini in March, 1939—the fact that the author chose not to reveal his name suggests the chilling environment for
•Professor Corrin is chairman of the Division of Social Science, College of General
Studies, Boston University.

436

BYJAYECORRIN

437

Catholics critical of Fascism— Gillis remarked that for the first time he

did not feel so isolated concerning his analysis of Mussolini.1 Mussolini
was a Nietzchean, not a Catholic, Gillis argued, and his wild rhetorical

flourishes and threats of violence would bring ruin to Italy and possibly
bring on another European war.

Father James Gillis, however, stood out as a very exceptional American Catholic. His was not an easy path to follow, for the thick fog of
Anglo-American anti-communism made it very difficult to hold controversial and objective positions on the issue of Fascism. Father Gillis was
one of America's most respected and powerful Catholic journalists; his
editorship of the Catholic World was a badge of respectability and a
shield of sorts against the slings and arrows of conservative Catholics.2
It was far more difficult for those on the fringe, like Dorothy Day's and
Peter Maurin's Catholic Worker movement, and liberal Catholics who
were involved with the fledgling liturgical movement. The latter was
frequently held under suspicion by the church hierarchy, its members
often regarded as "revolutionary'' and "dangerous" communists, indeed
"fools who do not like Benediction," as one official called them.3

Perhaps no Catholic suffered more for the courage of his convictions
on such issues than the German refugee priest, Hans Anscar Reinhold
(H.A.R., as he liked to refer to himself). Father Reinhold, along with Father Virgil Michel, O.S.B., founder of Orate Fratres (later Worship), was
a mainspring of the American liturgical movement. In fact, besides Father Michel, who died before the results of his pioneering work were
realized, H. A. Reinhold, his successor as writer of Orate Fratres' "Timely
Tracts," was probably America's single most influential proponent of
liturgical renewal. Reinhold was a "planter of ideas," as one member of
the clergy described him, whose work helped fertilize the soil for the
reforms ofVatican Council II.4

After returning from the front lines of World War I as a decorated soldier of the German army, Reinhold discovered the liturgical writings of
Romano Guardini. This inspired him to study philosophy at the Univer'See Editorial Comments, Catholic World, April, 1939.
2GiIUs, for example, was ranked third among American Catholic writers in a national
poll conducted by America of the greatest living Catholic authors.

'From an interview with the Reverend William Leonard, SJ. , of Boston College, an early

participant in the American liturgical movement, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, October
21, 1990. Father Leonard is founder of Boston College's liturgical Library Collection,
"Liturgy and Life."
'John S. Kennedy, "Variations in Accomplishment," Hartford Transcript, January 26,
1968.

438

H. A. REINHOLD: UTURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

sity of Freiburg, after which he spent a year with the Benedictines at the
Abbey of Maria Laach, the birthplace of European liturgical renewal.
Soon after he was ordained as a secular priest and from the outset
devoted himself passionately to what he had absorbed at Maria Laach.
St. Benedict's monastic ideal was to permeate secular living with Scripture so that God would be truly "all in all."5 A central objective of the
Benedictine-inspired liturgical renewal was Catholic social action. This
is what got Father Reinhold into serious trouble with the Gestapo.
In 1930 Reinhold helped found the International Council of the
Apostleship of the Sea. As secretary-general of this association he organized a German branch of the Apostleship, which soon became an early
center of resistance to Nazi seamen's unions. A central objective of the
Apostleship of the Sea was to help seamen develop spiritual independence and to train them as apostles for religious and social causes.
Father Reinhold wrote a monthly magazine for the sailors and a bimonthly newsletter for officers. In these articles he highlighted the
spiritual and political dangers of communism, but unlike so many other
German Catholics at the time, Reinhold avoided seeking help in this
struggle from the political right. In fact, the followers of Hitler were excoriated in the same tones as the Marxists. Reinhold soon concluded

that at this point the Nazis were the more serious threat to German
democracy and the Christian religion. He informed his charges of this
fact openly in writing and in lectures, attacking the Nazis as perverters
of religion and an immediate threat to world peace.6
Father Reinhold's considerable influence among seamen prompted
the Nazis to infiltrate his organization with spies, eventually gaining access to his personal secretary, who informed the Gestapo of Reinhold's
various political activities, including his secret meetings with former
Prime Minister Heinrich Bruening, the French Consul, and his reports to
Catholics in England. (The Nazis closed down the Catholic seamen's
clubs in 1939.)

One of Father Reinhold's early contacts outside of Germany was E. J.
Oldmeadow, editor of the London Tablet. From the outset Reinhold was
'R. W. Franklin and Robert L. Spaeth, Virgil Michel:American Catholic (Collegeville,
Minnesota, 1988), p. 39.
'For Reinhold's activities in Germany during these years see The Autobiography ofFa-

ther Reinhold (New York, 1968); Letter to Bishop W. Berning, April 15, 1947, Box "Correspondence A-M, File B"; "Personal Profile," and H.A.R. to Catholic Press Association,

September 27, 1936, in "Naturalization File." There are also numerous personal letters in
Reinhold's private correspondences concerning such affairs. See H. A. Reinhold Papers,
Burns Library, Boston College.

BYJAY P. CORRIN

439

apprehensive about writing in the foreign media for fear of Nazi

reprisals against himself and his family. His correspondences with Old-

meadow and others, however, reveal a perspicacious and prescient understanding of the true nature of Hitlerism, one that stood in sharp
contrast to that of the German episcopacy and most Catholic intellectuals at the time. Writing to Oldmeadow, whom he chastised for thinking Hitler would vanish as quickly as he arrived and who, along with
others, believed Hitler to be a puppet of conservative special interests,
Reinhold warned that Hitler was really his own man and would "stand
to his last aims" as declared in the first edition of Mein Kampf so soon
as the European and world situation allowed it (very few of Hitler's critics took what he said in this book seriously). There was only one solution to the Nazi problem, insisted Reinhold, and that was a second
world alliance against Germany, for the dictator was intent on world
war. H.A.R.'s fear of Nazi spies was such that he asked Oldmeadow to
take his letter to the nearest fireplace and burn it.7
The central purpose of Father Reinhold's activities immediately after

Hitler became chancellor was to alert the outside world that the Nazis

were not only targeting Jews for persecution but also Christians,
Catholic and Protestant alike, as well as dissident politicians, writers,
and artists. In spite of Nazi propaganda stressing the importance of
Christianity and family values, Hitler, claimed H.A.R., represented "the
German form of Bolshevism," aiming to create "a German shinto religion" by deifying the state, the so-called Aryan race, and his own person.
Germany was rapidly becoming totalitarian, and in this respect there
was little difference between Berlin and Moscow.8

7H.A.R. to Oldmeadow, September 18, 1935, Box "Correspondence: T File," Burns Library.
After Reinhold fled Germany, the Gestapo confiscated his family inheritance. The
legacy was later turned over to the family, on condition that Reinhold himself never ask
for it back and that he "behave quietly" in exile. Since both of his brothers-in-law worked
for the state and hence were dependent on the good graces of Hitler, they were fearful

that Reinhold's behavior might jeopardize their careers. H.A.R. was appreciative of the sit-

uation and for this reason frequently wrote articles under different names and refused to
grant interviews, lest the Nazis hurt his family. (See H.A.R. to Frederic Kenkel, August 27,
1936, Box "Correspondence: Immigration and Naturalization File," Burns Library.)
"H.A.R. to Father ?, November 30, 1935, Box "Correspondence: W File," Burns Library.
Reinhold's analysis of Nazism appears to have been influenced by his contacts with the

German Catholic publicist and scholar, Waldemar Gurian. As early as 1932 Gurian had

seen common linkages between Nazism and Bolshevism, describing them as secular religions. (See Um des Reiches Zukunft [Freiburg, 1932]. Gurian wrote this book under the
name of Walter Gerhart.)

440

H. A. REINHOLD: UTURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

Reinhold's warnings were largely dismissed by the Catholic hierarchy in Germany, since the general consensus was that a deal could be
made with Hitler in common defense of religion against communism.
What made matters especially troublesome for Father Reinhold, however, was the misfortune of being under the jurisdiction of Wilhelm

Berning, Bishop of Osnabrück. Berning was an ardent defender of Car-

dinal Adolf Bertram of Breslau, chairman of the Fulda Bishops' Conference, the official body representing the Catholic Church in Germany.
The cardinal was himself no devotee of democracy; nor, would it seem,
were a great many German Catholics in general.9 Although Bertram
found National Socialism repugnant and a deadly threat to Catholicism
(the real danger of the Nazis, Bertram said, was the fanatical fashion in

which they sought their goals10), he appreciated their anti-Bolshevik
and anti-liberal positions, a sentiment he shared with his close friend,
the reputedly pro-Nazi Papal Nuncio to Germany, Cesare Orsenigo.11

Although Cardinal Bertram was not as optimistic as his fellow bishops that the much-discussed concordat with Berlin would resolve
Church-State conflicts with the Hitler regime,12 he was convinced, once
the agreement was concluded, that the Church must adhere to its provisions and seek accommodation with the Nazis. In his mind open opposition, as exemplified by Father Reinhold, brought the risk of Nazi
persecution and incalculable harm to Catholics. Most significantly,
Bertram feared the return of another Kulturkampf. He and most other
9WhCn the German bishops withdrew their prohibitions against the Nazi regime in the
spring of 1933 many Catholics responded with great enthusiasm. Bertram pushed for lifting the ban on Nazism, fearing that failure to do so would lead to massive Catholic defections to the Protestant Church. (See Richard Rolfs/The Role of Adolf Cardinal Bertram . . .
in the Church's Struggle in the Third Reich" [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of

California, Santa Barbara, 1976] , p. 30.)

"Ludwig Volk, S.y, Katholische Kirche und Nationalsozialismus (Mainz, 1987), p. 258.

"See Guenter Lewy, The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany (New York, 1964), p.
3 16; Walter Adolph, Sie sind nicht vergessen (Berlin, 1972), pp. 23-24, and Richard Rolfs,
op. cit. Rolfs conducted numerous personal interviews with Father Adolph, a confidant of
the Bishop of Berlin, Konrad von Preysing. This bishop was a consistent opponent of the

German episcopate's dealings with the Hitler regime, and Rolfs's interviews shed valuable

light on the Church's relationship with the Nazis. See also Walter Adolph, Geheime Aus-

zeichnungen aus dem Nationalsozialistischen Kirchenkampf 1935-1945 (Mainz,
1979).

It is interesting to note that when Cesare Orsenigo was under fire by several German

bishops in 1937, especially by Bishop Preysing, for being too sympathetic with the Nazis,

Cardinal Bertram wrote a letter to the Vatican extolling the work of the Papal Nuncio, requesting that he be allowed to remain in Berlin. (Adolph, op. cit., Geheime Auszeichnun-

gen, p. 40.)

l2See Volk, op. cit. ,pp. 257-258.

BY JAY P. CORRIN

441

bishops of the Fulda Conference felt it better to find agreement with
Hitler than to resist the regime."
Since Bishop Berning was an outspoken and trusted supporter of
Bertram's policies of conciliation, the cardinal appointed him to serve
as the Church's chief negotiator with Hitler's government. Berning also
had the advantage of being held in high regard by the National Socialists. Much to the surprise of many Catholics, in July, 1933, he was appointed by Hermann Goering to be a member of the reorganized
Prussian Council of State. The Bishop of Osnabrück took great pride in
his official rank as Prussian Staatsrat, although the Vatican appears to
have had some doubts about the efficacy of his position.14 At times
Berning gave the appearance of being a zealot in his service to the
regime. For instance, at his installation as member of the Council of
State he declared that German bishops not only accepted and recognized Hitler's Reich but would serve it "with ardent love and with all

our energies."" The important thing in Berning's mind was for Catholics to demonstrate their loyalty as German patriots. It was in such
spirit that the bishop reminded the inmates at the concentration camp
Aschendorfer Moor that they had an obligation to be obedient and
show fidelity toward the state, as this was demanded of them by their
faith; and he praised the camp guards for the patriotic work they were
doing for the Nazi regime.16 Like many other Catholic hierarchs in Germany, Berning saw Hitler as a force of rejuvenation, his movement a
great popular wave on whose crest the Church must ride, lest, once
again, it miss the chance to join the cause of the masses as had happened during the time of Martin Luther.
Father Reinhold believed that Bishop Berning was well-meaning but
naive about political matters and thus duped by Hitler. For his part
Berning deflated Reinhold's numerous and very detailed reports of Nazi
atrocities as merely "regrettable excesses in the first flush of revolution."" In any case, joked the callow Berning, Reinhold was nothing but
"For background on the concordat see Stewart A. Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican,
1919- 1933: German-Vatican Diplomatic Relations in the Interwar Years (Princeton,
New Jersey, 1983), and John Zeender,"The Genesis of the German Concordat of 1933," in
Nelson H. Minnich, Robert B. Eno, S.S., and Robert F. Trisco (eds.),Studies in Catholic His-

tory in Honor ofJohn Tracy Ellis (Wilmington, Delaware, 1985), pp. 617-665.
14See Adolph, Geheime Auszeichnungen, pp. 39-40.
"Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, "German Catholicism in 1933," translated by Raymond
Schmandt, Cross Currents, II (Summer, 1961), 289.
"Guenter Lewy, op. cit., pp. 172-17317H. A. Reinhold, The Autobiography ofFather Reinhold, p. 81 .

442

H.A. REINHOLD: UTURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

an "old Bolshevik."18 The benighted bishop may have been making light
of the matter, but the charge stuck, and Reinhold, via Nazi propaganda
filtered through conservative Catholics, suffered the curse of bearing
the Marxist label throughout his exile years.
Things became increasingly more difficult for Father Reinhold after
the signing of the concordat between Berlin and the Holy See in July,
1933. Bishop Berning, along with Archbishop Konrad Gröber of
Freiburg (who believed that Catholicism and National Socialism were
in principle reconcilable), played an important role in paving the way
for negotiations. A fatal mistake, however, was Gröber's and Berning's

failure to get Berlin to accept a list of Catholic organizations that would
be protected from state interference. The Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, thought it wise to hold up the agreement until a
list was accepted, but the bishops, eager to limit Nazi actions by legal
agreements, urged the Vatican to ratify the document. This proved to be
a costly mistake, for without a list of protected associations the Nazis
could attack Catholic groups with legal impunity. Despite this tactical
error, Bishop Berning was so satisfied with the final agreement that he
ordered a Te Deum of thanksgiving to be sung in all the churches in the
Diocese of Osnabrück.

Father Reinhold blamed Franz von Papen, the Catholic Reich ViceChancellor, for maneuvering the Holy See into signing the ill-fated concordat. Von Papen had been a zealous promoter of rapprochement
between the Church and National Socialism. He believed that Nazism

could fulfill so many of Germany's national ambitions that the Church
was obliged to make compromises with Hitler. This was made more
palatable to many Catholics, it seems, after von Papen discovered a myriad of affinities between Catholicism and the teachings of Hitler: both
were conservative, supported corporative ideals, emphasized the importance of authoritarian guidance, attacked liberalism and Bolshevism,
and preached the importance of family values and religion. This was
precisely the line of argument put forth by Catholic philo-fascists when
they explained why the Church had a friend in Mussolini.
The concordat was signed on July 20, 1933. It was an unmitigated disaster in Reinhold's view, for, among other things, the legal agreement
undermined the possibility of a united Catholic political front against
'"Appendix to letter of H.A.R. to Bishop W Berning, S.T.D., of Osnabrück, Germany, Box
"Correspondence: File B," Burns Library. Reinhold sent this letter to Berning on April 15,
1947, after the bishop had invited him to return to Germany.

BY JAY P CORRIN

443

Hitler, since it prohibited Catholic clergy from all political activity. The
majority of the German hierarchy and those who controlled the Centrum (the Catholic political party) had made a tragic blunder, wrote
Reinhold, their actions revealing a complete misunderstanding of
Hitler. Such Catholics were immersed in wishful thinking, hoping to
tame Hitler with the same devices as those with which they had
boasted of controlling Bismarck." Reinhold was deeply disillusioned
with the bishops: "The German Church looked like a strong, heroic and
courageous army without leaders." The episcopate was incapable of
recognizing that Hitler himself was behind the outrages against Christians and Jews (such deeds were thought to be perpetrated by Nazi
functionaries without the Führer's explicit knowledge).20 The German
bishops, said Reinhold, "were keeping up a policy of feeding the tiger to
keep him quiet."2' He dedicated himself to exposing the folly of the
agreement.22
"Adolf Schuckelgruber (pen name of H.A.R.), "The Church in Germany," n.d., p. 294,

Box 1: "Manuscripts," Burns Library.
20Even Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich, and one of the most ardent critics of the Nazis and Cardinal Bertram's conciliatory policies toward the regime,
could never be convinced that Hitler himself was the source of all the trouble. He was

blinded from recognizing this evil, writes the historian Ludwig Volk, SJ. , by Hitler's
charisma and "statesmanlike aura." (Ludwig Volk, S.J., "Lebensbild," in Andreas Kraus (ed.),
Acten Kardinal Michael von Faulhabers, Band 1.1917-1945 [Mainz, 1978], p. lxxiv).
21Scrutator (pen name of H.A.R.),"The Catholic Church in Germany and Nazi Persecution," n.d., p. 7, Box 1 !"Manuscripts," Burns Library.
"The Church's response to National Socialism has been a subject of considerable controversy. Immediately after the war Johann Neuhäusler published a two-volume, richly
documented book, Kreuz und Hakenkreuz (Munich, 1946), showing that the German

bishops had vigorously but unsuccessfully resisted Nazi rule. Neuhäusler's view, buttressed by other books authored by Johanna Maria Lenz, Christus in Dachau (Vienna,
1956), Konrad Hoffman, Zeugnis und Kampf des deutschen Episkopats (Freiburg im

Breisgau, 1946), Gerhard Ritter, The German Resistance: Carl Goerdeler's Struggle
Against Tyranny (London, 1958), and Hans Rothfels, The German Opposition to Hitler:

An Assessment (London, 1961), along with a spate of biographies on Catholic anti-Nazis,
held sway through the early 1960s. For an American view along such lines, see Mary Alice
Gallin's German Resistance to Hitler: Ethical and Religious Factors (Washington, D.C.,
1961). In the view of Gallin, 'Catholic bishops offered straightforward and courageous opposition to the ideology and tactics of the Nazis" (p. 229). H. A. Reinhold, Walter Gurian,
and a few émigré intellectuals took strong objection to the "Neuhäusler thesis," though
they constituted a distinct minority.

Eventually a number of younger German revisionist historians and dissident journalists
began to cast a more captious eye on the episcopal relationship with the Hitler regime.

One of the first influential critiques of the Church's record was Ernst Böckenförde's article "Der Deutsche Katholizismus im Jahre 1933," which appeared in the liberal Catholic
journal Hochland in 1960/61. (The significance of this study was such that Raymond

444

H. A. REINHOLD: UTURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

H. A. Reinhold was first arrested by the Gestapo in July, 1934, on the
charge of"hostility to the state and the party" but was soon released due
to insufficient evidence. Friends and family advised him at this point to
leave Germany, but he refused so long as he still had a chance to expose
Nazi policy. Meanwhile, as a member of the executive board of the International Seamen's Apostolate, he travelled throughout Europe in the
capacity of attaché priest, where he spread the word of Nazi brutalities
and secretly helped German anti-Nazis who had fled into exile.
Reinhold's continued outspoken criticism of the regime was a source
of great embarrassment to Bishop Berning, who, along with Cardinal
Schmandt translated it for Cross Currents in the summer of 1961.) Böckenförde s argument essentially corroborated Reinhold's position, namely, that the German bishops had
not been solidly opposed to the National Socialists and that the signing of the concordat

in 1933 was a disaster for the Church in that it made it impossible for the episcopate to

lead Catholics in opposition to Hitler. Reinhold's prescient arguments were given further
support by a number of other scholars, including Hans Müller, who noted the overlooked

data on Catholic endorsement of Hitler's war, the bishops' distaste for and hence reluctance to defend democracy, and their failure to speak out against atrocities against Jews.

(See Hans Müller, "Zur Behandlung des Kirchenkampfes in der Nachkriegsliteratur," Politische Studien, 12 IJuIy, 1961], and Katholische Kirche und Nationalsozialismus [Mu-

nich, 1965]. For a good overview of this controversy see Rolfs, op. cit.,pp. 2-6.)
American scholars soon joined the fray. Gordon Zahn, for example, concluded that the

average German Catholic had no desire to oppose the Nazis and that his religious leaders
actually called upon him to support Hitler's wars. After rigorous investigation, Zahn
learned of no more than seven Catholics who openly refused Nazi military service. (See

his German Catholics and Hitler's Wars [New York, 1962], p. 54.) Zahn's arguments appear to have caused vexation in certain high Church circles. Zahn wrote H. A. Reinhold,

for example, that the German hierarchy formally protested his research report. The President of Loyola University in Chicago was told that some "top ranking prelate" in Rome

was monitoring Zahn's work and might demand "redress." It appears that neither Zahn

nor the President of Loyola was intimidated by such pressures. (Zahn to Reinhold, March

1, I960, Box "Correspondence: File Z,"Burns Library.)
Perhaps the most searing critique of the German Catholic hierarchy and the Nazis has
come from Guenter Lewy. Drawing on copious unpublished German sources, Lewy
showed that the bishops were largely supportive of dictatorship, that by 1935 they were
diligently trying to find common ground with Nazism, but that in the end they totally mis-

understood the nature of Hitler and his movement: "One must conclude," writes Lewy,
"that the [Catholic] view of the Nazi regime as merely another conventional political system was based on unsophisticated political perspective." (The Catholic Church in Nazi

Germany, p. 169) Finally, note the recent assessment of Klemens von Klemperer. In The
German Resistance Against Hitler (Oxford, 1992), Klemperer writes that on balance, the

churches in Germany took no part in the Widerstand against Hitler (p. 37). The German
Catholics, for their part, were consumed with the need to demonstrate their "national" reliability. This patriotic imperative, combined with a fear of communist dictatorship, made

it far more politically expedient to equivocate on the issue of National Socialism (p. 38).

BYJAYECORRIN

445

Bertram, worked diligently to placate Hitler. Moreover, according to article V of the concordat, requiring clergy to serve the protection of the
state in the same fashion as public officials, Reinhold's behavior was
clearly illegal. By 1934 any criticism of National Socialism on the part of
priests laid them open to arrest.
Things got much worse for Father Reinhold by the spring of 1935. In
December, 1934, the Nazis enforced a law forbidding "malicious slander
of State and Property," which led to the arrest of numerous Catholic
clergy. The Gestapo had now compiled a large dossier on Reinhold's
anti-Nazi activities abroad and implicated him as a communist. Bishop
Berning had little sympathy with Reinhold's circumstances, insisting
that the priest had fathered his own problems with inveterate "pacifism" and an unnecessary polemical attitude toward the Nazis. Once
Reinhold learned that the Gestapo was about to order his arrest, he fled
to England, where he was promised asylum by the Secretary General of
the Apostolate of the Sea.
From this point on, Father Reinhold had to labor under the mendacities of Nazi propaganda, for Berning sent out word that his priest "was
not a bona fide refugee" fleeing political persecution, but rather someone with left-wing sympathies who "simply lost his nerve" and ran away
from his clerical responsibilities. In short, Reinhold was "on leave" without permission.23 These charges followed Reinhold wherever he went.
For example, a certain German Pallottine priest, whom Reinhold identified as a Father Groesser, came to America in 1936 with a letter and
documents approved by the Gestapo from Bishop Berning for the
Chancery of New York, spreading the rumor "that nobody knew why"
Reinhold left and that he was "a restless person who never staid [sic]

anywhere more than a year." Father Groesser elaborated on the theme,

which appeared to have been accepted completely by the Chancellor
of the Archdiocese of New York, James Francis Mclntyre. There was no
persecution of the Church in Germany, claimed Groesser, and in fact the
German Catholics, in many ways, were better off than their American
counterparts, since Hitler paid for their schools and salaries.24 Added to
this were the encouraging reports about the virtues of the new regime
from such German religious luminaries as Karl Adam and Joseph
Lortz.25

"See letter from H.A.R. to friends,June 19, 1935, 'Hapsburg File, 1936-1938," Burns Library.
"See Appendix to letter of H.A.R. to Bishop W. Berning, S.T.D., of Osnabrück, Germany,
Burns Library.
"Joseph Lortz, the distinguished Reformation historian, argued that Catholicism and

446

H. A. REINHOLD: UTURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

With such references, and being a secular priest without the benefit

of support from an international order, Father Reinhold was unable to

find parish work in England, the first country he travelled to as a
refugee. There he was obliged to live on charity.26 After disappointments in England, Reinhold moved to Switzerland, where he found temporary work as a curate in a parish in Interlaken.
It was at this juncture in his exile, being centrally positioned in Eu-

rope, that HAR. had the opportunity to travel extensively, briefing

many high-ranking Catholic officials about conditions in Germany and
warning them to see no more than a diplomatic ruse in the apparent cooperation between the German Church and Hitler. During this time
Reinhold had conferences with the Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal
Pacelli, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of Vienna, Bishop Edward Myers of
London, and Archbishops Emmanuel Anatole Chaptal of Paris and Johannes de Jong of Utrecht. "All I received," wrote Reinhold, "was a
doubtful reputation as an 'excited' emigrant. ""Who was I, when in Germany everything—a few minor incidents subtracted—was in peace."27
As a refugee priest, Father Reinhold was driven to tell the world of

Hitler's persecution of Christians and to warn of his plans for war. The

first objective was difficult in the face of Goebbels' propaganda, for
common opinion was that only Jews and communists were being persecuted by the Nazis. Reinhold was deeply upset over the lack of civic
courage exhibited by German Catholics in their failure to speak out
against the Nazis: "Men, leaders at that, who privately admitted that
Hitler was a murderer and knave, stood in the market places and invited
the Catholic German youth to be loyal to their beloved 'Fuehrer. "28
Father Reinhold also condemned the silence of the German Catholic

hierarchy concerning Nazi atrocities against Jews. Reinhold had a keen
historical and sociological understanding of anti-Semitism. Those who

National Socialism occupied the same ground in opposing the destructive forces within

the Weimar Republic, namely, liberalism, immorality, relativism, atheism, and Bolshevism.

(Robert Anthony Krieg, C.S.C., Karl Adam: Catholicism in German Culture [Notre
Dame, Indiana, 1992], p. 115.)
26In a letter to Father Ostermann, March, 1936, Reinhold wrote that he subsisted on
handouts for about three months in 1935, mostly from American benefactors: "You can

hardly imagine what an emigrant's life is! One month I spent about 15 (fifteen) Dollars for
postage writing letters to all parts of the world to find out a position!" Box "Correspondences: File O," Burns Library.
27H.A.R., Appendix of letter to Berning, Burns Library.
"Ibid.

BYJAYKCORRIN

447

attack Hebrews, he noted, do not have any liking for Catholics either.
Once they finish with Jews the guns would be turned on Catholics. Not
only do Catholics share the Old Testament in common with Jews, "but
we also support a universalism, an anti-rationalism, and a moral and ritual law, all of which are equally annoying to anti-semites."29 However,
Reinhold's own writings on the evils of anti-Semitism in America
brought charges from some Catholics that he himself must be Jewish.30
In addition to waging a propaganda campaign against Hitler, Reinhold's other major activity was to raise aid for Christian refugees from
Germany. World opinion was that only Jews were being persecuted by
the Nazis. This was due, in part, to the fact that Hitler's government refused to recognize any refugees other than Jews. The Nazis did not
want Jews to remain in Germany, but non-Jews—so-called Aryans—
who left the country were regarded as traitors and political enemies.
This placed severe constraints on the German bishops, for to acknowledge the existence of Catholic refugees would have made them guilty
of aiding the enemy in the eyes of the Nazi government.
A turning point in Father Reinhold's life was his decision to visit the
United States, a journey prompted by Dorothy Day, who wrote him in

Switzerland in 1936 explaining that nothing was being done by the

American Church to help Catholic refugees from Hitler's regime.51 Nazi
propaganda, however, had so poisoned the air that non-Jewish refugees
in America were generally regarded as "contaminated." Unfortunately, in
Father Reinhold's case the suspicion endured.32
2'"Let us Fight Anti-Semitism in Our Own Ranks," pp. 6-7, n.d., Box 1 : "Manuscripts,"
Burns Library. Reinhold also helped Father Johannes Oesterreicher, founder of "Opus
Sancti Pauli," an association that fought against anti-Semitism entering Catholic ranks.
Reinhold aided Oesterreicher in expanding his work into England through his contacts
with Donald Attwater. Attwater introduced Oesterreicher and his mission to Father Victor

White, John Epstein, and Eric GiU. (See H.A.R. to Attwater, July 25, 1938, "Correspondences: File O," Burns Library.)
'"Kathleen Hughes in her recent book on Godfrey Diekmann also makes the mistake of
identifying Reinhold to be of Jewish background {The Monk's Tale [Collegeville, Minnesota, 1991], p. 113). Reinhold noted in his autobiography that even as a youngster he
had been thought to be a Jew, though this was not the case. When the Reverend Joseph
Stang wrote Reinhold a nasty letter suggesting that his liberal ideas were the result ofJewish blood, H.A.R. responded that he was not Jewish, though he wished it were so, thus
sharing the same blood with Christ. (H.A.R. to Stang,January 11, 1943, Box "Correspondence: Moenius, Stang, et al. File," Burns Library.)
""The Cardinal ofVienna," n.d. or source where published, Box 3, Burns Library.
"His friend, Father Thomas Carroll, remembered that Reinhold's stories were scoffed at
by all too many people: "I can recall, before knowing him, hearing verbally of a German

448

H. A. REINHOLD: LITURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

Despite impressive letters of introduction by reputable Catholics, Father Reinhold found no hospitality in the New York Catholic Chancery
and therefore contacted a group of Protestants who were concerned
about the refugee problem. Many of these people were willing to listen
to him and provide shelter.33 The American Catholic Church at this
juncture did not recognize the necessity of refugee work. Father Reinhold, however, found a handful of American Catholics, including Proessor Carlton J. H. Hayes of Columbia University, Michael Williams,
founder of Commonweal, and George Shuster, who, along with his new
Protestant acquaintances, were willing to join forces across religious
boundaries to solve the refugee problem. This resulted in the formation
of an inter-denominational organization of clergy and laymen called the
American Committee for Christian Refugees. Father Reinhold was a
member of the group's executive committee representing Europe. He
hoped to use this association as a catalyst for the establishment of an
official Catholic effort, thereby aiding many of his fellow German
Catholics who had fled Hitler's regime.
Those working for German Catholic refugees decided they needed
the support of the American bishops to help organize a committee of
their own. Toward this end Father Reinhold and others appealed to several influential bishops, including Cardinal Patrick Hayes of New York,
for permission to provide information on the situation in Germany to

American Catholics (strictly unpolitical, they emphasized) for purposes

of raising funds. Father Reinhold and his friends were eventually successful in their endeavors, and in fact Reinhold's reports concerning the
condition of Catholics who had fled Germany were decisive in founding the American Bishops' Committee on Refugees. After this point,
however, Father Reinhold was shut out of the process. The one man
who knew more than anyone else about the plight of German émigré
Catholics, a knowledge seasoned by years of clandestine experience in
helping refugees, a tireless worker with numerous international contacts, was excluded by the American hierarchy from all participation in
refugee work. The decision to isolate Reinhold was made by Cardinal

priest in this country who was telling very exaggerated stories about the danger of Hitler
and Nazism. He was a prophet here too, but even he could not know the full horror
which was to be." (Father Carroll to Sister Adele and Sister Rosemary, St. Francis General

Hospital, Pittsburgh, February 18, 1967, Box 6:"Reinhold Estate," Burns Library.)

" There were few Catholic charities at this time in either the United States or Europe
where people could turn for sympathy and understanding, the exception being Holland,
where political exiles were given shelter by Catholic Church authorities.

BYJAYPCORRIN

449

Hayes, who, with information from Bishop Berning and other highranking Catholic Nazi collaborators, was convinced that he was a procommunist agitator.34
Father Reinhold's situation in the United States was made even more

difficult because of the Chancellor of New York, Monsignor James Francis Mclntyre, whose contacts with German Catholics sympathetic to
Nazism had encouraged him to keep Reinhold away from American
Catholics because of his "unreliable" and "revolutionary" political
ideas.35 It appears that Mclntyre distrusted Reinhold from the moment
he met him, because he found it impossible to believe that there could
be any legitimate refugee priests from Nazi Germany, such was the quality of religious life under Hitler.36 Consequently, Mclntyre was unwilling
to provide Father Reinhold 'with any parish work and even restricted
his right to say Mass on the condition that he not give public addresses
on the Nazi situation or speak about his own experiences in Germany.
In fact, Father Reinhold was forbidden by the New York Chancery to
preach, write, or say anything about Germany in public, and was even
prohibited from performing weddings.37 Mclntyre's obduracy was further stiffened by the Spanish Civil War, since Father Reinhold failed to
view Franco's uprising against the Republic as a religious crusade, a
great battle between the forces of good and evil. This only accelerated
his reputation as an unstable radical; Chancellor Mclntyre increased his
pressure, even admonishing Reinhold for casual discussions with old
friends from the Hamburg seamen's mission who visited the Catholic
Worker's offices in NewYork City.38
Father's Reinhold's sojourn in New York would have been unbearable, save for the kindness of Dorothy Day, Paul Tillich, and George

Shuster, editor of Commonweal, the last of whom helped him locate a
more congenial place to stay in the Diocese of Brooklyn, though it took
nearly three years to find a diocese that would fully accept him.39

M See Appendix of Reinhold letter to Berning, Box "Correspondence: File B," Burns Library.

35 The Archdiocese of New York at this time required that any visiting priest who said
more than three Masses in any parish or religious house within its jurisdiction report to the
chancery office to have his credentials approved. (See Reinhold, Autobiography, p. 105.)
56SeC letters of H.A.R. to Mclntyre, Box "Correspondence: Chancery-New York City,"
Burns Library.

3?.??. to Waldemar Gurian, September 12, 1936, Box "Correspondence: Gurian,

Waldemar," Burns Library.
""See H.A.R. letter to Mclntyre,January 13,1 937, Box "Correspondence: Chancery-New
York City," Burns Library.
"Father Reinhold's sense of abandonment and rejection was increased by relations

450

H.A. REINHOLD: UTURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

Despite frequent bouts with depression and a growing sense of abandonment, Father Reinhold continued to labor for his fellow refugees,
working unofficially behind the scenes to liberate them from concentration camps, raising private money to pay medical bills, finding teaching and writing positions, helping them evade the clutches of Nazi
agents, and generally providing the encouragement and sympathetic ear
that eased the loneliness and alienation that so many of them felt living
in strange lands.40 All this he did without any help from the American
Bishops' Committee for Catholic Refugees. The best-known recipients
of Reinhold's largess were Don Luigi Sturzo and Waldemar Gurian.41
In many respects, Dr. Gurian suffered the same fate as his friend Fa-

ther Reinhold: both were attacked by right-wing Catholics vexed at

their criticism of those who were willing to make common cause with
Fascism against the Bolsheviks. Several important Catholic journals, of
course, persisted to claim throughout the 1930's, in the face of mounting violence against German Jews and Christians, that Soviet Russia was
the enemy of Christian civilization, whereas Nazi Germany was more of
a bulwark state, guilty of certain excesses perhaps, but essentially Christian and committed to the defense of Europe against the wave of atheistic communism. Gurian made it very clear in his private letters and
published essays that the extreme right was every bit as dangerous as
Bolshevism, his life in Hitler's Germany having schooled him in that
reality.

with his family. His brother, a Nazi collaborator, had called Reinhold a publicity-hungry,
self-centered prima donna, who was sacrificing his family on the altar of vanity. If he had
been Hitler, wrote Reinhold's brother.'he would have shot me and my ilk the moment he
came to power After failing to lure Father Reinhold back to Germany into the clutches of
the Gestapo, the brother charged that his activities abroad were bringing financial ruin to
the family business and, with that, condemning his mother to starvation. Father Reinhold

begged his brother to disown him, to throw him out of the family, and to call him a criminal and a traitor, if this could save them from Nazi molestation, and, finally, to send on his
mother whom Reinhold would gladly support in exile. (Appendix of letter to Berning,
and H.A.R. to Friendsjune 19, 1935, Box "Correspondence: Hapsburg, 1936-1938," Burns
Library.) Father Reinhold may have fallen into his brother's trap had it not been for his
friend, the former Chancellor of Germany, Heinrich Bruening, who warned him that the
Gestapo was waiting in Germany to arrest him. (Box 5: "Miscellaneous, My Colorful
Uncle," Burns Library.)
"For example, see H.A.R. to Rev Joseph Ostermannjanuary 12, 1940; H.A.R. to John J.
O'Connor, Catholic News Editor, National Conference ofJews and Christiansjanuary 24,
1937,"Correspondence: File O," and letter of December 11, 1939, "Correspondence: File P
and Q," Burns Library.
41Dr. Gurian was a pre-eminent scholar in European circles and was known as one of

BY JAY P. CORRIN

451

Gurian was in dire straights by 1936. Exile had cut him off from his

former means of financial support. Sales of his exile newspaper,
Deutsche Briefe, provided some income, but this was never sufficient.
Even though his work was highly regarded, there was now little money
for anything that he wrote. He complained of being mired in abject
poverty and without access to the scholarly sources he required to continue research. Gurian's despairing letters to Father Reinhold bristled
with bitterness toward those German Catholics who he felt should

have been doing more to help him. Reinhold, for his part, assumed responsibility for Gurian and worked tirelessly to find journals in Britain
and the United States that would accept his articles. He also made contacts with publishers for Gurian's books, assisting with editing and
translations, and encouraged him to continue studying English in order
to find employment in America. Throughout these difficult times Reinhold tried to counter Gurian's bleak views and bolster his fading selfconfidence by explaining the special circumstances that made it

difficult for the exile community to respond to his needs, and he offered

more positive perspectives on those "who Gurian, in his considerable
despondency, believed were abandoning him.42 But most significantly,
Father Reinhold informed the British and American public about the
plight of Gurian, and through his contacts with such important
Catholics as George Shuster, Father James Gillis, Wilfrid Parsons, SJ. ,
Bernard Wall, and various academicians at American Catholic colleges

and universities, he tried to find a professional appointment and a home
the most brilliant and best-informed Catholic writers on German and Russian affairs. Born

in St. Petersburg, Gurian emigrated with his Jewish family to Germany, where, while still a
young boy, his mother brought him into the Catholic Church. He authored several important books on a wide range of topics, including studies of the political and social ideas of
French Catholicism and the theory and practice of Bolshevism, Nazism, nationalism, etc.,
and was a regular contributor to the best German academic journals.
His scholarship was highly regarded. Hannah Arendt, for instance, praised Gurian's
brief essay on German anti-Semitism in Koppel Pinson's (ed.) Essays on Antisemitism
(New York, 1946) as "outstanding" and "extraordinary" fully reflective of the profundity of
thinking that Gurian brought to everything that interested him. (Hannah Arendt,"The Per-

sonality of Waldemar Gurian," Review of Politics, 17 [January, 1955], 34. In fact, Gurian's

analyses of Nazism, Bolshevism, and anti-Semitism were similar to that of Arendt as outlined in her monumental study, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York, 1951). The
January, 1955, edition of Review ofPolitics is devoted to Waldemar Gurian.
42In Gurian's mind, these included George Shuster, who Gurian believed had taken
Bruening's side in their quarrels (H.A.R. to Gurian, June 1, 1937), Frank Sheed, and Goetz
Briefs, among others. (See Gurian to H.A.R., March 10, 1937, and March 29, 1937,"Correspondence: Gurian, Waldemar," Burns Library.) Gurian, in frustration, also lashed out
against Reinhold at times. (See H.A.R. to Gurianjuly 18, 1937.)

452

H.A. REINHOLD: LITURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

for his friend. Waldemar Gurian's subsequent impressive career as an
American academic (as professor at the University of Notre Dame and

founder of the Review ofPolitics) owed much to the efforts of Father
Reinhold.

Father Reinhold's relationship with Don Luigi Sturzo grew out of
their shared plight as exiles from Fascism and active involvement with
their respective refugee communities. Their liberal political, economic,

and religious views would eventually find a natural home in Virgil

Michel's liturgical movement. Sturzo had been founder of the Popular Party (Partito Popolare), out of which emerged the Italian Christian
Democrats. Sturzo was Fascism's fiercest critic. In May, 1924, Mussolini

personally forced Sturzo to resign as General Secretary of the Popular

Party, and after persistent harassment by the secret police he was eventually driven into exile.
After Father Reinhold was in the United States he maintained a regu-

lar correspondence with Sturzo. In these years before all the world
realized that Hitler was a monster, Sturzo had become a forgotten man,
a lonely but strong voice against totalitarianism who worked in the ob-

scurity of a dark little room in the West End of London. Reinhold and a

few of Sturzo's more stalwart friends maintained contact with him; they
labored to inform British and American Catholics of Sturzo 's stature as

a religious and political leader, and they tried to sensitize them to the

difficult conditions under which the once famous priest had to live. In
addition, Father Reinhold seems to have served as a literary agent of
sorts for Sturzo. He sought safe storage for Sturzo's manuscripts, even-

tually placing them in his own bank box. Thanks to Reinhold's connections with such journals as Commonweal and the Christian Front,

Sturzo was able to publish his first articles for an American audience.43
Reinhold sought out various companies to publish Sturzo's books and
tried to find a teaching position for him at Fordham, St. John's Univer-

sity in Minnesota, and Harvard. Sturzo eventually succeeded in his ef-

forts—with a good deal of help from his friends—to come to America
in 1941. A special committee of prominent Catholics, among whom
were Reinhold, Carlton Hayes, George Shuster, Monsignor John A. Ryan,
and others, was established to raise money and care for Sturzo while he

lived in American exile. It was this committee that found a home for Fa-

ther Sturzo with Bishop Joseph Patrick Hurley of St. Augustine, Florida.

4iH.A.R. to Sturzo, August 26, 1940,"Correspondence: S File," Burns Library.

BYJAYECORRIN

453

Father Reinhold's greatest and most notable work, of course, was in
liturgical renewal and social reform. In these areas he represented the
best traditions of what was highlighted in the papal labor encyclicals
and Distributism, the social and political movement of G. K. Chesterton
and Hilaire Belloc. The Distributists, drawing on Rerum Novarum,
sought a "third way" between the extremes of capitalism and socialism.

They called for a more equitable distribution of private ownership, a
better balance between agriculture and industry, and workers' control
and ownership with management of the means of production.

H. A. Reinhold eventually found his American spiritual home at St.

John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, the birthplace of the American liturgical movement. After so many encounters with unsympathetic conservative American Catholics, it was a refreshingly agreeable
surprise, wrote Reinhold, to find that so many of the Benedictine monks
of St. John's shared his liberal social and political views.44

When Father Michel died in November, 1938, the new editor of Orate
Fratres, Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B., needed someone who could
carry on the important column, "Timely Tracts."The loss of Virgil Michel

left a huge void in the journal, and Father Diekmann searched desperately to find a writer armed with the requisite knowledge of European
liturgical thought and zesty pen who might be able to continue the
provocative essays.

Reinhold's freely-roaming mind and his personal contacts with important, avant-garde continental Catholic thinkers provided the continuity in orientation that Diekmann sought for Orate Fratres.4^ Not only
did Reinhold fully endorse Father Michel's mission, but he had the
sharpness of wit, breadth of knowledge (the product of an excellent Eu-

ropean education), and the tenacity of spirit to bring great power to the
column. "What characterized him more than anything else," Father

Emeric Lawrence, O.S.B., recalled, "was his keenness in getting at the
base of things, seeing things and issues as they are and should be. He
never wasted time on anything that was not fundamental." In H. A. Reinhold Orate Fratres inherited, in the words of one reader, a "firebrand, a

whirlwind, a cyclone" whose unflinching criticism of what was wrong
with American and world-wide Catholicism was always anchored in a
solid understanding of Christian history.46

"Autobiography, p. 125.
"Besides his relationships with Heinrich Bruening, Gurian, and Sturzo, Reinhold also
was a personal friend ofJacques and Raissa Maritain and Helen Iswolski.

*Warren G. Bouvee,"H.A.R., Front Line Fighter," Today, December, 1954, pp. 4-5.

454

H. A. REINHOLD: LITURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

As the author of "Timely Tracts" Reinhold continued in the same vein
as his predecessor (maintaining, as he put it, a "close interconnection of
four apostolates: the social, liturgical, educational and biblical,"47 though
there was a sharper edge to his essays; he was less the diplomat than
was Virgil Michel, less gentle with those who failed to heed the message
of the Gospels, and bolder in what he believed Catholics should do to
change things. Like Virgil Michel, H.A.R. made regular criticisms of the
Church's failure to take the lead in fighting social and economic injustice and for its tendency, in too many countries, to side with the wealthy
and powerful. He was especially harsh on what he called the "Irenic
clergy," churchmen who were afraid of disturbing the delicate balance
of those who had the advantage of possessing power and wealth. In
fact, H.A.R. went so far as to suggest that the appeal of socialism and
Marxism to workers was a direct result of the clergy's reluctance to understand or take seriously the warnings of the earlier popes.
Virgil Michel's social research had corroborated Reinhold's assess-

ment of the Church's failure in such matters. Michel had studied the

Antigonish co-operative movement in Nova Scotia and one of his contacts, a former member of the United Mine Workers' Board of Gover-

nors, told him that prior to their knowledge of the papal labor
encyclicals, almost all Catholic miners voted communist.48 In 1920, he
said, UMW representatives passed resolutions which were "communistic from A to Z," even advocating the use of force. Indeed, the most de-

vout Catholic miners voted for communist candidates "because the

communists were the only ones that wanted to help the poor people to
better their lot." Catholics at this point did not yet know that the
Church offered any way out, only that it condemned communism.49

Michel had discovered that Catholic laborers in Nova Scotia had be-

come lukewarm, almost reluctant followers of the Church. Catholic

leaders always told what was wrong with both communism and the
condition of the workers, but never did they speak of a cure. However,
once the miners learned about the message of the papal social encyclicals they turned away from Marxism. In fact, Michel learned that some
of Nova Scotia's once most stalwart communist union officials were

now among the leading and most intelligent Catholics.50
47 Dom Virgil Michel's Columns," Orate Fratres, XIII (March 19, 1939), 224.
"The comments of Michael F. McNeil, who was himself a former communist.
"From Virgil Michel's unpublished diary, entry for April 13, 1938, p. 13,Virgil Michel Papers, St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.
"Ibid., pp. 15-16.

BYJAYRCORIUN

455

Finally, in the Distributist tradition that was so important to the
founder of the Orate Fratres and the American liturgical movement, Father Reinhold in his "Timely Tracts" columns continued to call his readers' attention to the proper understanding of properly and ownership
in a Christian society. Most Catholic moralists had properly excoriated
the evils of collectivism, but in too many cases this had become an obsession, overlooking the equally pernicious danger of unlimited and depersonalized proprietorship associated with the ethos of capitalism.
Far too many Catholics were afraid to alienate their benefactors, loath
to rock the boat of political quiescence encouraged by the ruling elites,
and had remained silent about the Christian responsibilities that went
with the possession of wealth. Rights to the ownership of property,
Reinhold emphasized, drawing on the writings of Maurice Reckitt and
the Anglican Distributists, cannot be something absolute but had to
meet certain functional criteria, namely, to improve the quality of living
for the commonweal as a whole.

Father H. A. Reinhold was a worthy successor to the pioneer of American liturgical renewal, Dom Virgil Michel. In the end his labor with
Orate Fratres, later Worship, the corpus of his writing for liturgical reform, and his parish and apostolate of the sea work in the United States,
were distinguished by a rare courage, a willingness to bring Catholicism
into the secular world, never unrelated to action or the problems of
communism, fascism, democracy, war, peace, poverty, and wealth. Like
his predecessor, Reinhold was a sophisticated scholar with an extraordinary sensitivity to the plight of the poor, underprivileged, and oppressed. Even in his considerable sickness (Parkinson's disease and
episodes of severe depression), he found time to bridge these two
worlds as writer and social activist by assisting his friends at the
Catholic Worker.'·1

Unfortunately, there was a private side to Father Reinhold, who by
temperament was a very sensitive man. Rather than toughening his
hide, the persecution he underwent for having spoken the truth as he
saw it bruised him deeply. Father Reinhold's sympathies and close association with liberal and radical elements in the American labor move-

ment, his connections with liberal Catholics, his fierce anti-Fascism,
51In 1940, for example, Reinhold obtained permission from his bishop to have Dorothy

Day establish a house of hospitality in Seattle, where he was doing work in the Apostolate

of the Sea. From 1942 through 1943 Reinhold was incardinated in the Diocese of Yakima.
(See Joel Patrick Garner, "The Vision of a Liturgical Reformer: Hans Ansgar Reinhold, American Catholic Educator" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1972), p.
168.

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H.A. REINHOLD: LITURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

and, finally, a reluctance to embrace Franco as a latter-day El Cid, a devout Catholic "White Knight" defending Christianity and western civilization from Bolshevism, made him a person of questionable character
in the eyes of conservative Catholics.52 The constant attacks from these
elements took their toll. In exasperation, Reinhold wrote his friend, Edward Skillin, that the years of harassment were wearing him down:
You don't seem to realize how lonely I am. 99 percent of my confreres look
askance at me because I am a refugee, because I side with Commonweal,
because I am against Franco, because I write as I do, because I stand up for
causes that they condemn, because the authorities treat me with a sort of
gingerly correctness, because I have put facts over opinions in the German,
Spanish, and Italian question.53

In the long run, the assaults on Father Reinhold's political loyalties
had a chilling effect on his willingness to speak freely on sensitive issues; they also made him overly cautious about associating with politically controversial individuals and groups. In future, anytime an
organization to which he belonged or persons with whom he had a
professional relationship were placed under suspicion of having connections with communist groups, Reinhold severed his affiliations.
These tactics, of course, served to silence what the ultra-conservative

Catholics called the "liberal party" functioning illicitly within the

Church, liberal in this case being a code word for "Red."

Such right-wing coercion, for example, played a prominent role in
Reinhold's decision to sever his relationship with H. K. Kendall, a stal-

wart Seattle-based Distributist who had launched a Catholic trade

union paper modeled along the lines of Norman McKenna's and

Richard Deverall's Christian Front called Social Action. Reinhold was

an advisor to Kendall's group. SocialAction attacked "monopolistic capitalism" in the hopes of setting up a co-operative, Distributist form of
economic democracy that would guarantee the dignity of the human
person, the sanctity of the family, and personal responsibility through
the restoration of property to the people. Kendall's efforts were criti-

cized by conservative Catholics as "communistic" and contrary to the

American system. When these people increased pressure against
"Reinhold's liberal positions got him into much trouble with Patrick Scanlon, editor of

the Brooklyn Tablet, Francis X. Talbot, S.J., editor of America, Bishop Mclntyre, many of
the faculty at Seattle University, and several of his superiors in the state ofWashington. He

was convinced that some of these people went so far as to denounce him to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation as an enemy agent.

"H.A.R. to Skillin, n.d. (probably 1945),"The Commonweal" File, Burns Library.

BYJAYPCORRIN

457

Kendall's associates, implicating Reinhold, their advisor, as both a communist and Nazi agent, H.A.R. decided to break his relationship with the
Catholic trade union group.54 A similar pattern can be seen in Reinhold's relationship with the Committee of Catholics for Human Rights,
established in 1939 to fight anti-Semitism. When its founder and chairman, Professor Emmanuel Chapman of Hunter College, was accused of
being a communist, Reinhold, after considerable anguish, dropped his
association."

Father Reinhold's career from beginning to end was haunted by enemies on the right. It appears that Reinhold provided instructions that
his personal papers be quickly sealed upon his death so as to protect
them from unfriendly "defenders of the faith." The executor of Reinhold's estate was his close friend, the Reverend Thomas J. Carroll, Exec-

utive Director of the Catholic Guild for All the Blind. Father Carroll

believed that Reinhold wanted his papers preserved for historical benefit so that the record might be kept straight regarding the issues of the
interwar years and his own seminal role in the efforts for liturgical reform. Father Reinhold was a controversial figure and in Carroll's mind
the records contained "certain explosive materials."56 Reinhold himself
was clearly worried that certain misguided people might use his personal documents for political purposes.57

The potential explosiveness that concerned Father Carroll surfaced

in 1965 when Reinhold sought permission from his good friend and
benefactor, Bishop John Wright of Pittsburgh, to publish his memoirs.
Reinhold was indebted to Bishop Wright, since he provided a sanctuary

for him during the late years of his life when he had been undergoing
severe personal problems stemming from the advancement of Parkinson's disease and depression caused by exile and the accumulated years

"Reinhold was especially sensitive to such charges since he was applying for U.S. citi-

zenship. (See Kendall to Reinhold, September 25, 1942, and Reinhold to Kendall, September 2, 1942, Box 2:" 1935-1936," Burns Library.)

"See Reinhold to Chapman, December 13, 1946, "Committee of Catholics for Human

Rights File," Burns Library.
Tather Carroll's sensitivity about Reinhold's papers was probably related to what the
priest had to say about Cardinal James Francis Mclntyre and other high-ranking officials
who Reinhold believed were persecuting him. The release of such information might
have embarrassed the American and German hierarchies. In addition, Carroll surely

wanted to protect Father Reinhold's privacy. There are numerous documents in the collection detailing Reinhold's psychological sufferings which could have been misused by
those hostile to his person and outspoken liberal views.

,7See Carroll to Joseph Cummiskey, February 10, 1968, and Carroll to Rev. F. Martin
Boler, March 30, 1968, Box 6:"Reinhold Estate," Burns Library.

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H. A. REINHOLD: UTURGICAL PIONEER AND ANTI-FASCIST

of political persecution. Bishop Wright had no intention of censoring
H.A.R.'s autobiography, but at this juncture so many good things were
underway in the Church (Vatican Council II) that he believed it best not
to stir up "public rumpuses over issues long dead and involving people . . . not permanently significant or even temporarily worth the

wrath that your publishers may be eager to pour upon them."58 As
Bishop Wright put it to Father Reinhold, he simply had no taste for
defamation and mutual recrimination. They lived, said Wright, in a period of "cheap journalistic mentality in which the ancient decencies
have been abandoned which once restrained publication of damaging
character evaluations until the people concerned had been sufficiently
long dead to be part of history."59

Father Reinhold heeded his bishop's advice. His autobiography is

largely devoid of Reinhold's strong personal feelings about contemporaries who persecuted him and essentially highlights the ideas and principles he fought for with regard to liturgical life. Father H. A. Reinhold

died in 1968. It is now time that more people were made aware of the

other side of Father Reinhold's life, that which involved his brave struggles against intolerance, illiberalism, clerical fascism, and other such ills
that were all too often ignored by Anglo-American Catholics in their obsession with the battle against international communism.

"Wright to HAR, December 20, 1963, Box 5:"Bishop Wright Correspondence II," and
Wright to H.A.R.,July 16, 1965, Box 5:"Lawler, Herder and Herder," Burns Library.
"Wright to H.A.R., February 6, 1964, Box 5: "Bishop Wright Correspondence II," Burns
Library.

MATRICULATION BOOKS AT MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES
Review Article
by

AsTRiK L. Gabriel

Les Matricules Universitaires. By Jacques Paquet. [Typologie des Sources du

Moyen Âge Occidental, Fase. 65.] (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. 1992. Pp.
149- Paperback.)

The medieval college or university Matricula is the Latin name {Matrikel in
German, matricule in French) of an official register or roll where the names of
subjects admitted to membership and privileges of the institution were inscribed by the rector or official and thus they became matriculated into Faculties, Nations, Colleges of Doctors, or just a simple student under a master.
The author, Jacques Paquet, has masterfully described the matriculation
records of medieval universities. Registers strictly qualified as matriculae survived in the universities of Prague (1372), Cracow (1400), and St. Andrews

(1473), and fourteen from mostly German-speaking territories: Vienna (1377),

Heidelberg (1386), Erfurt (1392), Cologne (1392), Leipzig (1409), Rostock
(1419), Louvain [Leuven] (1426), Greifswald (1456), Freiburg/Br. (1460), Basel
(1460), Ingolstadt (1472), Tübingen (1477), Wittenberg (1502), and Frankfurt/a. d. Oder (1506). Fragments only survived of such unsuccessful foundations as Würzburg, Trier, and Mainz for the years of 1373-1375 and 1382-1383·
Important data were obtained, however, from registers of Italian universities:
Bologna, Pavía, Ferrara, Florence, Padua, Pisa, Perugia, and naturally from Paris,
Oxford, and Cambridge. French universities' records of Montpellier, Avignon,
Caen, Dole, Toulouse, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Valence were also examined. No

signs of matriculation are from Aberdeen, Copenhagen, or Uppsala.
The author, Jacques Paquet, is a distinguished expert on the history of medieval universities. He is one of the two representatives of Belgium in the Inter-

national Commission on History of Universities, which was founded in I960 at

the Stockholm meeting of the International Congress of Historical Sciences.
Professor Sven Stelling-Michaud of the University of Genève was founding president.

Paquet published the bibliography of the University of Louvain [Leuven]
(1973), several studies on poverty of medieval students (1978, 1982), and as an
introduction to his present book, a study on matriculation of students at the me459

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MATRICULATION BOOKS AT MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES

dieval universities in the Festschrift (1983) in honor of the Belgian historian J.
M. De Smet. He edited also, with J. IJsewin, the communications given at the

550th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Louvain. He published

the introducing article on the features of the medieval university.

Paquet has divided his publication into five chapters: in the first, he offers in-

formation about the synonyms of the matricula (rotulus; registrum; liber;

carta-membrana; album; cathalogus; annales; even with the penetration of
teaching Greek in universities: Leucoma Rotuli); the subject inscribed (registrare) was considered matriculated (intitulatus).
In the Iberian peninsula, there is no trace of matriculation before the end of
the fifteenth (Huesca) or middle of the sixteenth centuries. No trace of it can be

found in such small universities as Pecs (Quinqueecclesiensis) (1367), Buda
(1395, 1465), Pozsony (Pressburg, Istropolitana) (1465), Aberdeen (1494),
Würzburg (1402/1410), Copenhagen (1478), and Uppsala (1477).

Paquet carefully enumerates those sources which could furnish information

when matriculation registers are lacking on subjects enlisted into universities

or colleges. These are: statutes, acts of rectors and registers of chancellors, acts
of the deans and procurators of the Nations, archives of the colleges, lists of participants at examinations, the rotulus of those requesting benefices, etc. In

1403, the rotulus of the university of Paris counted 2,090 subjects.

At the University of Paris, the registers of chancellors (we must add "en bas,"
meaning Notre Dame,"en haut," the chancellor of the Abbey of Saint Geneviève)
furnish rich information. The accounts of the colleges also shed light on the enrolled members of the university. If I may add, a good example is P. A. Ford,"The
Medieval Account Books of the Parisian College of Dainville," Manuscripta, 9

(1965), 155-166. Besides sources of academic and ecclesiastical nature Paquet
punctiliously enumerates civil sources such as royal or princely and urban
archives.

He also clearly outlines the process of matriculation: first, the candidate hacl

to take an oath (Juramentum), to respect and obey the Statutes; second, he had
to pay his dues (solvatpro fisco). If he was poor, as in Paris, he did not have to

pay, only to take an oath that he was really without any revenues (juravitpau-

pertatem). Third, he had to be inscribed (conscribere) into the matricula or
other register.

Sometimes two matriculation lists were kept, one for the rector and another
for the "receptor" (treasurer) as in Padua (1331), Pavia (1395), and Bologna

(1432). Members of the religious orders usually (not always) were dispensed

from matriculation.

Chapter II discusses the evolution of matriculation. At Paris in the twelfth

century and also later on, a student had to be attached to a master, "nul étudiant
sans maître." At Paris in 1289, the teaching staff had to keep a list of their students (Chart. Univ. Paris, II, p. 1 5, no. 4).

BY ASTRIK L. GABRIEL

461

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the matriculation list of Montpellier mentions that pater "father" professor under whom the student was regis-

tered. This explains a modern expression in German universities, the professor
who prepared a student for the degree of doctorate called "Doktor-Vater."
The longest chapter is the third, starting with the problem of the "author"

redactor of the matriculation list. Autograph inscriptions are rare. Usually it was

the rector who enrolled the newly arrived subjects into the matricula, but
sometimes a scribe or notary performed the task. Usually one matriculation roll
was made; in Italy at Padua (1331), Pavia (1395), and Bologna (1432), usually
two: one for the rector, and the second for the "receptor" (treasurer) or notary,
sometimes for the procurator of the nations within the university. Those who
were inscribed sometimes were identified as poor (pauperes) who could not

pay their dues; after other names was added solvit or dedit to acknowledge
their payments. Upon arrival a new member, at his first contact with an official

of the university, had to tell his first name (nomeri), then the family name (cognomen). The transcription frequently was phonetical. In 1522, when Patricius
Hamilton, diocese of Saint Andrews, bachelor (? 1 528), presented himself to BIasius De Varda, receptor-treasurer from Hungary, the later inscribed his name as
"Hommoton" (Paris, Sorbonne, Reg. 91 [85] , fol. 205')·

Paquet gives very useful advice identifying those inscribed upon matriculation registers. In case of homonyms, one should identify, first, the diocese where
the individual came from, i.e., provenance of origin; second, the date of his stay
at the institution; third, the faculties or colleges to which he belonged. When

the subject's name was inscribed on the registration roll, usually it was followed

by the name of the geographical locality he came from: kingdom, territory, most

frequently the diocese. The geographical place of origin many times had several

different spellings; at Vienna, Dinkelsbühl had twenty-eight different spellings

between 1385 and 1416. Paquet warns us to be cautious of accepting the place

of birth of the matriculated as given. Conrad Celtes was inscribed at the Uni-

versity of Cologne as "de Schweinfurt"; actually he was born at Wipfeld near
Schweinfurt. Members of the religious orders were frequently identified as
"professus"or"frater." Paquet also cautions historians of universities against negligence of the registering dignitary sometimes entirely omitting to inscribe the
name of the registered on the matriculation list, as in Glasgow mentioning only
"dominus normannus."

The matriculation roll is an excellent help to establish the approximate number of students and masters enrolled to the corporation. But one has to take
into consideration that such persons as servants and merchants (familiares)

also enjoyed the privileges but were not real students or teaching masters.
These individuals, as Paquet correctly remarked, "inflated" the number of inscribed and sometimes enrolled themselves to avoid paying taxes.

Deans, procurators, and receptors were more reliable in giving the right in-

formation than the rectors, because the former had better personal contacts
with the enrolled than the rector.

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MATRICULATION BOOKS AT MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES

Paquet gives excellent critical advice on how to utilize the matriculae.
1. Comparative method: Besides the matriculation list, other university
sources should be taken into consideration such as accounts of the receptortreasurer, the different minutes of the Faculties made by the deans, rectors, visitators, ana principia of the candidate when starting his lectures.
2. External control by consulting sources offered by inter-university relations, particularly when a student or master came from another center of learning. An advice that should be given to scholars wishing to establish with
mathematical accuracy the percentage of subjects enrolled into the diverse Faculties of Arts, Law, Medicine, and Theology is the fact that many students and
masters actually enrolled were not listed in the matricula at all. Paquet ought

to be commended for admonishing the readers against the "danger of generalizations mania of the theoretician" (p. 99).

The matriculation list furnished important biographical information about
the inscribed subject, on his social standing, layman or member of the clergy,
being a noted scholar, also on his age at matriculation. Johannes Regiomontanus
(Müller), the famous astronomer, was fourteen years old when he entered the
University of Vienna as bachelor of Arts. Furthermore, the matricula revealed
universities frequented. Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) was guest or teacher
at eight universities.
Researchers of the genealogy of medieval and Renaissance families find valuable information in matriculae because frequent data were given on the legitimate or illegitimate birth of the inscribed. The same is true for the "career

genealogy" when former teachers and masters of the inscribed were noted giving further identification. The approximate number of students registered at
universities reveals the geographical vicinity of the Studium or some other features alluring subjects for enrollment. In German-speaking territories in the fifteenth century Vienna, Leipzig, Cologne, Erfurt, and Louvain-Leuven attracted

approximately three-fourths of the population because the University of
Prague, the first university established east of the Rhine, founded by Emperor
Charles IV (1346- 1378), came into conflict with German students in 1409. The
HundredYears'War between France and England sometimes between 1396 and

1408 kept English students away from the University of Paris. Economic condi-

tions, fluctuation of the money, and plagues also influenced the number of students enrolled.

Paquet furnishes important information on the geographical provenance of

the student. To give an example, Heidelberg recruited its academic population

from the neighboring dioceses of Worms, Speyer, and Mainz. Ingolstadt (1472)
received the majority of the inscribed from Bavaria. The consultation of the matriculation list is very important for that social history of the sons of nobility,
members of the clergy, and the rest, such as merchants, craftsmen, peasants, and
others enrolled. To establish a university subject's origin or provenance, the
matriculae do not give definitive answers: at Ingolstadt 12.96% were nobles,

BY ASTRIK L. GABRIEL

463

while in Oxford in medieval times, the majority of the student body came from
humble social backgrounds.

The university matriculae usually indicate the financial state of the registered. At Paris, the bursa was a sworn amount the student spent in a week ex-

cluding rent for his lodging and wages for his servant if he had one. Four bursae
were considered average; eight to twelve bursae indicated a well-to-do or rich
student. A poor student had to swear that he had no benefices or large revenues; he "juravit paupertatem." At Paris between 1425 and 1494, half of the
bachelors, licentiates, and promoted masters of arts paid minimal bursae of

four to five solidi (A. L. Gabriel, Res quaedam notatu dignae Nationem Anglicanam-Alemanniae Parisiensem saeculo XV spectantes [Paris, 1965], p. 46.~)
More prosperous students, divites, frequented Freiburg im Breisgau, Tübingen,
Ingolstadt,Avignon, and Orléans; less fortunate ones,pauperes,Yieniia, Cologne,
Leipzig, and Rostock until the middle of the fifteenth century.

The Faculty of Arts was the most frequented in the university. Three-quarters

of all the medieval students were enrolled into it, for example, 82% at Erfurt.
Clergy was oriented toward the Faculties of Theology and Canon Law (Facultas

Decretorum). Law faculties were greatly favored. Among the canons of Notre

Dame de Paris 77% received diplomas in civil and canon law, 16.5% in theology
and 4.5% in medicine. Of those inscribed into the Faculty of Arts in the North,

only 20% or 30% obtained a degree of bachelor of arts. At Vienna, as Professor
Paul Uiblein masterfully calculated in his study on the University of Vienna in

the time of Regiomontanus between 1451 and 1461 (in German), during a pe-

riod of ten years out of around 2,000 bachelors only 350 became masters of
arts. Paquet's warning against the statements of certain historians who based

their conclusions solely on a number of subjects listed by the matricula is most

welcome. The diminishing number of doctors in theology at Freiburg im Breisgau, eighty-nine between 1470 and 1520 and twenty-three at Ingolstadt be-

tween 1486 and 1505 is the result of a general crisis of recruitment apparent
also in Oxford and southern France. The costly expenses connected with graduation ceremonies and the structural weakness of the university also have to be
taken into consideration. Some recent historians of medieval universities enam-

oured with percentage calculations should take Paquet's warning to heart: "la
prudence est de rigueur car on ne dispose pas toujours d'éléments de com-

paraison antérieurs suffisamment nombreux": good judgment is a most impor-

tant requirement because one does not have all the antecedent elements of
comparison in sufficient numbers always at one's disposal (p. 139).
Speaking of the teaching faculty, the choice of one's master usually fell to his
countrymen. The expression used in Paris, "determinavit under such and such
a master," eminently proves the prevailing custom.
Frequenting several universities was one of the characteristics of the me-

dieval masters. Matthias Krimer of the Diocese of Augsburg in the EnglishGerman nation at Paris was matriculated at Cologne (1485), Ingolstadt (1488),

Heidelberg (1490), and Basel (1490) (A. L. Gabriel, Res quaedam, pp. 47-48).

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MATRICULATION BOOKS AT MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES

Intellectual contact was very intensive between Cologne and Louvain, Louvain
and Paris, Basel and Paris. Students were also attracted by famous masters such

as Henry of Langenstein, who during the Great Schism left Paris for the newly

founded University ofVienna, where he died February 11, 1397. Marsilius of In-

ghen's reputation Cf 1396) was responsible for the increase of students at the
University of Heidelberg, of which he was first rector in 1386. (Plate I.)
Paleographical comparative observations about the handwriting of university matricúlete is a chapter to be written. After the fall of Constantinople in
1453, Greek professors arrived at several universities. Their students made
Greek inscriptions into official registers of the university. The fourth volume of
the unpublished Liber receptorum (Paris, Sorbonne), Reg. 91 (85), 1494-1530,
shows the penetration of humanist culture into the University of Paris by the ar-

rival of Hieronymus Aleander on June 5, 1508. Johannes Luscus Noctuinus, receptor of the English-German Nation, 1511-1512, already used the Latinised
version of his name: Noctuinus (Nightowl). His records as receptor are introduced by a splendid illuminated page showing a nightowl within the initial U:
"Undécimo supra Sesquimillesimum . . ."; a band roll with a Latin text on the
upper part called his office not a receptura, but a questura; a Greek text from

Plato on the right side of the first page of his records reveals his familiarity with
Greek. (A. L. Gabriel, The Paris Studium [Notre Dame, Indiana, 1992] , pp. 323,
324 n. 59.)

The circa ten thousand names mentioned in the matriculae offer enticing
fields of research for study of onomastics, origins, and forms of names. Latinization of the surnames is current in the fifteenth century: Calceator (shoemaker);
Molitor (miller); Cultellifex (knife maker); Sutor (cobbler, mender of shoes);
Quercus (oak; Eiche in German). Proper names were also transformed as in the
case of Noctuinus. Paulus Hammerlin, receptor of the English-German nation
(1497-1498), was called Malleolus.

Paquet calls attention to the popularity of certain first names in the matricu-

lation records. Johannes, Nicolaus, Petrus, Guillelmus, Jacobus, Martinus,
Michael, Robertus, Thomas, but not Josephus at all. Among Hungarian students,
Emericus and Ladislaus frequently occur, though a Scotch subject also had
Ladislaus as his first name: Ladislaus Murray of the Diocese of Glasgow (Auct. X,
col. 518, line 25, note T). Patricius was favored among Scots and Irish students.

The matriculation records were among the most important documents of the
medieval universities. They were kept in an area (chest). When danger forced

the officials to leave their home base, usually they put the records in a sackcloth

(saccus). Since the beginning of the fifteenth century, the matriculae were illustrated. Before the matriculation or intitulatio, a solemn oath was required

from the subject: he had to put his hand on the matricula and swear that he
would observe the statutes of the university. The page used for the oath-taking
ceremony had an illumination representing the crucifixion of Christ flanked by
the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evangelist. The folio sometimes represented
the King of France handing over privileges to the university as in the official

BY ASTWK L. GABRIEL

465

Plate I. Subjects of the University of Heidelberg immatriculated during the term of the

first rector, Marsillus of Inghen (elected November 17, 1386). G. Toepke (ed.), Die Matrikel der Universität Heidelberg von 1386 bis 1662, 1. TeU (Heidelberg, 1884), pp. 9-10.

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MATRICULATION BOOKS AT MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES

Plate II. Illustration used during the oath-taking ceremonies of the University of
Leipzig. It represents the scene of the Last Judgment, Christ in mandorla with lilies and
sword—beneath (according to G. Erler, the editor of the Leipzig Matricula), "Maria" and

"Johannes." I wonder if not Maria Magdalena and St. John the Baptist. In the upper cor-

ners, two angels sounding trumpets. Reproduced in G. Erler, Die Matrikel der Universität
Leipzig. Die Immatriculation von 1409- 1559 (Leipzig, 1895), Plate no. I.

BYASTRIKLGABRIEL

467

Book of the French Nation at Paris. (BN: n.a. lat. 2060, fol. 9r: reproduced in A. L.

Gabriel, Garlandia [Notre Dame, Indiana, and Frankfurt am Main, 1969] , p. 84,

plate XVlII). Sometimes it displayed Christ at the Last Judgment. It reminded
the scholar that on that day, if he broke the rules or acted against the spirit of
the statues of his institution, he would be sentenced as a person guilty of
perjury. (Plate II.)
An interesting feature of the matricúlete are personal notes, expressing the
individual mentality of the students. In the Liberprocuratorum of the EnglishGerman Nation on the margin of the minutes of the Scottish procurator Willelmus de Grinlaw written on June 1, 1342, a drawing shows a drinking person,
glass in his left hand, a rod in his right with the inscription: "Gilkynus, potator."
(Auctarium Chartularii Universitatis Parisiensis, ed. Denifle-Chatelain, vol. I,
col. 59, note 1: reproduced by G. C. Boyce, The English-German Nation in the
University of Paris during the Middle Ages [Bruges, Belgium, 1927], pp.
147-148. Attention: wrong folio references, the correct is folio 44v.)
At the University of Vienna in the Acts of the Faculty ofArts, we may find Uxorem duxit. . . . (Paul Uiblein, Acta Facultatis Artium Universitatis Vindobo-

nensis 1385-1416, [Graz, 1968], p. 152, fol. 79"; also R. Kink, Geschichte der

Kaiserlichen Universität zu Wien [Vienna, 1854], p. 133, note 149). In the Basel
matricula to the year of 1489 similar information and remarks are to be found:
"dimisit Studium suum cum ridiculo,""he left the university deserving ridicule"
(H. G. Wackernagel, ed., Die Matrikel der Universität Basel I. 1460-1529
[Basel, 1951],p. 119, no. 18). The University of Greifswald, with good fund-rais-

ing sense, dispensed Joachim de Papeke of paying matriculation fees in 1497,

because he "might be useful to the university," cum possit Universitati
prodesse. The matriculation registers inspired a sense of togetherness into the
intitulati, awareness of a community to which they belonged like a loving son
to his mother; thus the university became a second "Dear Mother,"Alma Mater.
The Les Matricules Universitaires regrettably has no "name or subject
index." It was not the omission of the author, but apparently a policy of the Editorial Board of the "Typologie des Sources du Moyen Age Occidental." The cumulative meager "Subject Index" (Table desfascicules) to the already published
number of fifty volumes offered negligible assistance.

Paquet advises a cautious approach to the use of information offered by matriculation registers: "sujets à caution" (p. 95). He suggests eschewing the ob-

taining of percentage calculations with mathematical precision. Reading these
welcome warnings, one may wonder about the thirty-six references to R. Ch.

Schwinges' publications on 149 printed pages, which is highly disproportionate

while authors or editors of important matriculation books are cited just a few
times. Paquet should be complimented for reminding percentage calculators
that the recruitment in German universities at the end of the Middle Ages
should be studied in the light of the economic situation in each university
town. Many will be grateful for his courage in asking what is really understood

under the term of prosopography (p. 116). The percentage calculation, for in-

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MATRICULATION BOOKS AT MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES

stance, is unrealistic for the University of Cologne: the Dominican Convent was

incorporated into the university but individual Dominicans were mentioned
only when they started actual teaching:"nisi cum fuerint ordinati ad legendum."

The present publication of Paquet is provided with abundant bibliographical
references sufficient for beginners to embark on investigating the history of
medieval universities. A few references added here could be profitably used:
James J. John, "The Canons of Prémontré and the Mediaeval Universities of
North-East Germany" (Ph.D. dissertation, The Medieval Institute, University of
Notre Dame, June, 1959); the continuation of E. Wickersheimer's work on the
Faculty of Medicine of Paris, 1395-1516, is Marie-Louise Concasty, Commentaires de la Faculté de Médecine de l'Université de Paris (1516— 1560) (Paris,

1964); K. Steiff, "Beiträge für ältesten Buchdrucker Geschichte, I: Die Ausbeute

der Universitätsmatrikel," in Centralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, 3 (1886),
249-264. This publication should be used with caution. Bertoldus Rembolt did

not come from Strassburg, only from its diocese (p. 259). He was a graduate of
the University of Paris, master of arts (1487), treasurer of the English-German

Nation (1506-1507), and worked with Udalricus Gering, the protoprinter at

Paris (1494-1510). Another printer, Johannes Stoll, mentioned by K. Steiff, was
associated with Petrus Caesaris Wagner, a distinguished member of the EnglishGerman Nation at the University of Paris. Johannes Stoll's autograph printer's
mark is in a Franciscan breviary printed by Jacques Ie Rouge at Venice in 1474
(Hain 3891 A); Claudin, historian of printing in France, could not locate it; A. L.
Gabriel discovered it in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Paquet once borrowed a motto from Siger of Brabant (t ca. 1281-1284) for
his excellent study on "Features of the Medieval University" published in French
on the occasion of the 550th anniversary of the University of Louvain-Leuven:
"To live without learning is death and the burial of common man." Professor Paquet has provided most useful and learned information in presenting the history of matriculae for the better understanding of the soul of the medieval
university.

University ofNotre Dame

IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA AND A NEW DIRECTION

FOR THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS
REVIEW ARTICLE
BY

Peter Kountz

Ignatius of Loyola: The Psychology of a Saint. By W W Meissner, SJ. (New

Haven: Yale University Press. 1992. Pp. xxx, 480. $45.00 clothbound;
$18.00 paperback.)

In the period since the 1992 publication ofW. W Meissner's Ignatius ofLoyola: The Psychology of a Saint, two significant events in the annals of the Society ofJesus have occurred, the 34th General Congregation of the Order and the
publication of John W. O'Malley's The FirstJesuits. Some comment about each
is in order as a way of setting a context for a fuller consideration of the Meissner text.

If, as some scholars and commentators have argued, the Society of Jesus remains a work in progress, there is no better evidence for this argument than the

34th General Congregation and its documents. For the first time ever, represen-

tatives to a General Congregation of the Society from Europe and America were

a minority; the 34th General Congregation carries a significant element of "lay

collaboration"; only some of the Congregation documents maintain eloquent
certainty, e.g., "Our Mission and Interreligious Dialogue," while others seem to
be half-hearted efforts, e.g., "Ecumenism." And the documents of the 34th General Congregation reveal the "work-in-progress" nature of the Jesuit position on

women in the Church and the economic, political, spiritual, and theological re-

alities of developing countries. Perhaps of greatest significance is what appears
to be an unclear and/or changing commitment to the world-wide Jesuit apostolate to education, in prep schools, seminaries, and in colleges and universities.
More than anything else, the documents of the 34th General Congregation of
the Society of Jesus reveal the Order's efforts to remain "flexible" and "improvisatory" with respect to the realities of contemporary culture and cultural
mores, to the practice of religion, and to the articulation of a theology and spirituality that are, above all, relevant to the world in which they are grounded.
Jerome Nadal, one of the group of the first Jesuits, said often that Jesuits "are not
monks. . . . The world is our house." The 34th General Congregation and its
documents offer powerful testimony to the continuing efforts of the Society of

469

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IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA AND A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS

Jesus to serve the world as it is. More than any other religious order, the Jesuits
should be regarded as "organic" in that their apostolate is to serve the world as
it is, not as it has been.
It is commonly accepted by scholars of the history of Christianity that, as
John O'Malley argues in his work, The FirstJesuits, the writing on the Society of
Jesus "has been woefully inadequate." In spite of the Constitutions, the Spiritual Exercises, the 125 volumes of the Monumenta Histórica Societatis Jesu,
and the 7000 letters of Ignatius Loyola (the largest extant correspondence of
any sixteenth-century figure), there has been no history of the Society of Jesus
that is as complete and thoroughly comprehensive in the way, for example, that
David Knowles' still remarkable history of the monastic orders in medieval England is. There is, in fact, no substantial history of the Jesuits from their founding
in 1540 to the present. It is no wonder, then, that the Jesuits are often so misunderstood and misrepresented. John O'Malley's The FirstJesuits seeks to remedy
this deficiency and while it is only "Part One" of the story in that it covers the
first years of the Order, from a gathering of the seven "friends in the Lord" in

1534 to 1565, the year of the 2nd General Congregation of the Order and the

year when Diego Laynez, who succeeded Ignatius as Superior General, died, it
has set the stage for a work or works that will address the 450 years ofJesuit history in an equally thoughtful and thorough way. Because there is no substantial
"secular" history of the Jesuits—as distinct from its own ecclesiastical histories—the myths about the order and the frequent disfigurements of its founder
and his colleagues remain. John O'Malley's The First Jesuits and W. W. Meissners Ignatius of Loyola, taken together, must be seen as a major first step in
remedying such an extraordinary deficiency.
O'Malley quite appropriately and rightly begins his study with an emphasis
on Ignatius himself and on the primary Ignatian documents, the Constitutions
and the Spiritual Exercises, and we can use this assessment, especially his treatment of Ignatius, as a means of exploring the Meissner text. Acknowledging the
inherent risks of such a contention, I would argue here that the serious student

of Jesuit history should read the O'Malley text before he takes up Meissner's

work on Loyola. This contention is in no way meant to point to any inadequacies in the Meissner text but to argue that a careful reading of the text is much
better served by the historical context offered by O'Malley as a significant preliminary to the reading of a provocative and often unusually demanding biography of Ignatius, which the Meissner text certainly is.
In the spirit, then, of such a risky contention, it is sensible to use the words of
O'Malley on Ignatius to set the stage for our discussion of W. W. Meissner's
work.

. . . There would be no Society of Jesus . . . without Ignatius of Loyola. . . .
Ignatius was the leader. ... He inspired confidence and won affection. . . .
While Ignatius was General, his subjects respected him especially for listening to them with care until they were sure they had been under-

BY PETER KOUNTZ

471

stood. . . . Ignatius was, however, a complex man. He, on occasion, dealt in

harsh and seemingly arbitrary ways with those in Rome who were closest

to him. He did not always bear criticism gracefully . . . His natural reticence
about himself and his stilted and conventional style of writing drew a curtain across much that we would like to know. Early on, moreover, his Jesuit
contemporaries began to speak and write of him with a reverence that rendered edifying his every act, making it particularly difficult for later historians to find the man behind the hagiographical veil. . . . Leadership is a gift
difficult to analyze, but it consists to a large extent in vision, in the ability to
see how at a given juncture change is more consistent with one's scope
than staying the course. It consists as well in the courage and self-possession required to make the actual decision to change and convince others of
the validity and viability of the new direction. Such was Ignatius's vision
and courage about the schools. He had another ability that is equally important for a leader. He could recognize and utilize talents that complemented his own. The caliber of the provincials and rectors throughout the
order, many of whom were handpicked by him, were by and large proof of
this gift. More striking, however, were the roles Ignatius conceded to
Polanco and Nadal—without doubt the two Jesuits who, after himself, most

effectively animated the young Society and gave it shape. It would be difficult to imagine two better choices or more open-handed delegations of re-

sponsibility, (pp. 375-376)

O'Malley's Ignatius is a "complex man . . . difficult to find behind the hagiographical veil." For W W. Meissner, Ignatius is a man in whom "nature and grace
were integrated."These two quotes, taken together, give us the context in which
Ignatius ofLoyola: The Psychology of a Saint is centered. Father Meissner begins with the major elements of the "great saint's" life and some of these elements are important to include here.
Born in 1491 in the Basque country of Spain, Inigo Lopez de Loyola, lost his
mother shortly after his birth. The last son of a wealthy and cultured family, loyal
and well connected to the Spanish royalty, Inigo was, for all practical purposes,
raised by María de Garin, the wife of a blacksmith, and there is little doubt that
she served as "a second and substitute mother." (Father Meissner devotes an en-

tire chapter to the many women in Inigo/Ignatius's life, arguing convincingly
that each of them had a significant role in both his worldly and his spiritual formation.) Inigo grew to become a dashing nobleman-hildalgo, a singular and, apparently, unusually brave soldier, fearless in battle and soft and pliable with
respect to wine and women. Inigo's soldiering involved him in many conflicts,
and in May of 1521 he was wounded by a cannon ball in a battle with the
French at Pamplona. This battle was especially vicious, and the record suggests
that Inigo entered it ready to fight to the death. He was, clearly, that manner of
soldier. With sword in hand and just as the defensive wall crumbled, a "cannon
ball struck him in his leg, crushing its bones and because it passed between his
legs it also seriously wounded the other leg" (Vita I, quoted in Meissner, p. 35).

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IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA AND A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS

So, in an instant, Inigo the hildalgo was taken from the only life he knew, from
the life he had so fiercely dedicated himself to; this Inigo, a "man given over to
the vanities of the world, and [who] took a special delight in the exercise of
arms, with a great and vain desire of winning glory" (Vita I, quoted in Meissner,

p. 37). But what would ordinarily have been the convalescence of a soldier became the convalescence of a pilgrim. To this point in his life, as Father Meissner
argues, the boy Inigo had "given way to the dashing and daring young hildalgo,

and the young hildalgo became the young and courageous soldier and promis-

ing statesman" (p. 37). The extraordinary gallantry, fidelity, and the intense desire to win glory were all, for the moment, taken from Inigo, and, at the moment
of his paralyzing injury, the young Inigo began his pilgrimage to his real life in
God as Ignatius of Loyola, beggar, penitent, student, ascetic, searcher, priest,

founder of the Society ofJesus and, less than one hundred years after his death
in 1556, a saint of the Church. The "courageous man of arms" became a coura-

geous pilgrim in Christ. The gallantry, fidelity, and the intense desire to win
glory were now all placed in the hands of God and in the service of the Christian ideal and the formation of the Christian community. This process is what Fa-

ther Meissner quite perceptively calls a "transformation of identity," and not

what some psycho-biographers might see as either a destruction of an earlier
identity or as some form of transference of identity. And it is this remarkable and
complicated transformation that is the central element in W. W Meissner's story
of Ignatius. It is as if Father Meissner committed himself to cutting through the
"hagiographical veil" of Ignatius, using as his surgical instrument the "integra-

tion of nature and grace" in Ignatius's life. Now, it is appropriate to assess, by

way of carrying through the metaphor, the nature and method of Father Meissner's "surgery."

W. W. Meissner is not only a Jesuit and a medical doctor; he is, as well, a practicing and teaching psychoanalyst, the first as a training and supervising analyst

at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, and the second as University Professor of
Psychoanalysis at Boston College. Our "surgeon," then, is eminently qualified
and well prepared for a psychological study and especially, for a psychological
study of Ignatius of Loyola. The only problem with the "surgery" —and it is not
a serious one—is with the accessibility of language. With very few notable exceptions (the work of Erik Erikson, especially) psychoanalysts have had great
difficulty in writing and speaking in a generally (and some would argue, universally) accessible language. More often than not, theirs is a language of exclusivity. From time to time in his text, Father Meissner falls into the trap of the
"in-house" language of psychoanalysts and, unfortunately, this can be perceived
as off-putting jargon. This pedantic nature of Father Meissner's text makes his

work exceptionally demanding and enormously difficult to read carefully with-

out more than a passing knowledge of and perhaps even direct experience
with the psychoanalytic method and process. But to be fair to Father Meissner,
what and how he writes is what and who he is. So, as one reads the text, one
must be cognizant of Father Meissner's duality:

BY PETER KOUNTZ

473

Ignatius was one of the guiding spirits of my own life and career. Whatever
spiritual substance and direction I have reflects my formative experiences
in the course of my Jesuit training—all based directly on the teachings and
spiritual guidance of Ignatius. The other dominant influence in my life—
this one more intellectual than spiritual—has been Sigmund Freud, the
guiding spirit of my career as a psychoanalyst. My path through life has
been an effort to integrate these two disparate influences in some meaningful way—in both an intellectual and personal sense. This exploration of
the inner life of Ignatius may represent one phase of that enterprise. I can

only remind my readers—and concurrently myself—that these two diverg-

ing yet interacting and intersecting influences will be in play throughout
what follows, (pp. x-xi)
The reader must acknowledge and accept, then, Father Meissner's two languages and realize that to do complete justice to his subject, the author (and
reader) must work with both.

The reader must also work with and, again, acknowledge and accept, the inherent conflict between Freud's universe and his method, on the one hand, and
the profoundly theological and spiritual grounding of the formation of Jesuits,
as well as the not insignificant strictures of the vocation of a Jesuit priest, on the
other hand. It is precisely this duality and its context with which Father Meissner must work— and does work—because he is who he is. To his enormous

credit and, in spite of his occasional tendency to slip into the "in-house" language of psychoanalysts, Father Meissner has written a bold and thoroughly
convincing study of Ignatius of Loyola. The text is as gentle and tender as it is
sternly objective and reasonable. In many respects, Father Meissner's work is a
singular example of a comprehensively empathie psycho-biography, a study
which not only does not put Ignatius "on the couch" for a one-sided introspective scrutiny but which allows Ignatius to be who he is at all points of his astonishing life and with full recognition and full empathie understanding of the

equally astonishing signposts of his pilgrimage. Father Meissner writes in his introduction:

if [the reader comes] to see with more clarity the human side of Ignatius,
his inner psychic needs and conflicts, his hopes and desires, and the forces
that drove him to the extremes of spiritual devotion and the heights of mys-

tical experience, I shall count the effort worthwhile, (p. xxvi)

There should be no question that Father Meissner has his historical tools at
work in this text, as well. And it is in this historical context of the life of Ignatius

that both his careful work as a student ofJesuit history and his keen eye for the
complexities of historical biography reveal themselves. It is eminently clear
from a reading of Father Meissner's work that he knows comprehensively the
specific historical context of the life of Ignatius, just as he knows the documents and works with them in a remarkably and seemingly effortless way. He
knows, as well, the literature on Ignatius and, with this knowledge, he knows

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IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA AND A NEW DIRECOON FOR THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS

what to look for, as he knows what makes or does not make sense in the many
interpretations of Ignatius's life currently in vogue. Further, Father Meissner exhibits a level of unusual comfort with the two languages we spoke of above: the
language of the psychoanalyst and the language of the Jesuit historian. As a psychoanalyst, Father Meissner knows what impulses and what signs to follow and,
as a historian, he knows the full story, as he knows what documents to use—
and how to use them—in his analysis. The great strength of this work on Ignatius is Father Meissner's ability to fuse the two languages into a coherent and
engaging narrative. The key to this ability is found in an earlier Meissner work,
Psychoanalysis and Religious Experience (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1984). In this work, Father Meissner writes:

While an insistence on psychological and methodological purity has its
place, science, it turns out, is not always scientific. A case can and should be
made for the usefulness of empathie observation or even participation in
the psychological approach to religious phenomena. Freud's limitation was
that he was not a believer, and that he held fixed and prejudicial ideas about
the role of religion in human life, so that he could not be an objective or
perceptive observer of it. There is much in his life history that gives rise to
this posture, but here is it sufficient to note that such influences do play a
significant role. We might argue, then, that the psychologist who sets out to
study religious experience must possess an empathie openness to and respect for the meaning and relevance of the phenomena he studies, (p. 7)
To confirm Father Meissner's "empathie openness" one needs only to consider the breadth of his study on Ignatius. He assesses every aspect of the life of
Ignatius, from the purely biographical and historical to the very specific psychoanalytical elements of Ignatius's personality, his relationships with his Jesuit
brothers as well as his very specific relationships with women, to the psychopathology of his spiritual life and his mysticism. Further, the appendices of
Ignatius of Loyola and Father Meissner's choice of what to include are themselves very illuminating, for these selected texts add to the confirmation of Father Meissner's "empathie openness" as well as his acute sense of what specific
texts reveal the full nature of Ignatius's work and personality.
What is so wonderfully revealed in Father Meissner's study of Ignatius is his
extraordinary sense of those important "change points" in Ignatius's life, those
moments where and when cognitive insights occur. (This is, of course, an element of psychotherapy and the psychoanalytic process.) What is also apparent
is the skill with which Father Meissner "listens" to Ignatius. In the psychoanalytic process, this "analytic listening" is really the interpersonal and intersubjective listening stance of the therapist. In a very deliberate manner, Father
Meissner establishes a "dialogue within context" with Ignatius, and this is precisely what makes his work so powerful and so convincing. It is important to
argue here that without his vocation as a Jesuit, Father Meissner could not so
successfully establish this "dialogue within context." Socrates is alleged to be
the author of what is now almost a cliché: "Speak that I may see you." For Father

BY PETER KOUNTZ

475

Meissner and his study of (and relationship with) Ignatius, it is more a matter of
"speak that I may see both of us." More than any other element, Father Meissner
offers substantive and convincing testimony that, for Ignatius, the evolution of
his vocation as priest and founder of the Society of Jesus was a matter of the
"transformation of identity" and not a destruction of one identity and the construction of another identity. Father Meissner argues, for example, that Inigo the
dashing hildalgo is, quite remarkably, transformed into Ignatius of Loyola, the extraordinarily successful administrator and manager of the Jesuits. Again and
again, Father Meissner works with what is, to him, so apparent in Ignatius's life.
He can do this because he has come to his subject with the "empathie openness" of the psychoanalyst and Jesuit historian. Without his duality, Father
Meissner, as "surgeon," could never have cut through the "hagiographical veil" of
Ignatius. And, without this duality, Father Meissner could never have ultimately
focused on the role of grace and "how nature and grace were integrated in the
life of this great saint." Father Meissner, with eloquence and profound conviction, argues that grace was the integrating element of Ignatius's life. He could
not posit such an argument without the duality of his own vocation as Jesuit
and psychoanalyst. It is this duality which allows Father Meissner to show us
how Ignatius moved to and from his relationship with Christ to the construction of the Christian ideal in his community of the Society of Jesus and their
apostolate.
One can only hope that those historians of the Jesuits to come will look to Ignatius ofLoyola:The Psychology ofa Saint for guidance and inspiration. Given
all that needs to be known still about Ignatius and the Society of Jesus, there
may be no more reliable and informed model than this work ofW W. Meissner.
Shady Side Academy
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

BOOK REVIEWS
General and Miscellaneous

Pontiffs: Popes Who Shaped History. By John Jay Hughes. (Huntington, Indiana:
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division. 1994. Pp. 320. $16.95 paperback.)
This book is intended to let the reader know that, while popes may be "infal-

lible," they are not above making mistakes. In one readable volume, Father

Hughes manages to include most of the major events in the past twenty centuries which concerned the Roman Catholic Church. He conveys a considerable amount of interesting and reliable historical information, gleaned from the
best secondary sources. His method is to select eleven key popes—Peter, Leo
the Great, Gregory the Great, Gregory VII, Innocent III, Boniface VIII, Leo X, Pius
V, Pius VII, Leo XIII, and John XXIII—and use their pontificates as a focus for discussion about events and issues which surrounded them in some way. The au-

thor wisely does not limit himself to the eleven popes involved, but casts his net

far and wide. The chapter on Pius VII, for example, carries on into a treatment of
Pius IX and Vatican Council I. In addition, Father Hughes also makes frequent
(and delightful) excursions into parenthetical material, such as his description
of the various ranks within the College of Cardinals. There is humor in this
book, as when Cardinal Spellman is quoted on the election of John XXIII, saying, "He is no pope; he should be selling bananas." The average lay Catholic, at
whom this book is obviously intended, can learn much factual information from
and be entertained by this book.
Unfortunately, the very thing that seems to have motivated Father Hughes to
write the book—a naïve belief on the part of "fundamentalist" Catholics that

popes can do no wrong or can never display human tendencies—so preoccupies the author that he overstates his case. Popes are placed too easily into intransigent or conciliatory categories. Age-old stereotypes, such as that of a
thoroughly decadent Leo X, are accepted by the author uncritically and inaccurately. Conversely, John XXIII, the obvious hero of this book, does not deserve
the seventy pages of unqualified praise—nearly one-quarter of the entire
book! —lavished on him by the author. One wonders if the other popes mentioned are simply foils for the Great Pope, John XXIII—judged harshly or benignly on their proximity to his pastoral genius.
Whenever Anglicanism is mentioned, Father Hughes becomes quite protective. According to the author, Pius V was guilty of serious misjudgment in ex-

476

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BOOK REVIEWS

communicating Queen Elizabeth, a controversial act about which the author
brooks no debate. The current revisionist (and pro-Catholic) reading of the English Reformation, led by Eamon Duffy, Christopher Haigh, and J. J. Scarisbrick, is
not mentioned. Cardinal Newman's Second Spring—an admission that the Oxford Movement could not work—is never cited, although Catholic revivals in
several countries besides England are given honorable mention.
What is worse is the author's inability to resist the occasional irreverent remark, as when he mentions "mating calls" being emitted by cardinals at one conclave (p. 109), and the comment that Cardinal Spellman "owed [Sr. Pasqualina]
more favors than we may ever know" (p. 258). This tendency is unfortunate and
mars what should have been a helpful book.
John Vidmar, O.P

Dominican House ofStudies
Washington, D.C.

The Irish Penitentials and Their Significance for the Sacrament of Penance
Today. By Hugh Connolly. (Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Four Courts Press. Distributed by International Specialized Book Services, Inc., 5804 N.E. Hassalo

Street, Portland, OR 97213-3644. 1995. Pp. xii,256. $45.00.)

In five chapters Father Connolly makes his case for the contemporary relevance and significance of the ancient Irish handbooks of penance. After placing
the penitentials in their cultural and historical context he undertakes a lengthy
textual analysis of the works from the point of view of one of their central organizing principles—the eight capital sins that were inherited from John Cassian (gluttony, avarice, anger, dejection, lust, languor, vainglory, and pride). The
fourth chapter reads the penitentials through the perspective and within the
framework afforded by the Ordo paenitentiae of the modern Irish Church. He
puts it somewhat differently, "an analysis of the sacrament of penance and its
parts passed through the filter, as it were, of Celtic penitential theology" (p.
124). Here he shows that the conception and spirit of penance and confession
evidenced in the traditional elements of contrition (of heart), confession (by
mouth), and satisfaction (through works) are reflected in the penitentials. In the

final chapter Connolly takes a broad, interpretative approach to the symbolism

of the penitentials through a discussion of three models of penance that run
through the texts—the judicial model, the medical model of disease and healing, and the pilgrimage model.

The penitentials appeared in Western Europe when the harsh system of nonrepeatable public penance was waning, to be replaced with repeatable, private
penance or confession. It is likely that they both encouraged and facilitated the
transition to the more humane system, and it is certain that they set the tone
and content for confessional manuals for at least five hundred years (up to the
twelfth century). It is ironic that Connolly's book would appear now, at a time

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BOOK REVIEWS

when repeatable, private penance is tending to give way to public, communal
penance in many quarters of the Roman Church. However ironic it may be, I believe that the author succeeds in showing that the pivotal period of the Irish

penitentials has some valuable lessons for the present pivotal period in the history of the development of the sacrament of penance. He demonstrates an insightful reading of the texts and an imaginative interpretation of their (of
course limited) contemporary significance.

Having said this, I must add that it is disappointing to read a book published
in 1995 that shows such little awareness of the careful work that is being done
on the textual history of the penitentials. None of the works of the leading
scholar in this field (Professor Raymund Kottje) are even listed in the bibliogra-

phy. Connolly's book is not the book to read if one wants to gain any critical,
historical knowledge of the penitentials, Irish or otherwise. It is, however, a reflective, insightful meditation on the theology of the penitentials, and a perceptive guide to their limited significance for today.

Pierre J. Payer

Mount Saint Vincent University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Stratégie Missionnaire du Saint-Siège sous Léon XIII (1878-1903)- Centralisation romaine et défis culturels. By Claude Prudhomme. [Collection de

l'École Française de Rome, 186.] (Rome: École Française de Rome, Palais

Farnèse. 1994. Pp. iv,621. Paperback.)
This very long and detailed study of the missionary movement during the

pontificate of Leo XIII is a substantial contribution to the mission history of the
nineteenth century. Its major theme is the centralization, Romanization, and

"papal-ization" of the missionary movement at this time. The book is divided
into three major parts. The first describes the Congregation of the Propaganda
during Leo's pontificate. The author provides not only the names of the prefects
and secretaries of the Congregation but also of its members and consultors and
describes both their tasks and how they came to be chosen. He has an interesting description of the ordinary path a Roman cleric would take in pursuit of an
ecclesiastical career. He also shows with striking detail the bonds that existed
between the various Congregations themselves and between them and the

Pope, for the cardinals of the Propaganda were the Pope's chosen men and they

invariably served on more than one Congregation. This guaranteed loyalty, uniformity, and Romanization in every detail. The second part of the book deals
with the activity of the Propaganda during this time, describing how they de-

veloped a tradition of mission theory, controlled missionary action through
questionnaires, synods, and apostolic delegates, assigned territories and chose

mission congregations to serve there, and controlled the work of the mission-

ary societies and the appointment of heads of the mission. Loyalty to the Pope,

BOOK REVIEWS

479

submission to Rome, and uniformity in doctrine were expected of all mission-

aries—this permeates all decisions and communications. The third part of the

book addresses the missionary strategy of Leo XIII as expressed by him and the
Congregation. The centralization and "papal-ization" of missionary activity was

pursued even though there were many obstacles along the way. The author

treats well and in detail the struggles Rome had with Portugal over the
Padroado in Asia and Africa, with the European Powers following the Berlin
Conference on Africa in 1885, with France over the Religious Protectorate in
China, and with Italy over the protection of missionaries in China and Africa.
The author suggests that Leo's preferred interest was union with the Eastern

Churches, but Leo also was concerned that missionary expansion should fit into

his global plan for the Church. While centralization developed greatly during

this period, there were two checks on its development: Rome could not persuade France to give up its religious protectorate in China and thus had to abandon its plan for an apostolic delegation; and Rome could not persuade the

Society for the Propagation of the Faith to move its offices from Lyons to Rome
and to entrust the distribution of funds to the Propaganda. These were minor
setbacks when compared with the major accomplishments in this area. The author argues his thesis well. He uses primary sources in Roman archives, some of
which were made available to a scholar for the first time, and he shows himself
thoroughly familiar with the collections and printed works referring to this
topic. At times he seems to describe the activity of the Propaganda in an
anachronistic way, using contemporary experience to judge the motives and ac-

tions of that day. But this is a minor criticism of a truly great work which con-

tains so much new material. The book is enriched with graphs, tables,
appendices, indices of persons and material, and an excellent bibliography

(which, unfortunately, is limited for the most part to Italian and French works).

It is truly an encyclopedic work.

Lawrence Nemer

Yarra Theological Union, Melbourne

Il 75" anniversario del Pontificio Istituto Orientale. AUi délie celebrazioni

giubilari, 15-17 ottobre 1992. Edited by Robert E. Taft, SJ., and James Lee
Dugan, SJ. [Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 244.] (Rome: Pontificio Istituto
Orientale. 1994. Pp. 320. Paperback.)

The Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome began the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of its founding with a solemn convocation on October
15-17, 1992, which opened the academic year, and it would be concluded in
June, 1993, with an international scientific congress. This volume contains the

proceedings of the first gathering, the solemn convocation. It is centered on the

Institute itself, its origins and history, its accomplishments, and its future
prospects. The Institute is here looked at, not only as a scholarly establishment,
but also as a religious one in the service of the Church, both East and West. The

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BOOK REVIEWS

volume first presents several congratulatory discourses by ecclesiastical dignitaries, followed by the citations for the conferral of five honorary degrees, the
first, I believe, in the history of the Institute. Most of the book consists of the papers delivered at the convocation, in Italian, French, German, and English. The
first "Joseph Lecture" was delivered by the late André de Halleux, O.F.M., the
noted Syrian patrologist from Louvain, in the form of what he called a theologi-

cal autobiography. Three Jesuit professors at the Institute,Vincenzo Poggijohn
Long, and Edward Farrugia, gave papers on the early history of the Institute, its

role in the ecumenical movement, and its contributions to dogmatic theology.
Gabriele Winkler spoke on its achievements in the study of eastern liturgies;
Gervais Dumeige, S.J., spoke on its contributions to the study of spirituality, and
Carmelo Capizzi, SJ. , on the study of the history of the Christian East, and Msgr.

Joseph Prader addressed its impact on the study of eastern canon law. An account of his fifty years of scholarly service for the Eastern and the Western
Churches by Wilhelm de Vries, SJ. , who was not present at the convocation, is
also included. The second "Joseph Lecture" was delivered by the German theologian, Hans-Joachim Schulz, who looked into the future to see the contribu-

tions to be made by the Institute to ecumenism and to scientific theology. The
book includes several photographs of speakers and ceremonies. It ends with

lists of hierarchs who have studied at the Institute and a list of professors who
have taught there. It is a well edited and attractive volume, and it should be of

great interest to those concerned with relations between the Eastern and the
Western Churches and with the efforts, especially on the scholarly level, being
made to bridge the gap that still separates them.

George T. Dennis, SJ.

The Catholic University ofAmerica

Vatican Radio: Propagation by the Airwaves. By Marilyn J. Matelski. [Media
and Society Series.] (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. 1995. Pp. xx, 199.
$55.00.)

Radio HVJ, "H" for Holy See, "V" for Vatican, and "J" for Jesus Christ, has for almost three-quarters of a century served the pope and the Holy See as a medium

for the propagation of ecclesiastical policies. Against the background of the his-

tory ofVatican Radio, Matelski seeks to analyze its effectiveness within the context of a discussion of models of social change and models of leadership styles
as well as the ecclesiological changes of the twentieth century.

Such a goal is consonant with the challenge of interdisciplinary studies, and
this work illustrates the perils of such endeavors. The outline of the history of
Radio HVJ in the author's introduction whets the reader's appetite for more details of its achievements and its failures. One hopes for analysis of its role during
World War II and during the "Cold War" together with the reaction of the various concerned governments. The United States' "Voice of America," the Soviet

BOOK REVIEWS

481

Union's "Radio Moscow," China's "Radio Peking," and Britain's famed "BBC are

cursorily mentioned and the opportunity to compare them critically to Vatican
Radio is lost.

Unfortunately for the historian, each chapter is devoted more to sociological
and theological analysis of the Church and various forces within it than to an
exposition of the role ofVatican Radio. Too often mention ofVatican Radio ap-

pears only at the end of a particular chapter.

In grounding her historical and theological analyses, the author occasionally
relies on biased or erroneous sources, and on other occasions misreads her
sources. One can forgive mention that "Monsignor Achille Ratti, the papal nuncio in Poland, assumed the bishop's miter to succeed Pope Benedict XV in
1922" (p. 45), omitting his admittedly brief sojourn as Cardinal Archbishop of
Milan, whence he rose to the papacy. It is more difficult to overlook the table of

the popes (pp. 5-15) in which we find that St. Peter "Bestows the power 'to

bind and loose' (Roman legal terms) to all his successors, thus separating the
power of the papacy from the sanctity of the individual pope." There we also
discover that Pope St. Sylvester I "Crowns the pagan Emperor Constantine as
pontifex maximus (supreme priest), thus legalizing Christianity through the
Edict of Milan. . . ."

Here and there in the text mention is made of ominous forces lurking in the
background, exercising hidden power within the Church. Not surprisingly they
are Opus Dei and the Knights of Malta. Apparently there was a possibility in the
1980's that the direction ofVatican Radio would be taken from the Jesuits and

given to Opus Dei. The reviewer would have appreciated details of this possi-

bility and its implications for the policies ofVatican Radio. The Knights of Malta
are referred to several times, including mention that former C.I.A. Director

William Casey was a member. The connection is left to the reader's imagination.

The reader will find the outline of the history ofVatican Radio in this work,
but the analysis of its significance and effectiveness in propagating the Vatican's
message is, unfortunately, lost in the discussion of other issues.
Robert J.Wister
Seton Hall University

Likeness and Presence:A History of the Image before the Era ofArt. By Hans
Belting. Translated by Edmund Jephcott. (Chicago: University of Chicago

Press. 1994. Pp. xxiv,651; 12 color plates. $65.00.)

This book undertakes a monumental operation, the description of the visual

direction taken by the holy Christian image from the period of Late Antiquity as
far forward as the eighteenth century. Belting's avowed aim is to focus on the
history of the holy image, defined as figurai but non-narrative, and to trace the
development in its artistic and conceptual treatment. It is unsurprising that it

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takes him twenty chapters, 688 pages, and 306 illustrations to carry out his task

as he follows the icon from Byzantium to Medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy
and on to Protestant Germany.
Likeness and Presence synthesizes evidence from East and West impartially.
Continuity and change, link and contrast between the two are highlighted. This
dual focus is a rare thing in medieval studies; Belting looks to offer evidence of
the connections between Eastern and Western Christian images; his great
achievement is to show how intimately the two cultures depend on each other.
He undertakes a far-ranging marshalling of empirical evidence, of the sources
and images in a variety of languages from all across Europe. It is as stuffed with
facts as an egg is with meat. As such, it is a fascinating treasure trove for the medieval art historian seeking information, the history of particular holy images,
the legends associated with them.
The drawback of such colossal erudition, however, is that it has no space to
pause and reflect, to analyze, to ask, "why is this happening to images?" rather
than,"what is happening to images?" Belting makes it clear that he sees no place
for anthropology, psychology, or the history of mentalités in the study of images. There is no place in history for the viewer of art despite Belting's division
between "the history of images" and "the history of art/artists," a difference that
rests on the viewer's perceptions of the nature of the objects in question. If he
is prepared to hang the entire methodological basis of the book around this distinction, then perhaps rather more than lip-service needs to be placed on the
spectator's place in the narration of the story of religious images. Reading Likeness and Presence, one feels as if one may know how holy images developed
(essentially ideologically, according to Belting), but one has very little sense as
to why or even as how these images should be contextualized within the societies to which they belonged. The very thoroughness of the exploration of
what feels like every conceivable source and every last piece of information
about the image, leaves one bludgeoned by the scholarship but uncertain as to
the purpose of the book. Why trace the visual direction of an image? What does
this tell us?

This is a tremendous book, belonging to an era when the proper job of art
history was to describe the visual evidence. In taking the theme of the history
of images in the medieval East and West, Belting has embarked on a new reading of the story of art and its place in history. It is the sort of task that few have
the energy or scholarship now to undertake.
Liz James

University of Sussex

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483

The Immaculate Conception in Spanish Art. By Suzanne L. Stratton. (New

York: Cambridge University Press. 1994. Pp. xvi, 176; 8 color plates.
$55.00.)

In recent years a number of books have appeared which explore the relationship between art and theology. When written by scholars with background
in both disciplines—such as Margaret Miles—these works provide thoughtprovoking reminders of the power of visual imagery to shape faith and enhance
spiritual understanding. In other cases, including the work under review, it is evident that the author's expertise lies in one field only. Stratton, Director of Fine
Arts and Cultural Programs at The Spanish Institute in New York, is a scholar of
Spanish art and has contributed essays and catalogue entries to numerous publications on aspects of this subject.
The intended audience of this book is unclear. It seems more an extended ar-

ticle than a true monographic study, assuming on the part of the reader a knowl-

edge of European history generally and Spanish history more specifically. An
historical overview of the turbulent period under discussion would have been
extremely valuable and allowed the Immaculate Conception debates to be

placed within an appropriate context, especially since support for the doctrine

in Spain would seem to be as much politically as theologically motivated. At the
very least, a time chart of Spanish kings and major political events would have
been helpful. There is no systematic summary of the doctrine's development,
since the author's main focus is on Spanish contributions. The introduction
highlights the premise that the cult of the Immaculate Conception in sixteenthand seventeenth-century Spain received its impetus from the royal court. While
supporting evidence is presented, this thesis is never fully explored, and only
brief allusions are made to possible reasons for royal interest.
The book is divided into five chapters. In theory at least, the first four chapters proceed chronologically, outlining the history of the Immaculate Conception controversy and its artistic manifestations through the fifteenth century, in

the sixteenth century, during the reign of Philip III (1598- 1621), and during the
reign of Philip IV (1621-1665). In practice, a tendency to move back and forth
between time periods leads to some confusion. The fifth chapter shifts focus to
discuss one particular element related to Immaculist devotion, a version of the
rosary known as the Stellarium. Its influence—in the form of a crown of twelve
stars—is evident in many art works, including those which do not represent the
Immaculate Conception specifically. An epilogue discusses the reign of Carlos II
and the Immaculate Conception in late Baroque art.

This study is not without merit, especially for those with artistic interests.
Brief commentary is included on a large number of paintings, some fairly well
known and others by relatively obscure artists. There are eight color plates and
ninety-three black and white illustrations. The text documents various early attempts to depict the doctrine, and the development of its definitive iconographie form is discussed at some length, with emphasis on the dominant role
played by Spanish artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A detailed

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bibliography is included and there are extensive notes, although the tendency
to cite secondary rather than primary sources for theological documents is frustrating.

The Immaculate Conception has been, and continues to be, widely misun-

derstood. Among Protestants it is often confused with the Virgin Birth; for many
Catholics it expresses the perfection and purity of the Virgin but the concept of
her exemption from original sin is scarcely grasped. Stratton's book provides
numerous fascinating examples of how visual artists have expressed this abstract belief in concrete terms, but, unfortunately, it does little to illuminate the
doctrine itself.
Diane E. Peters

Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario

For Matters of Greater Moment: The First Thirty Jesuit General Congregations:A BriefHistory and a Translation of the Decrees. Edited by John W.

Padberg, SJ. , Martin D. O'Keefe, SJ. , and John L. McCarthy, SJ. [Jesuit Primary Sources in English Translations, Series I, Number 12.] (St. Louis: Institute ofJesuit Sources. 1994. Pp. xx,788. $47.95.)

The general congregation is the ultimate governing body of the Society of
Jesus. Unlike the general chapters of other religious orders that met on a regu-

lar basis, the general congregations met only after the death of the general,
when they elected a successor, and on rare occasions for extraordinary reasons.
Scholars of the Society will welcome this edition of the decrees of its first thirty
general congregations, that is, from 1558 to 1957. Included in the edition are
the decrees of the five "Polish" congregations that met during the Society's sup-

pression between 1773 and 1814. Unfortunately, the volume does not include

decrees from the three recent general congregations, but, as Padberg notes in
his introduction, these are already available in English. In addition to the decrees, the volume contains Padberg's valuable brief history of the congregations, lists of delegates, congregations, and generals, portraits of all the generals,
and indices of persons and topics.
The first congregation met in 1558, two years after the death of Ignatius Loyola. Loyola had intended the congregation to examine his Constitutions and to
modify any parts that had not worked in practice. However, the congregation
refused to change the "substantials." Thus began a conservative tendency that

was to last four hundred years, or, as stated by Padberg, "constancy overwhelmed innovation as the basic characteristic of general congregations" (p.
62). Much of the impetus for change came from forces outside the Society, especially the papacy, whose requests and demands often met a grudging accep-

tance or a subtle rejection. The work of the congregations too often focused on
their own procedural matters, which account for a large number of the decrees.
Typical was the general congregation that met in 1758 amid the gathering

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storm that would result in the suppression of the Society fifteen years later. Yet
this congregation passed only twelve decrees, six of which dealt with its own
procedures. Other matters that were central concerns of the congregations included the Society's government, missions, schools, and spiritual formation. On
occasion the decrees illustrate an almost obsessive concern to regulate the

minutiae of daily life; examples of this are the decrees on beards, birettas, and

blessings at table. The topical index permits scholars to examine themes over
several centuries such as the role ofThomas Aquinas in the curriculum ofJesuit

schools and the admission of those with Jewish ancestry into the Society.

In his introduction Padberg justifies the publication of the decrees by stating
that scholars from different disciplines will find them helpful,"because an easy
command of the Latin language and especially of its nuances is no longer wide-

spread" f. xii). Nonetheless, Padberg's use of "ours" to refer to Jesuits, refer-

ences to "our schools," and tendency to sermonize suggest that he is directing
his comments not at the international community of scholars but at Jesuits. Is
this an indication that Jesuits no longer have "an easy command of the Latin lan-

guage?"

A. Lynn Martin

The University ofAdelaide

Katholiken, Kirche und Staat als Problem der Historie:Ausgewählte Aufsätze
1963-1992. By Heinz Hurten. Edited by Hubert Gruber. (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. 1994. Pp. viii, 342.)
This selection of Professor Hürten's articles, compiled by friends and colleagues into a commemorative volume for his sixty-fifth birthday, is a study in

conservative German Catholic thought. As the title states, the central focus of

this work is church-state relations, but it is primarily a defense of the Church in
twentieth-century Germany. Beginning with three articles covering medieval
episcopal authority, ecclesiology at the Councils of Constance and Basel, and
nineteenth-century German Catholicism respectively, the collection moves on
to five articles on the Weimar period, eight on the Nazi period, and six on the
Federal Republic. This volume would best serve as a compendium to Hürten's
magisterial study, Deutsche Katholiken, 1918-1945 (see my review article,
ante, LXXX IJuIy, 1994], 534-545).
As one would expect in a study of church-state relations, the author's argu-

ments hinge on the definition of terms and boundaries. Critics of the Church's
role in Nazi Germany have, in Hürten's estimation, failed to understand the

proper political and moral boundaries of the Church in any state. Nor have they
denned "opposition" or "resistance" (Widerstand or Resistenz) adequately, focusing narrowly on heroic deeds. While the Church would not politically op-

pose the Nazi regime by condoning revolution or rebellion, it offered the most

effective resistance to the Nazi Weltanschauung. By participating in the life of

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the Church, Hurten argues, common believers helped resist a totalitarian system and fortified themselves against National Socialism. The Church offered
that sacramental life despite persecution, and therein lies the true nature of
Catholic resistance, according to the author.
In the six final essays of the collection, Hurten fleshes out his critique of
church-state relations with a defense of Christian Democracy and a condemna-

tion of nearly all that came with the 1960's. The legacy of Adenauer and the

CDU/CSU is heralded as having founded a viable democracy upon the correct
relationship of Christianity to the German citizen. The author portrays Vatican
Council II as problematic at best, and Cardinal Ratzinger as a clarion in the contemporary Church. Commentary interspersed with evidence makes these essays both evocative and frustrating.
There is much here to consider and debate, because Hurten articulates the
conservative perspective with clarity and freshness. I was pleasantly surprised
by the essays on the November Revolution and on Jacques Maritain's influence
in Germany. The editor should also be commended for his coherent and logical
selection of essays, which allows this book to become more than the sum of its
parts. The publisher, however, should be chastised for the typographical errors
that mar nearly every page.
EricYonke

University ofWisconsin-Stevens Point

The Rise and Decline of Catholic Religious Orders:A Social Movement Perspective. By Patricia Wittberg, S.C. (Albany: The State University of New

York Press. 1994. Pp. xii,423. $1995 paperback.)

Wittberg's is a thought-provoking analysis, from a sociological perspective, of
cycles of growth and decline experienced over time by religious congregations
in the Roman Catholic tradition. The author rightly points out parallels between
religious congregations in the Church and expressions of communal living in
other religious traditions such as the Shakers which have tended to monopolize
the attention of sociologists in the past. There is a compelling urgency for sociologists to redirect their research toward Roman Catholic congregations— "the
largest and most widespread representation of the communal religious lifestyle
ever to exist in the United States or elsewhere" —at a time when declining
membership threatens the extinction of this way of life.
Assisted by her training both as a religious (Sister of Charity) and as a sociologist, Wittberg fits religious community phenomena into sociological theory in
a credible and highly readable fashion, viewing congregations as intentional
communities or normative organizations; their growth cycles as social movements; factors and motivations supporting growth as resource mobilization;
their dominant spirituality or ideology as frame alignment; their members, reli-

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487

gious virtuosi; and their decline as resource deprivation and frame disalignment.

Chapters on theory and vocabulary, both religious and sociological, and on
the history of Catholic religious orders and congregations, preface the main section on growth and decline cycles from late classical through the contemporary
era. Tables such as "Basic Purposes of Religious Life" as given in sources from
the fourth through the nineteenth centuries; and "External Sources of Communal Decline" from the fourth through the eighteenth centuries, supply convenient reference points for the narrative analysis. The volume culminates with
consideration of the precipitous decline of religious congregations over the
past thirty years in the United States, a process which began manifesting itself
in Western European countries in the years immediately following World War II.
Bibliography is thorough with regard to relevant sociological studies; historical sources cited are of uneven quality, a weakness which does not seriously detract from the book's success in suggesting a fresh interpretation of the
profound changes affecting contemporary religious congregations. It is to be
hoped that this exploratory effort will lead to further research on rapidly disappearing forms of religious life in the Church today.
Karen M. Kennelly, CSJ.

Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles

Intransigeance ou compromis: Sociologie et histoire du catholicisme actuel.

By Paul-André Turcotte. [Héritage et Projet, 51] (Quebec, Canada: Editions
Fides. 1994. Pp. 464. $3995 paperback).

The author combines sociological and historical methods to analyze the
problems and opportunities facing the Roman Catholic Church in the Province
of Quebec, Canada. This approach alone merits wide readership of the book by

professionals in both fields. Its value, however, is not limited to methodology.

While the data presented pertain mainly to Quebec, the analysis is a sociohistorical contribution to assessing the impact ofVatican Council II on the universal Church, at least in modern societies.

This is a compilation of previous studies, both empirical and theoretical, by
the same author which focus on the parish, the school, and the religious order.
While linkages are made between the various sections, the presentation suffers
somewhat from inadequate integration, especially for readers who are not familiar with the history and religious situation of French Canada.
Utilizing the bi-polar concepts of intransigence and compromise as adaptations to the strains of cultural, social, and religious change, the author discusses
the parish as the basic institution to maintain religious faith and practice, the
school as the primary mechanism of religious socialization, and finally the religious order as an intermediate type of group at the intersection of traditional

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commitment and accommodation. Discussion in each of these sections is

guided by Ernst Troeltsch's typology of Christian groupings within the context
of Peter Berger's theories on the social credibility of religion in an environment
characterized by increasing secularization and religious pluralism. It should be
mentioned that the author is acutely aware that insights from sociology and history do not exhaust religious experience. He admits that they can clarify issues
but insists that the relationship between these approaches and theology or
other sciences should also be taken into account. A general confusion emerges
to the effect that compromise is observed most often among intermediary
agents rather than among top officials preoccupied with maintaining traditional identities. The problematic of intransigence or compromise is set up by
the very nature of a religious grouping born of a prophetic impulse, namely, the
tendency to maintain its initial vision and the tendency to institutionalize it.
Here the author relies heavily on the work of Max Weber.
The book is an invitation for readers to shed simplistic interpretations of the
tensions facing Roman Catholicism and to realize that the relationship between
society, culture, and religion is complex. More is involved than the bare opposition between tradition and modernity. For example, in the Province of Quebec,
French Canadian marginalization and nationalism are major factors helping to
explain the tensions experienced.
For the professional historian and sociologist the last section, a sort of
methodological appendix on the advantages of using sociological techniques in
the study of historical data, is especially valuable. The book is highly recommended to anyone who can read French without difficulty. The qualification is
important. Because of the author's style and sentence structure the book is not
an "easy read."
Raymond H. Potvin

The Catholic University ofAmerica
Ancient

Martyrdom and Rome. By Glen W. Bowersock. [The Wiles Lectures Given at
the Queen's University of Belfast.] (NewYork: Cambridge University Press.

1995. Pp. xii, 106, $2995.)

This elegant volume, appropriately dedicated to the memory of Louis Robert,
is a significant contribution to the reawakened interest in the political and social dimensions of Christian martyrdom, as well as in the martyrological narratives themselves. The narratives of the early Christian martyrs, for a long time
the domain of experts in theology or church history, have increasingly come
under the scrutiny of classical literary scholars and historians of Graeco-Roman
antiquity. Their perspectives have two broad fronts. The first is a renewed at-

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489

tention to the texts as objects of literary criticism. In English-language scholarship alone, the concatenated efforts of Anne-Marie Palmer, John Petruccione,
Michael Roberts, and Danuta Schanze on Prudentius' Peristephanon provide as
good an example as any of these literary attentions. The other facet is marked
by the increasing involvement of historians of the Roman empire with the
problem of Christian martyrdom—an engagement which, for example, finds
Antony Birley, a renowned political historian of the imperial period, working on
a new edition of Musurillo's standard handbook of the "canonical" texts of the

early martyrs.
Iconoclasm and martyrdom are a powerful and inflammatory mix, but it is
precisely this combination with which Glen Bowersock, professor of history at

the Institute for Advanced Study, confronts the reader in the four concise, pre-

cisely argued essays that constitute the core of this book. Originally delivered in
1993 as the Wiles Lectures at The Queen's University, Belfast—the author notes
the "powerful resonances" with the political life of Northern Ireland—the
leanly written essays form sequential investigations into the creation of the
Christian concept of martyrdom, the manner of its literary recollection,
the civic function of martyrs, and, finally, the problem of martyrdom and suicide. They are supplemented by an equal number of valuable appendixes on
technical matters: the concept of "protomartyr," the relationship of Ignatius to
rv Maccabees, the problem of the "Great Sabbath" in the dating of the martyrdoms of Polycarp and Pionios, and the nature of the connections between the
churches of western Asia Minor and the Lyon martyrdoms of A.D. 177.
The arguments presented by Bowersock constitute a direct challenge to
what might be called an "etymological" explanation of Christian martyrdom.
This scholarly tradition, which is at the heart of many of the standard works on
the subject, including Frend's Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early
Church (1965), has long argued the case for finding strong causal roots of the

Christian behavior in patterns established at the time of the Maccabean resis-

tance to foreign rule, and in the Hellenistic Jewish literature that was part of the
later interpretation of these traumatic events. Although he would perhaps not
name it as such, what Bowersock prefers is an "archaeological" analysis of Christian martyrdom that seeks to understand the phenomenon more firmly within
the context of Roman imperial society and to make the behavior of the martyrs
both more Christian and, significantly, more Roman than is usually allowed.
Bowersock, therefore, strongly questions traditionally held idées reçues—not
only the example of Socrates as a préfiguration of later Christian practice, but

also, and much more controversially, the categorization of the voluntary deaths

recorded in the Maccabean literature as "martyrdoms." He insists that the shift in
the fundamental meaning of the word martyr (Greek: martus) from its bare
original sense (of a "witness" to events or in courtroom proceedings) to its signification of a peculiar concept of death and suffering was one that took place
in tandem with the very novelty of the Christian practice—the earliest known
occurrences of the term "martyr" with the latter meaning being found in Greek

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texts of the mid-second century (pp. 13 f.). Bo1WCrSOCk carefully refutes arguments in favor of any earlier occurrence of the term with the manifest meaning it had for Christian practice. Conversely, he notes the critical significance
of the urban environment of the Greek and Roman cities of the Roman em-

pire as the milieu in which the public acts of martyrdom took place and in
which the public identity of the Christian "witness" was created. Within these
urban communities, perhaps not surprisingly, Christian martyrs assumed civic
functions analogous to those fulfilled by the oratorical and philosophical "heroes" of the Second Sophistic.
In the imperial urban context in which martyrdom arose, Bowersock argues
that it was the experience of Roman trial and judicial procedure, and especially
the formal interrogation before the governor or judge, that was critical to the
making of Christian martyrdom. Both the concept and the practice can therefore be argued to be an invention that was made possible by the peculiar power
structures of imperial Rome, and which therefore "had nothing to do with Judaism or with Palestine" (pp. 26-28). Some of the author's revisionism is bound
to be accepted without much quarrel—as, for example, his rejection of the
"acts" of the so-called "pagan martyrs" of Alexandria as having any direct relevance to the Christian phenomenon. Other revisions, however, are bound to
provoke objection. The countervailing evidence ofJosephus on the Maccabees,
and on Jewish resistance to the Hasmonaeans and to Roman overlords (marked
by mass voluntary offers to face execution by Jewish and Roman authorities
that were near-suicidal in their confrontational intent) might possibly be argued
to offer patterns of martyr-like behavior, even if the technical term for the phenomenon was not yet present. Given the clear expression of the ideology found
in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, the author is himself explicit in stating that
the formation of the actions and the "desires" peculiar to Christian martyrdom
must antedate the first known instances of the technical vocabulary associated

with them (p. 6). In what ways, and according to what tempo, those behaviors
emerged, are problems at the core of the debate that this work seeks to provoke.

Bowersock further argues that the cultural and political milieu of the cities of
the empire necessary for the creation of martyrdom is still not sufficient for a
precise understanding of the Christian behavior. Indeed, the behavior of the
martyrs can sometimes be shown to be out-of-step with the prevailing values of
the urban world in which they are first found to be fully formed—that of the
Greek city-states of the eastern Roman empire. The knotty case of the relationship of the self-willed deaths (for whatever lofty reasons) of Christians to the
"pagan" moral views hedging suicide is an exemplary case (pp. 59 f.). The arguments of Clement of Alexandria are adduced as a powerful indication of how
much the behavior of martyrs grated against the grain of Hellenistic values (pp.

66-72). During the formative phases of Christian martyrdom, it was not the

values of this world, but rather the peculiar value that the Roman social order
of the western Mediterranean placed on the noble suicide that so informed
Christian behavior. In Bowersock's view, this Roman moral context of self-

annihilation was so important that "without the glorification of suicide in the

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491

Roman tradition, the development of martyrdom in the second and third centuries would have been unthinkable" (p. 72). Research published since the appearance of Bowersock's book—for example, Carlin Barton's "Savage Miracles:
The Redemption of Lost Honor in Roman Society and the Sacrament of the
Gladiator and the Martyr" {Representations, 45 [1994], 41-71) and Paul Plass's
The Game of Death in Ancient Rome: Arena Sport and Political Suicide
(1995)—has not only explored this distinctive cult of death embedded in the
mores of Roman society, but has also affirmed its relevance to the Christian culture of martyrdom.
As the author himself foresees, and indeed wishes (p. 7), his main theses are
bound to raise controversy. But it is long past the time when these revisions of
commonly asserted claims about the early Christian cult of death needed to be
stated in plain and forceful terms. That they are argued with the clarity and
magisterial command of the original sources that is characteristic of the author
will make this book a pivotal work in the impending debates over the meaning
of Christian martyrdom.
Brent D. Shaw

Princeton University

A History ofEarly Roman Liturgy to the Death ofPope Gregory the Great. By
G. G. Willis. [Henry Bradshaw Society, Subsidia L] (Rochester, New York:
The Boydell Press for the Henry Bradshaw Society. 1994. Pp. xv, 168.
$45.00.)
The Henry Bradshaw Society, named in honor of a Cambridge University librarian, was founded in 1890"for the editing of rare liturgical texts."The present
volume, however, is the first of a new series of "Subsidia," monographs on vari-

ous aspects of medieval liturgy. The publishers invite suggestions for future
monographs.

The introduction is a tribute to Geoffrey Willis, who died in 1982. He is probably best known for his St. Augustine and the Donatist Schism, published in
1950. An Anglican clergyman, he served for many years as secretary of the

Church of England Liturgical Commission. His resignation in 1965 was at least

partly due to his resentment of the impact of church politics on the work of the
commission. He also resented the influence of the Joint Liturgical Group, which
slanted the reforms in a more Protestant and less Catholic direction. His own in-

terests led to the publication of two collections of Essays in Early Roman
Liturgy (1964 and 1968).
In 1968 his diabetes resulted in blindness. He retired to Oxford but managed
to continue his liturgical research with the help of Oxford scholars. He served
as a vice-president of the Henry Bradshaw Society, and left in its possession the
text of the present volume, chosen by the Council as the first of their Subsidia.

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The five chapters cover the pre-Nicene Eucharist, the Roman Mass up to the
death of Gregory the Great, the calendar and lectionary, the initiation rites, and
the ordination rites. There is, of course, very little material available on the early
Roman liturgy, but every scrap of information we have is exploited in this book.
It should be noted that references to Latin and Greek texts are given without an
English translation.
In the FirstApology of St. Justin Martyr there are two descriptions of the Eucharist. The first of these is for the baptism of converts and therefore, we are
told, it is the Easter Mass. That may be, but we cannot be sure that the Roman
Church was celebrating Easter at that early date. The feast of the Apostles Peter
and Paul on June 29, we are told, is the day of their translation in the year 258.
Again, that may be so, but it is only a conjecture. We are also told that there were
no feasts of martyrs before the Peace of the Church in 313· But the Church of

Smyrna, at least, was celebrating the feast of St. Polycarp in the year 156. However, these are very minor reservations in a splendid book.

The proofreading was pretty good, considering the many texts in Greek and
Latin. There should be a rough breathing for haitna (p. 8), and antou should be
autou (p. 48). The suscipas (p. 27) should be suscipias. There is no Book II in

Tertullian's De baptismo (p. 86). And somehow the bishops of Albano and Portus became the bishops of Alba and Ortus (p. 144). But enough of this nitpick-

ing. As we are reminded in the preface, when the Henry Bradshaw Society was
founded in 1890, most of the members were clergymen who were quite familiar with the workings of the liturgy. A hundred years later, such knowledge can
no longer be assumed on the part of students of the Middle Ages. Hence the
need for books of this sort.
Richard M. Nardone

Seton Hall University

Books and Readers in the Early Church. A History ofEarly Christian Texts. By
Harry Y. Gamble. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1995. Pp. xiii, 337.
$32.50.)
My great predecessor Edgar J. Goodspeed would have been delighted with
this book. He was convinced that form follows publishing function and even
wrote a book called Christianity Goes to Press. (Gamble's study is better.) He
might have appreciated Gamble's claim to bypass issues of content and concentrate on "the bibliographic substructure: the practical and technological factors that belonged to the production, circulation, and use of early Christian
books and the social and institutional correlates of that process" (p. x). The five
extensive chapters discuss literacy and literary culture in antiquity; the early
Christian book (especially the innovative codex);"publication" and circulation;
early Christian libraries, ecclesiastical and personal; and the varied uses of early
Christian books (public and private edification; magical). Gamble does not em-

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493

phasize novelties as such but carefully revises information taken from many
sources, fully discussed, and not, I believe, available elsewhere. He discusses
each topic in relation not just to the Church but to the Graeco-Roman world
generally, including both Jews and Gnostics. His study merits careful reading
and continuing use because of its valuable collections, insightful comments,
and thoroughness. In essence he has provided a "companion to early Christian
literature" which should be required reading.
A few supplemental questions may be worth raising. (1) The term "published" should not be used of ancient books, as Gamble is well aware, and surely
Christian literature was never sold by booksellers. (2) What Irenaeus means by
"tradition" is largely the content of the Bible plus those Christian books to
which he has had access. He chooses some, accepts others. Where did he see
them? Under whose guidance? (3) On literature and oral tradition, one should
add what Irenaeus says (3.4.2) of Christian converts: "Those who have believed
this faith without letters are barbarians in relation to our language [2 Cor. 11:6]
but because of the faith are most wise in thinking, customs, and way of life, and
they please God as they live in complete justice, chastity, and wisdom." Scripture as such seemed unnecessary. And in view of widespread and selective
memorization and/or anthologizing one cannot always infer a library or even

knowledge of a book from an author's quotations. (4) More could be said about

Jerome (who read more than Augustine) and his approaches to reading and
writing, especially in view of Courcelle's demonstration that he read hardly any

Greek patristic literature. (5) Finally, both Kenyon and Lewis (cited p. 266 n. 20)
deal only with mechanical factors in book length, really determined by authors'
intentions; see my Eusebius as Church Historian (Oxford, 1980), pp. 29-31. (6)

Membranas (2 Tim. 4:13) is analyzed twice (pp. 50 and 64), but I am not casting the first stone!

Robert M. Grant

University of Chicago

The Synagogues and Churches ofAncient Palestine. By Leslie J. Hoppe. (CoIlegeville,Minnesota:The Liturgical Press, A Michael Glazier Book. 1994. Pp.
v, 145;39 illustrations. $11.95 paperback.)
This is a first book in the archaeology of synagogues and churches. As such it
is also a brief handbook for understanding Judaism and Christianity from the
point of view of ancient architecture. The author has confined archaeological
evidences to architectural evidences, and specifically the architecture of holy
places in these two religions.
The book is organized into an introduction, ten chapters, and a conclusion, all
compressed into 139 pages of text. Thirty-nine illustrations aid the reader.

These include two maps of the sites mentioned in the text, photographs and
drawings of architectural elements, floor plans, and inscriptions, several per-

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spective or orthogonal drawings of buildings, and mosaic floors. The first four
chapters are devoted to the evidence of synagogues, while the last six describe
the finds relative to churches. Thus the survey is tipped in favor of church remains. The author explains that the purpose of the book is to fill out the
reader's understanding of ancient Judaism and Christianity by showing how
Jewish and Christian beliefs came to expression in the construction of places of
worship.
Not only does the author lead the reader through the architectural remains of
these buildings, but he introduces the reader to preliminary issues in synagogue
and church building research. The issues for synagogue research include theories of the origins of the synagogue,"activities" in the sense of worship, and theories of synagogue design. He introduces the reader to recent studies of the
effect of "regionalism" on religious practice. This is one of the few places in the
book where the author opens the door to understanding Judaism—and therefore Christianity—as a multiplex entity with various expressions in various
places.
The issues for church building research include theories of the origins of the
church building, the architectural style of the church building, typical features
of a church building, the regional distribution of churches before Constantine,
and churches before Constantine (caves, private homes, and synagogues, none
of which are extant).
The book is equipped with a glossary and a brief bibliography. The "Sources
of Illustrations" on pages 140-141 serves as an adjunct to the bibliography,
which is noticeably obsolescent. For instance, one should not list M. Avi-Yonah
and E. Stern (editors), Encyclopedia ofArchaeological Excavations in the Holy
Land (1977), but its successor: E. Stern et al. (editors), The New Encyclopedia
ofArchaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (4 vols; Jerusalem, 1993). In

all fairness to the author, it is listed on page 140 as the source for illustration 6.

This is a very valuable little book and should be required reading for students
embarking upon the study of churches and synagogues, be they undergraduate
or graduate students. It is also valuable for scholars not conversant with the material culture of either ancient Judaisms or Christianities who hope to update
their knowledge in this area.
James E Strange

The University ofSouth Florida, Tampa

Prophecy in Carthage:Perpetua, Tertullian, and Cyprian. By Cecil M. Robeck,

Jr. (Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press. 1992. Pp. xii,329. $29.95.)

The phenomenon of prophecy in the New Testament and early Christian literature has not always received its due. That imbalance is beginning to receive
correction through such good research as that by David Aune, David Hill, and

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495

Christopher Rowland. We may now also add the name of Cecil Robeck, who in
this book undertakes the task of providing a historical and theological account
of prophetic gifts in North African Carthage during the first half of the third
century. Robeck investigates the Passion of Perpetua and the writings of Tertullian and Cyprian to determine what factors gave rise to the visions and oracles reported by these authors, what backgrounds account for their symbolism,

and what factors influenced their interpretations and applications. Robeck,
wisely (I think), eschews any attempt to explain psychologically the prophetic

gifts mentioned in these signal figures of early North African Christianity. In his

introduction he distinguishes between "prophetic function" (interpretation, application, and effect on other Christians) from the "prophetic person," and he
makes clear that this book concerns itself only with "prophetic function" (p. 4).
In the conclusion, however, Robeck contends that certain psychological factors

were at work in the visions and oracles and that further work "in psycho-history
and/or psychoanalysis would be helpful." Having read a little of that already, I am

not so sure.

Overall Robeck presents an insightful and balanced analysis of the prophetic
material found in the writings of Perpetua,TertuIlian, and Cyprian. He evinces a

thorough familiarity with the primary sources and the secondary scholarship

and is judicious in his own argument and conclusions. While he certainly at
times engages other scholars in debate, a strength of the book is Robeck's concentration on the texts themselves. Since the author declares himself to be a

"lifelong Pentecostal," the overall balance and good judgment of the book is to
be commended. This is a book of good scholarship; special pleading is on the
whole absent.

Robeck's discussion of the visions of Perpetua and Saturas is perhaps the

least creative of his sections. He breaks no really new ground for our under-

standing of these visions, although his conclusions, I would judge, are largely
correct. I remain, with Robeck, of the opinion that the Passion of Perpetua is

not Montanist and is an example of mainstream North African Christianity. The

chapter on Perpetua's visions of Dinocrates (Pass. Perp. 7) includes a good discussion on the Greco-Roman background of the imagery. Yet, I think Robeck
overemphasizes Perpetua's "anxiety" (pp. 54f.). The discussion of Perpetua's
climbing the ladder (Pass. Perp. 4), although largely fine, has some doubtful elements. The "two ways" notion in Judaism hardly is the background for the image
of the ladder, and therefore the ladder is not a "symbol of the Christian life itself" (p. 27). It seems evident to me that the ladder simply symbolizes the martyrdom which Perpetua is about to undergo. The figure of the Shepherd

addresses Perpetua as "child" upon her arriving at the top of the ladder.

Robeck's discussion of this address is meager, although he does note that the address is in Greek and therefore is a traditional form of address. Suggestive is
Robeck's claim that Christian catechesis based on certain extra-biblical and bib-

lical books provided the raw material for Perpetua's understanding of her visions.

Tipping his hat to contemporary women's studies, Robeck is disappointingly
taken with the idea of gender transformation in Perpetua's vision of the Egypt-

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ian in which she "becomes a man." This transformation is said to be an example
of women's empowerment in the early Church, an idea that almost certainly
never occurred to Perpetua herself. That Robeck fishes in Gnostic waters for
adequate background here is indicative that in this discussion he is astray. That
Perpetua, Christian martyr, is a Christ figure seems to me adequate for explaining this aspect of the vision.
Robeck's discussion of Tertullian is very helpful. One might wish that the section on Tertullian's understanding of ecstasy were longer. On this Robeck uses
only two of Tertullian's treatises, De anima and Contra Marcionem. However,
did Stoic psychology contribute to Tertullian's understanding? It might be enlightening to find out. Robeck is concerned to demonstrate that Tertullian's use
of prophetic gifts, visions, and oracles, was for "secondary substantiation," as a
secondary witness to that taught in the Scriptures. Tertullian had a higher regard for "canonical revelation" than for "spiritual revelation." Generally I concur
with that view. However, the phenomenon of ecstasy was not always affirmed
in the early Church. Robeck knows of the anti-Montanist polemics by the
"Anonymous" and others who attacked Montanism because ecstasy was taken

to be a sign of false prophecy. Some discussion of this anti-Montanist argument
would have been appropriate. Also, Robeck's argument that the Montanist ora-

cles in Tertullian consistently provide "secondary substantiation" to Scripture
and the rule of faith is not always persuasive. Oracle 3, which speaks of the for-

giveness of sin, may be based upon Matt. 1 6: 1 8f. , but if so, the biblical text is certainly being interpreted in view of Montanist severity rather than Montanist

severity being derived from the biblical text (pp. 117ff.). And Oracle 4 concerning the pure seeing visions and hearing secret voices certainly goes well
beyond any Scripture.

Robeck's strongest section is his treatment of Cyprian, if for no other reason
than discussions of Cyprian have often ignored the prophetic in his writings.
Robeck divides the visions of Cyprian between those which confirm ecclesias-

tical appointments, those which exhort the confessors, those which exhort to

church unity, and those which give personal guidance to Cyprian. Whether
Cyprian represents "a highly pneumatic form of Christianity" or not, certainly
his epistles provide evidence of the ongoing reality of visions in third-century
Carthage. However, although Robeck is fair and clearly attempts to be judicious
in his interpretation, it is in this chapter on Cyprian that Robeck is most open to
the charge of allowing his own Pentecostal beliefs to guide his analysis.
Cyprian, it is claimed, had a concept of prophecy according to which the confessor is semipassive, the Spirit is the real speaker, the message is given ad hoc,

and the message is spontaneously given from God (p. 173; also 169, 170, 174,

175). Indeed, Cyprian's concept of prophecy is like that of Montanus (p. 287 n.
29). Now this is an analysis which deserves further review. To say that it is the
Holy Spirit speaking is not necessarily to say that the prophet/confessor is "not
much more than a mouthpiece" (p. 173)· And spontaneity may arise out of the
demands of the moment as much as from the sudden intrusion of divine power

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497

from above. Robeck—it seems to me—is a little inclined to see everything as
prophecy, for example in his claim that dignatio is virtually a technical term in

Cyprian for a vision. I would think that dignatio is a more encompassing word,
which may mean a vision but may also mean martyrdom or any other happening which reveals the Lord's glory.

A major theological question percolates through this book, but is never ad-

dressed, namely, the question of the relationship between the prophetic and the
apostolic character of the Church. Montanism raised this issue sharply, as does
any ongoing claim to prophecy. Robeck notes that oracle and vision had to be

consistent with the Scriptures. That moves in the direction of saying that the
Church is primarily apostolic and so finds its foundation in canonical orderings
and its "proper" representative in the bishop. It is the prophet who must be

tested. I believe that is exactly the "decision" the Church came to. That was,
however, not the question Robeck put to himself. We are thankful to him for
again putting to us the evidence and the complexity of it.
William C.Weinrich

Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Basil of Caesarea. By Philip Rousseau. [The Transformation of the Classical

Heritage, XX.] (Berkeley: University of California Press. 1995. Pp. xix, 412.
$55.00.)

As in his previous works on fourth- and fifth-century ascetics, including a
monograph on Pachomius, the author offers the serious reader an incisive and
refreshing commentary on why and how Basil of Caesarea (330-379) became

bishop, and whether or not he may be considered a typical prelate of the
fourth-century church.

Much has been written specifically on Basil, and also in passing, particularly

in the last twenty years, but very few studies have focused primarily on the
above-mentioned questions. Without disputing Basil's involvement in defending orthodoxy and promoting monastic life, Rousseau takes a closer look at

Basil's ancestry and classical formation as clues for explaining his actions as a
Christian bishop.

Most of the relevant evidence, stemming both from Basil himself and from
other contemporary sources, is meticulously scrutinized, with particular atten-

tion to questions of chronology and authenticity. The author seldom provides
new datings, and for the most part he relies on previous scholarship. In one par-

ticular instance, concerning the year of Basil's death, in spite of the recent chal-

lenges by A. Booth and R Maraval, one has to say that there is nothing to
undermine the traditional date of January 1, 379. In a paper, soon to be published, which was presented in August at the Oxford Patristic Conference, T D.

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Barnes has convincingly demonstrated that Basil was still alive in early August,
378. This confirmation has a bearing on the author's discussion of the date of

the Hexaemeron (pp. 360-363).

From Rousseau's account, Basil appears at once clear-sighted and confused
when tackling everyday issues. He demands from his closest friends, in particular Gregory of Nazianzos and Gregory of Nyssa, that they protect the territorial
integrity of his diocese by imposing on them against their will the episcopal
charges in the obscure localities of Sasima and Nyssa. To his mentor and old

family friend, Eustathios of Sebaste, he peremptorily proposes the signing of a

formula of faith. However, Basil not only had high expectations of his friends; he
knew also how to repay their loyalties. But often his judgments, or rather misjudgments, defeated or contradicted his genuinely positive intentions. Rousseau
does not think that Basil was not always successful because he knew little of

the workings of human nature; on the contrary, he considers him to have contributed to a clearer understanding of how the human psyche operates. This is
not to say that Basil himself saw matters in such a way. Some authors would
argue that Basil's lack of practical judgment fostered in him an attitude perceived already by Gregory of Nazianzos as tyrannical.

In the chapter, "The Ascetic Writings" (pp. 190-232), the author makes the
important point that Basil was much more concerned with the relationship between superior and subject than with the structure of authority itself. He describes Basil's distinction between the axes of spiritual and emotional intensity
in a superior's life: on the one hand, he looks to God, and acts as a steward of
God's secrets, and on the other, he looks to his subjects as a "nurse," or one who
offers sustenance, thus confirming Basil's "attachment to the importance of the
example in a teacher."
Although not a full-scale biography, Rousseau's study touches on most of the
very important aspects of Basil's life: a son of aristocratic parents, a student familiar with classical lore, a promoter of Christian ascetic ideals, a polemicist,
and a promoter of church unity. In three appendices, which follow the nine
chapters of the book, the author reviews some questions of chronology and the
stages of composition of the Asceticon.
Rousseau never makes a foray into psychological or psychoanalytical speculation; his opinions and conclusions are invariably prudent, informed, judicious,
and above all, well supported by direct references to Basil's and other contemporaries' works, making the book essential reading material, and a valuable tool,
for the serious student of Basil and of the general conditions prevailing in the
Christianized Roman Empire during the second half of the fourth century. At

the end of the book the reader does indeed gain a deeper understanding and
feels a greater sympathy for Basil as a man on the human, as well as the world,
stage.

Paulette V Chadwick

University of Toronto

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499

Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital. By Neil B.

McLynn. [The Transformation of the Classical Heritage, XXII.] (Berkeley:

University of California Press. 1994. Pp. xxiv, 406, $45.00.)

Norman Baynes observed that "in writing a biography of Ambrose one must
refuse to be daunted by the aureole of the saint." Neil McLynn is certainly undaunted. He does not offer a biography but "a fundamental re-reading of the ev-

idence, most of which is supplied by Ambrose himself" (p. xxii) and which is
generally not to Ambrose's advantage. He was not as blue-blooded as has usually
been supposed and owed his social eminence to his secular office rather than
to his family. His election to the see of Milan was not due to an overwhelming
demand by the faithful, but was "an improvised response to a botched [Nicene]

coup" (p. 52). On his appointment, he lacked theological training and had to ed-

ucate himself, so that his leadership of the Milanese Church had initially to be
moral rather than doctrinal—the first two books of the De fide are "a splendid

display of sophistry, misrepresentation on an heroic scale" (p. 103). He was
never as close to the Emperor Gratian as he suggested, but won his favor by res-

cuing him from embarrassment, when Gratian's proposed general council at
Aquileia was sabotaged by his colleague, Theodosius. His subsequent "brigandage" against Palladius of Ratiaria at the council was "a piece of pure opportunism, the ruthlessness and audacity of which cannot but command a certain
admiration" (p. 137). When he went on the embassy to Maximus at Trier in 383,
he went "to tell lies on Valentinian's behalf" (p. 160)—it was a matter of "out-

right fraud" (pp. 161-162). In his dispute with the imperial court at Easter 386,

"he obfuscated his arguments with traditional forensic techniques" (p. 190). His
protests against the rich "owe more to patient reading than to close observation
of his congregation's behavior" (p. 247). When Valentinian ended his life at Vienne, to be succeeded by Eugenius, "Ambrose should take some incidental
credit for this, and [by his funeral sermon for the dead emperor,] for nudging
the empire towards a further round of civil war" by not admitting Valentinian's
death to have been suicide" (p. 341).
McLynn is widely and deeply read in both the primary sources and modern
studies. He is often right, and even when one disagrees with them, his conclusions are thought-provoking. Yet, in the end, he admits that "Ambrose defied
analysis; his audiences had to remain content with what was presented to

them" (p. 376). "The deeper springs of Ambrose's personality . . . remain hidden. . . . The 'real' Ambrose will in any case elude us" (pp. 376-377). Yet it is dif-

ficult not to feel that McLynn's patent dislike of his subject sometimes leads him
into unfairness. If Ambrose knew little theology on becoming bishop and had
to teach himself, he was probably not unique in the fourth century. Even Augustine, who was certainly better theologically equipped when ordained at
Hippo in 39 1 , asked for a respite to prepare himself by concentrated reading. To
suggest that Ambrose's funeral oration for Valentinian "nudged the empire towards a further round of civil war" takes no account of the political delicacy of
the situation, with Valentinian's sisters, Justa and Galla, weeping in the congregation and Theodosius at Constantinople giving no indication of how he would

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react to the new order of things. Interconnected as were religion and politics in
the fourth century, they were not identical, and there were some matters where
the decision lay with the secular ruler and the Church could only minister consolations to the individual Christian. McLynn, who likes a theatrical metaphor,
calls Ambrose "the supreme impresario of the Christian empire" (p. 330). This
seems a not inappropriate description of the civil servant turned prelate in a
city which was, for a good deal of his reign, the capital of the western part of
that Empire. McLynn tells a good story, which will be widely read and rightly applauded; but it is not the whole story of the man whom Baynes called "a courageous but very bellicose saint."
Gerald Bonner

Durham, England

Theodosius: The Empire at Bay. By Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell. (New

HavemYale University Press. 1995. Pp. 238. $28.50.)

During the reign of Theodosius the Great (379-395), new relationships were
forged between the Roman Empire and the two forces traditionally identified
with its decline—Christianity and the Germanic peoples. In this work, the authors attempt a comprehensive reassessment of both of these developments,
but it takes only a glance at the table of contents, where ten of the twelve chapters and all five of the appendices are devoted to military and diplomatic topics,
to see where their real interest lies.

On these latter topics, the authors write with a sure hand. From the disaster
at Adrianople in 378 that first brought Theodosius to the purple to the sparring
between Alaric and Stilicho,with whose death in 408 the narrative ends, the authors confidently re-evaluate hoary judgments on Theodosius' "barbarian policy" and the unraveling of Roman military supremacy that followed his death in
395. Theodosius' recruitment and use of Gothic forces was not "a catastrophic
mistake," in their view, but a necessary policy and a sign of his undervalued
diplomatic skills. "Perhaps no other emperor could have conciliated and managed the Goths as he did," they conclude (p. 171). The authors have sensible
comments about the need to distinguish between ethnic Germans serving in
Roman armies and Germanic tribes who fought under their own commanders
when assessing barbarian loyalty, and they warn against careless comparison of
German settlement in the potpourri of indigenous cultures that made up the
Roman Empire with immigration in more culturally homogeneous modern
states. They argue that the real cause for decline after Theodosius was not due
to the quality of Rome's armies but rather to its loss of that preponderance of
force whereby it had previously been able to overawe barbarian peoples.
Where the authors fault Theodosius is not for recruiting barbarians, but for failing to train his sons to succeed him, or for seeing that, untrained, they should

BOOK REVIEWS

501

not succeed. This failure, they argue, opened the way for ambitious chieftains
like Alaric to exploit the ensuing rivalries between Eastern and Western courts.
Whatever one thinks of these conclusions, they are nonetheless based on
current scholarship and reasonably argued. The same cannot be said about the
authors' treatment of the equally significant religious developments of this
reign, which saw a quantum leap in the level of coercion against non-Catholic
Christians and pagans. Here the authors are content to paste together a collage
of views, taken uncritically from such disparate sources as Edward Gibbon and
Ambrose of Milan. If by so doing they aimed at impartiality, what they hit was
cartoon, with the sober Theodosius of other chapters now a "persecuting fanatic, priest-ridden to the point of puppetry" (p. 70). Not coincidentally, at this
point the authors' rhetoric goes over the top as well, including a summation of
Theodosius' religious policy as "the Christianity of the monks and the mobs, expressed in the language of imperial law; inspired not by a sober policy of desirable religious aims, but the ruler's dread of damnation and need for magical
prescriptions to counteract the juju"(pp. 120-121).
While not, therefore, a comprehensive reassessment of the career of Theodosius, this is nevertheless a book with many useful things to say about a pivotal
period in Roman relations with Germanic peoples.
There are some proofreading errors that should be corrected in any subse-

quent edition: Theta for Phi in the Greek spelling of Theodosius (p. 24); four

years, not six, for the time between Adrianople and 382 (p. 334); 306 instead of
307 as the date of Constantine's rule (p.37); eighteen months instead of three
years for Julian's rule (p. 51); 395, not 394, for the death of Theodosius (p. 138);
251, not 231,forGallienus (p.190).
A marginal comment: I have rarely seen a book with so many useless, unnecessary and occasionally misdirected notes. Is quantity of notes the new criterion for publishing generalist works with university presses?
H. A. Drake

University of California, Santa Barbara

Koriwns Biographie des Mesrop Mastoc': Übersetzung und Kommentar. By
Gabriele Winkler. [Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 245.] (Rome: Pontificio

Istituto Orientale. 1994. Pp. 452.)

The conversion of Armenia to Christianity was a long process. Of the first
stage—the infiltration of Christians from Asia Minor to the west and from Syria
to the south—little is known. The emergence of the Church as a factor in Ar-

menian politics was marked by the consecration of St. Gregory (the Illuminator) at Caesarea in 314 as the country's first bishop. But the full impact of

Christianity as the dominant cultural force came only a century later with the
invention of a national script. The person responsible for this dramatic devel-

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opment was Mastoc', also known in later texts as Mesrop. He was born between 361 and 364 and received a good Greek education. After a successful
early career in the royal chancellery he abandoned the secular world for the ascetic life, and with his disciples engaged in numerous missionary travels in remoter parts of Armenia. His biography was written by Koriwn, one of his
disciples, not long after the master's death in 439 or 440. This short work thus
has a double significance. It is the earliest evidence for the creation of the native script, which was immediately followed by the rapid translation of necessary ecclesiastical texts into Armenian. And being probably the first original
work written in that language, it is important as an influential document in the
development of Armenian literature.
Such an important text has not passed unnoticed in previous scholarship.
This new translation with commentary is particularly valuable in that it provides a comprehensive review and critical assessment of earlier studies. There
has been much scope for scholarly controversy; for although the Armenian text
is only forty pages long, its episodic character and lack of clear dating have led
to numerous problems, including the actual order of the narrative. Furthermore, a second recension was composed at a later date under the influence of

the History by Movsës Xorenac'i (of disputed date, probably early eighth century).

Professor Winkler here provides translations not only of both recensions of
Koriwn's biography, but also of those passages in Armenian historians which describe the career of Mastoc', the origin of the Armenian script, and the early
translation activity. Her very detailed commentary, which takes up more than
half the volume, subjects every phrase of Koriwn to a detailed critique. She covers a wide range of problems, not merely textual and philological questions but
also the historical setting to the labors of Mastoc', and especially the relationship between the Armenian church and its Greek and Syrian neighbors in the
first four decades of the fifth century. This was a key period in the formation of
Armenian theological traditions. Armenian reactions to the debates following
the Council of Ephesus were of particular significance for the formation of an
individual Armenian theological tradition and the eventual separation from the
Byzantine church.
Koriwn's short work is naturally a vital text for Gabriele Winkler's own interests in early Armenian liturgical traditions, and she has brought to this task her
formidable expertise. Her survey of previous studies, in all languages, is exhaustive. Although no Armenian text is provided and she does not discuss in detail
the literary antecedents of this genre of biography, any further studies of early
Armenian Christianity and the role of Mastoc' will have to begin here.
Robert W.Thomson

Oxford University

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503

Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century. Volume I, Part !.Political and
Military History, and Volume I, Part 2: Ecclesiastical History. By Man
Shahîd. (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collec-

tion. 1995. Pp. xxx, 688; x, 689- 1034 plus indexes. $75.00.)

The epic undertaking continues. After volumes (progressively growing in

size proportionally to the increasing amount of source material) on Rome and

the Arabs and on Byzantium and the Arabs in the fourth and fifth centuries, Professor Shahîd has arrived at the sixth century and indeed carried on down
through the first third of the seventh. The massive, physically two-volumed
work here considered is Volume One of what is given the acronym BASIC: Part
1 , following Shahîd's usual bipartite pattern of treatment, covers political and
military history, while the separately bound Part 2 covers ecclesiastical history.
This physical disjunction enables the reader to juxtapose the volumes while
studying any particular reign (as in previous periods, Shahîd divides his history
up by the reigns of the Byzantine emperors). Volume Two of BASIC will cover
the archaeological remains of Arab-Byzantine history from this period, largely
reviewed on the ground by the author, and more of the Arabic-language
sources, especially poetry. The culmination will come in the in-progress Byzantium and Islam in the Seventh Century. (Note the careful changes: in the
fourth through sixth centuries, the Arabs, an ethnic group; in the seventh, Islam,
a religious polity.)
As in the earlier volumes, we are taught two lessons. The first is in how much
history can be squeezed out of a comparatively small amount of evidence: an inscription, a mention in a narrative historian (more here), a subscription to an ecclesiastical letter. The second is that many Arabs were Christians in late
antiquity (and the subtext is that many remain so today). From the period being

treated here there is a third lesson, this time explicit (see especially 1, 605-610):

that the alienating of Byzantium's Christian Arab "federate shield" by the shortsighted policies of the emperor Maurice contributed disastrously to the later
conquest of much of the Middle East by the Muslim Arabs. In one form or an-

other this thesis—that Byzantium needed the Arabs—underlies the whole.

The century-and-a-half-long story of Byzantium and the Arabs surveyed here
is one of a back-and-forth, love-hate relationship of repeated alienation and reconciliation between the two, largely owing to the confessional disalignment of
our period's principal federate group, the Monophysite Ghassanids, with the
prevalent Byzantine state ideology of Chalcedonianism. Their leaders are alternately accused of treachery and then endowed with honors in the capital, only
to withdraw or again be dismissed. In view of the leading part played by Arab
armed forces in the intermittent two-superpower struggle between Byzantium
and Sasanian Persia that occupied nearly the entire period, the overall story is,
from hindsight, a crescendo of warnings about the need for unity in the multicultural Christian Roman Empire.
For the Arabs during the reigns of Anastasius, Justin I, and Justinian and how
they are represented for us by narrative historiography, we are brought back to

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a subject Shahîd has been writing about for nearly thirty years: the negative attitude of Procopius. The position taken by this all-too-accessible Byzantine

writer has colored nearly all subsequent views of the matter, and Shahîd does
well to incorporate recent Procopian scholarship and correlate it with other
needed parallels such as inscriptions and Syriac-language material. (We should
note that IGLSyrY 2553B [BASIC, I, 259], an inscription of Arethas, is not explicitly Monophysite but simply incorporates a forgetful stonecutter's mistake

in the invocation formula; and that the epigraphic Fl. Arethas the paneuphemos
dux discussed byJ. Gascou in TM, 12 [1994], 339-341, may be the other Arethas
ofÄ4S/C,I,664no.6.)

Other Byzantine historians (Malalas,Agathias [silent on the Arabs] , Menander,
Theophylact) receive updated analyses through Shahîd's specialized lens, showing the one-sidedness of a picture derived only from Western sources. The
reader looks forward even more to BASIC Volume Two, which will make more
widely accessible such eye-opening material as the sixth-century Arabic poems
describing Christmas and Easter celebrations at Christian Arab courts. How our
changing picture is colored by the changing nature of the sources also follows
the perceived seventh-century shift from secular to religious writing, as recently treated in John Haldon's 1990 monograph on Byzantium in the seventh
century and in the papers from a recent London workshop on the Byzantine
and early Islamic Near East collected by Averil Cameron and Lawrence Conrad
under the title Problems in the Literary Source Material (Princeton, 1992).
The story of Peter of Callinicum is now more fully documented in R. Y Ebeid,
A. van Roey, L. R. Wickham, Petri Callinicensis . . . Tractatus Contra Datnianum (CCSG,Vol. 29 [Turnhout, 1994]).

This is not a book one reads straight through. Like its predecessors, it has an

intricate structure of short blocks of densely packed information, added to by
appendices each of which is a short paper in its own right. The extremely thorough indices (prepared by Frances Kianka) to both continuously paginated volumes are a great help, as are the source overview on I, xxiii-xxv, the lists and
stemmata at the end of each volume, and the bibliography at the end of Part 2.
The reader is left with a monument of erudition always directed toward one
end by the author's master plan, that of making plain to all the ancient roots of
situations that still obtain today (cf. I, xxviii, II, 994-995).
L. S. B. MacCoull

Societyfor Coptic Archaeology (North America)

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505

Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints'Livesfrom Late Antiquity and the Early

Middle Ages. Edited by Thomas F. X. Noble and Thomas Head. (University
Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press. 1995. Pp. xliv, 383. $50.00
clothbound; $18.95 paperback.)

One of the most exciting developments in medieval studies over the past
twenty years has been the immense growth in the study of sainthood and its

place in the spiritual, social, and political life of an emerging Europe. This scholarship has inspired teachers to introduce the study of hagiography and of
saints' cults to their students at both graduate and undergraduate levels. In Sol-

diers of Christ, Thomas Noble and Thomas Head have produced a book which

will be of considerable value to those teachers and their students, as well as to

the general reader. They have brought together for the first time English translations of eleven saints' Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

Only one of the translations is new; the editors' chief concern is rather to make

existing translations accessible to students by presenting them in one volume
and by supplying short prefaces, explanatory notes, and a general introduction
to hagiography and the cult of saints.
The hagiographical texts themselves take the reader to the heart of Christian

culture in a period when "the European identity was formed from its Roman,

Christian, and Germanic elements" (p. xliv). They should be viewed with what
Robert Bartlett has termed a "binocular vision" —one which focuses both on

the development of hagiography as literary genre and on hagiography as a
source which might help us to answer a wide range of historical questions.'
The collection begins with three works, including the highly influential Life of
St. Martin of Tours by Sulpicius Severas, which demonstrate the several traditions of Late Antique hagiography. A second group of texts—by far the largest—
affords extensive insight into Carolingian hagiography, presenting Lives of those

who evangelized the pagan Frisians and Saxons or furthered the organization of
the Frankish church. Finally, the Life of St. Gerald of Aurillac shows a medieval
hagiographer facing a new challenge—that of integrating a lay person into a tradition of sanctity which has hitherto been overwhelmingly clerical and monastic. In addition, the texts invite the reader to consider such issues as the

development of ideals of the holy; the evolution of monasticism; the relationship of Christianity and paganism, and of secular and ecclesiastical power, in the
Late Antique and Germanic worlds; the recurring problem of doctrinal conflict
within the Church; the role of women as saints and in the veneration of saints;
popular religious practices; concepts of sacred space and sacred time.

In one respect the selection of texts is disappointing; the exclusion of Lives
from Merovingian Francia and early Anglo-Saxon England leaves the collection

1 Cf. Robert Bartlett,"The Hagiography ofAngevin England," in P. R. Coss and S. D. Lloyd

(eds.), Thirteenth Century England V (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1995), pp. 37-52,
at 47.

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strangely unbalanced and is particularly puzzling since the editors themselves
state (p. xxxiv) that such works "serve ... as the background to many of the
saints' lives that follow." The book's introduction might benefit from fuller discussion of issues surrounding the interpretation and use of hagiography. The

choice of title is unfortunate in view of the publication in 1992 of Larissa Taylor's Soldiers of Christ: Preaching in Late Medieval and Reformation France.

Such points as these, however, do not detract substantially from a book which
will be welcomed by all those who wish to further the study of sainthood and
its social context.

Susan J. Ridyard

The University of the South
Medieval

The Past and Future of Medieval Studies. Edited by John Van Engen. [Notre
Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, Number IV] (Notre Dame, Indiana:
University of Notre Dame Press. 1994. Pp.xi,431. $52.95.)
This book is the result of a 1992 conference during which a group of scholars from across North America were asked to reflect on the past and future of
medieval studies. The late Michael Sheehan provides introductory remarks.
Kathleen Biddick gives a dense presentation of which one must frequently
guess meanings: her proposal is that the medievalist act as a cultural construct
go-between. Patrick J. Geary asks what makes North American medieval scholarship different from that of Europe and offers suggestive answers. In giving an
apologia for Byzantium as a field of medieval studies, Michael McCormick supplements Geary by noting how traditional nationalist and micro-regional re-

search on Europe by Europeans has increasingly been complemented by

macro-regional and comparative research. Jeremy Cohen gives an intelligent
overview of the study of high medieval Judaism, showing how this has been
linked to the goals and worries of Jewish emancipation. Particularly Biddick's
contribution had already made useful observations about orientalism, which, in

connection with the development of medieval Islamic studies, is the subject of
a lucid exposition by Richard W. Bulliet.

Sabine MacCormack's argument, using the history of the reception ofVirgil's
Aeneid into the seventeenth century as example in an essay of broad vision, is
that by study of how tradition changes in transmission, the medievalist is well
placed to address many current cultural issues. Randolph Starn very intelligently explores the bond between medieval and Renaissance studies, proposing that a genealogical history composed of simultaneous narratives replace
"the old conventions of periodization." In an elegant, amusing, essay, Mark D. Jordan turns his attention to the institutional motives behind the study of medieval

BOOK REVIEWS

507

philosophy, exposing the often unhistorical, unreflective, view many philoso-

phy departments have of their motives for study of the history of philosophy.
E. Ann Matter informatively describes how study of medieval Christianity has
changed. Joseph Wawrykow adds a cri de coeur on study of scholastic theology,

a subject on which this University of Notre Dame conference originally invited
no one to reflect(!).

Marcia L. Colish describes intellectual history. Roberta Frank, thinking on Germanic philology, gives a wise, witty account of the scholar's life. Derek Pearsall
reflects on teaching medieval studies at York and Harvard. Whereas most of this

volume's authors propose some form of aggiornamento, Lee Patterson, in a

profound essay, argues restoration, "The Return to Philology." It is a bit disconcerting, having just read Patterson, for the reader to turn to Judith M. Bennett's
description of him in her advocacy of feminist scholarship as exemplary of an engaged scholarship. William Chester Jordan writes with good sense and humor,
dealing well with what is new under the sun. Karl F. Morrison meditates on

American medieval studies. Richard Rouse cogently treats manuscript studies.

Brigitte Bedos-Rezak richly illuminates the study of diplomatic sources by reference to Northern French documents of practice from 1000 to 1230. Leo Treitler's argument for the study of medieval music is at once poorly written,
sometimes pretentious, and with important things to say. As usual Michael
Camille makes provocative, if rather willful and not always clear or well argued,
observations about art history. Jeffrey Hamburger discusses the same field, but
in a manner more generous and level-headed than Camille, to whom on a num-

ber of issues he is responding. John Van Engen closes the book with a thought-

ful afterword in which, without naming names, he as host gently but with a
clear eye corrects the worst excesses of his guests.

Glenn W. Olsen

University of Utah

Jews, Visigoths and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict. By
Norman Roth. [Medieval Iberian Peninsula Texts and Studies, Volume X.]
(Leiden: E.J. BrUl. 1994. Pp. viii, 367.)
Norman Roth has undertaken no small task in this work. He addresses the in-

teraction of the Jewish residents of the Iberian Peninsula first with theirVisigothic

overlords and subsequently with the Muslims and Christians. English-language
historians more commonly formulate their narratives of this subject from a
Christian European point of view, less frequently from the Islamic frame of ref-

erence. Here we have the Jewish people as the integrating perspective. The
sources for this complex sweep constitute a varied mix of literary and philo-

sophical works, poetry, sermons, jurisprudential responsa decisions, chronicles,
law codes, and municipal charters. The emphasis rests more clearly on the literary and religious texts, less on the institutional codes.

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The book begins with an account of the Jews under the Visigoths, then under
the Muslim Umayyad dynasty centered in Córdoba and the decentralized Taifa
kings who followed. Roth then proceeds to the North African invasions under
the Almoravids in the eleventh century and the Almohads in the twelfth, and
both the Muslim and Jewish minorities under Christian rule during the twelfth
through the fifteenth centuries. The second half of the work contains three topical chapters dealing with cities, economy, and slavery, Jewish and Muslim
relations, and finally the Jewish polemic against Islam. We obtain English translations of a number of source materials for the first time, and an abundance of

information available in no other readily usable study. The author also surveys
the work of other historians in the text and in the rather copious notes provided at the rear. The style is quite readable although occasionally discursive, offering genealogical material and spelling variables that might have been better

placed in the notes. Roth has a somewhat excessive fondness for the exclamation point.

In a work of such complexity and with such a variety of source materials,
omissions and errors are understandable, if unfortunate. The author asserts that

the city of Córdoba was destroyed at some unspecified point (p. 1 38) with no
indication as to why he thinks this. He suggests that the Jews first raised the
olive in Iberia (p. 152) against the well-established tradition that the Romans
first intensively planted that crop there. Roth fails to exploit the municipal charters (fueros), especially the extensive family of lengthy city codes descended
from the Fuero de Cuenca. While he cites the code of Cuenca once and Baeza's

code twice, he appears to be unaware that the latter is derived from the former,
along with a number of other charters. Moreover, he notes only a sodomy law
and an inheritance law regarding converted Muslims, the latter with a critical
omission that alters its meaning. Approximately forty laws in this charter family
deal with Jewish-Christian relations, to which the author makes no reference.
My 1979 American Historical Review article on treatment of Jews in the municipal baths and Heath Dillard's Daughters of the Reconquest would have led
him into some of this material, but these works go uncited. Roth indicates that
another study is in progress on Jewish life under the Christian kings, and so I
offer these suggestions to enrich that work. Problems aside, the present book
presents much new material, some interpretative insights, and constitutes a
valuable addition to our understanding of the relationship of the three great
monotheisms in Iberia.

James F. Powers

College of the Holy Cross

BOOK REVIEWS

509

Iberia and the Mediterranean World of the Middle Ages, Studies in Honor of
Robert I. Burns, 5./, Volume I: Proceedings from Kalamazoo. Edited by
Larry J. Simon. [The Medieval Mediterranean: Peoples, Economies and Cul-

tures, 400-1453,Volume 4.] (Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1995. Pp. xxvi, 373. $85.75.)

Given the impossibility of commenting on all eighteen articles in this volume, it seemed best to concentrate on those of special interest to readers of this

review. Thus I shall only list the five contained in Part Two, "Economy and Society in Iberia and the Mediterranean": Stephen R Bensch,"Early Catalan Contacts

with Byzantium" (pp. 133- 160); Silvia Orvietani Busch,"An Interdisciplinary and

Comparative Approach to Northern Tuscan Ports in the Early and High Middle

Ages" (pp. 161-184); Nina Melechen, "Loans, Land, and Jewish-Christian Rela-

tions in the Archdiocese of Toledo" (pp. 185-215); William C. Stalls, "The Relationship between Conquest and Settlement on the Aragonese Frontier of

Alfonso I" (pp. 216-231); and James Todesca, "Means of Exchange: Islamic
Coinage in Christian Spain, 1000-1200" (pp. 232-258).

Six articles are included in Part One,"Muslims, Christians and Jews in Iberia":
Mark D. Johnston,"Ramon Llull and the Compulsory Evangelization ofJews and
Muslims" (pp. 3-37), in an eminently realistic assessment of Llull's role, shows
that terms such as "tolerance" are anachronistic when applied to any thirteenth-

century figure—though no more, one might add, than the "theology of colo-

nization" absurdly attributed to Llull by Miquel Barceló, a view apparently taken
seriously by Johnston. This article should be considered together with Pamela
Drost Beattie's "Pro exaltatione sanctaefidei catholicae: Mission and Crusade

in the Writings of Ramon Llull" (pp. 113-1 29), who argues successfully that in
LIuIl mission and crusade were complementary rather than contradictory aims.
Thomas E. Burman has already discussed Llull's use of Mozarabic arguments.
In "Christian Kalam in Twelfth-Century Mozarabic Apologetic in Spain" (pp.
38-49), he deals with an earlier period of Muslim-Christian intellectual debate

and demonstrates the combined influence of Muslim and contemporary non-

Spanish Western thought on Mozarabic arguments for the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. John August Bollweg, "Sense of Mission: Arnau de
Vilanova on the Conversion of Jews and Muslims" (pp. 50-71), in an article
more limited than its title suggests, argues that Arnau's Allocutio super signiflcatione nominis Thetragrammaton of 1292 is not an anti-Jewish polemic but
an exegetical treatise written to defend Arnau's own orthodoxy.

Two studies are devoted to the fifteenth century. In his "The Sources for Alfonso de Espina's Messianic Argument Against the Jews in the Fortalitium
Fidei" (pp. 72-95), Steven J. McMichael conveys a partial and somewhat misleading view of Espina, a very different figure from Llull or Arnau but one who
conceivably had a greater, though a decidedly negative, influence on his age. Espina is presented here as a typical Franciscan preacher, in the tradition of St.
Bernardino. Judged by the Fortalitium, Espina was an unoriginal writer. As

McMichael shows, his written sources were all traditional. He is important in
that he was the first to propose (in 1464) the introduction of the Inquisition

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into Castile and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In order to obtain these
ends, he was entirely uncritical, and indeed unscrupulous, in inventing or, at

best, accepting anti-Jewish legends. (One can now refer to Benzion Netanyahu,

The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain [New York, 1995],
pp. 814-847.) The second study on the fifteenth century is Mark D. Meyerson's
"Religious Change, Regionalism, and Royal Power in the Spain of Fernando and
Isabel" (pp. 96-112). Developing themes in his The Muslims of Valencia
(1991), Meyerson argues convincingly that "reason of faith" rather than "reason
of state" was behind the religious policy of the Catholic Kings. To some extent
inspired by Espina, this policy aimed at dealing with heretical or potentially
heretical"New Christians."The reasons for the differences in the application of
royal policies to Muslims in the Crown of Aragon and Castile are well brought
out here.

Part Three of this book,"Personalities and Institutions of the Medieval World,"
comprises seven individual studies. James M. Powell's "Frederick II and the Muslims: The Making of an Historiographical Tradition" (pp. 261-269), by examining contemporary Latin and Arabic accounts, exposes the flimsy basis for
Frederick's reputation for tolerance. (One is reminded of Johnston's article.)
Thomas M. Izbicki, "Dominican Papalism and the Arts in Fifteenth-Century
Rome" (pp. 270-289), is especially valuable for the discussion of the Dominican
cardinals Torquemada and Cajetan.
The other five articles all deal with different aspects of Iberian history. James
W Brodman, "The Origins of Hospitallerism in Medieval Catalonia" (pp.
290-302), sets Catalan developments within the general European progression
from monastic charity to that provided by other ecclesiastical, and then by
neighborhood, parochial, and municipal foundations. Cynthia L. Chamberlin,
"The 'Sainted Queen' and the 'Sin Of Berenguela': Teresa Gil de Vidaure and
Berenguela Alfonso in Documents of the Crown of Aragon, 1255-1272" (pp.
303-321), clarifies the tangled relations between Jaume I ofAragon and the two
most important women in the last decades of his life. Donna M. Rogers, "A
stemma codicum for Francesc Eiximenis' Dotzè del Crestià" (pp. 322-334), establishes the relations between the three surviving manuscripts of Part One of
the Dotzè. Jill R. Webster, "The Struggle Against Poverty: Mendicant Life in Late

Medieval Puigcerdà" (pp. 335-344), shows how, in the century after the Black

Death, the financial troubles of the local Franciscans reflect the decline of this
once prosperous Pyrenean city. Lastly, Larry J. Simon, who has produced this
well edited volume, in "The Church and Slavery in Ramon Llull's Majorca" (pp.
345-363), documents in detail the fact that not only many individual Majorcans—including Ramon Llull himself—but also the Majorcan Church, at all levels, owned slaves, baptized or unbaptized. In this, as Simon says, it was no
different from other Spanish dioceses. Simon says that he has no evidence for

Majorcan bishops. When Anthoni Collell died in 1363, his executors listed

eleven slaves among his possessions; five of them passed to his successor. Although this was contrary to papal legislation, one of them was a Christian (a

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Greek). See Boletín de la Sociedad Arqueológica Luliana, 31 (1953-1960),
512.

J. N. HlLLGARTH
Pontifical Institute ofMediaeval Studies, Toronto

Die Inzestgesetzgebung der merowingisch-fränkischen Konzilien (511-

626/27). By Paul Mikat. [Rechts- und Staatswissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Görres-Gesellschaft, Neue Folge, Band 74.] (Paderborn:
Ferdinand Schöningh. 1994. Pp. 149- DM 36,-.)

Expanding on his earlier work on incest legislation in the Merovingian age,
Paul Mikat focuses attention in this study on what he characterizes as the high-

point ofthat legislative effort, Canon 22 (21) of the Council ofTours in 567. The

work begins with a highly condensed introduction tracing the evolution of a
Christian position on degrees of kinship permissible in valid marriage unions
down to the fifth century. Mikat then proceeds to a detailed analysis of Canon
22 (2 1) structured in a way that allows him to bring into consideration not only
the canons treating incest enacted in all Burgundian-Frankish councils between

511 and 626/27 but other kinds of texts, especially those treating specific cases

where ecclesiastical authorities sought to deal with incestuous marriages.

After describing the unsettled political and religious situation in which the

Council of Tours took place, Mikat argues on the basis of a close look at the in-

troduction to Canon 22 (21) that the major intention of the bishops at Tours
was to provide their world with a precise statement of the fundamental teachings of the Church on incest as established in the past. The need for such a reiteration arose from a widely prevalent tendency among important elements of a
society in the process of conversion to disregard or flout the Church's regulations on consanguineous marriages that conflicted with entrenched Germanic
political, social, and economic practices and mind-sets affecting marriage.
To leave no further excuse for claims of ignorantia iuris or for neglect of

pastoral duties on the part of the clergy, the bishops at Tours thus incorporated

into their enactment a series of texts that provided the essential definitions of
incestuous relations: passages from the Old Testament (Lev. 18:5-18, 18:20;
Deut. 27:15-20, 22-24); two texts derived from the Codex Theodosianus;
canons from three Burgundian-Frankish councils (Orleans I [51 1], c. 18, Epaon,
[517], c. 30, and Clermont [535], c. 12); and a New Testament passage (I Cor.
4:21-5:5 and 11:1). Mikat subjects each of these texts to rigorous scrutiny in
search of its precise meaning, its historical precedents, and its relationship to
existing marriage practices as revealed in specific cases involving efforts to dissolve incestuous marriages and to punish the guilty parties. Against the background provided by the sanctioning of the key texts on incestuous marriage,
Mikat then completes his study with a brief treatment of the legislation relative

to incest enacted by six Merovingian councils held between 577 and 626/27,

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legislation that ,witnessed an increasing tendency to put the authority of the
state behind the Church's position but at the same time reflected continued
tension between the Church's legislation and existing custom.

Mikat's study provides a sound picture solidly rooted in the sources and in
modern scholarship of what the substance of the Church's law on incestuous

relationships had become by the beginning of the seventh century and a persuasive assessment of the forces which gave shape to that body of law. His work
will be especially useful to scholars interested in the evolution of canon law
treating marriage practices. But it also has much to say about the creative utilization of tradition to reshape basic aspects of society during that alleged "dark
age" marking the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages in western
Europe.
Richard E. Sullivan

Michigan State University (Emeritus)

Armagh and the Royal Centres in Early Medieval Ireland: Monuments, Cosmology, and the Past. By N. B. Aitchison. (Rochester, New York: Boydell &
Brewer for Cruithne Press. 1994. Pp. x, 356. $71.00.)
In Armagh and the Royal Centres, N. B. Aitchison manages to blend an archaeologist's understanding of material remains with a historian's critical use of
the textual evidence for early medieval Ireland, and to come up with a synthesis that is both plausible and impressive. Aitchison's method is to explore the inconsistencies between readings of the material and textual evidence for the
royal sites, and just generally to read the texts more critically. His argument is so
complex and discursive that I cannot rehearse all of it here. His main aim, however, is to re-examine the connection between several complex archaeological
sites, sometimes called "royal centers" by modern scholars, and the provincial
capitals prominent in early medieval narratives and annals.
While written sources agree that "royal" centers were sites of trans- and intertribal political gatherings, battles, and fairs, the main evidence for royal residence at the sites comes from only one genre, "mythological" sources such as
epics. On the other hand, archaeologists have turned up earthwork enclosures,

ring barrows, megalithic tombs, linear earthworks, and roadways at the sites,

but the one thing they have not found is evidence for residence in the late Iron
Age or early Middle Ages.
Why should the sagas lie? Because they were propaganda. The hills and barrows at Navan and the other sites were already ancient and still remembered as
politically and spiritually important in the early Middle Ages. The literati portrayed them as both political foci and royal residences, drawing on the monuments' power and status in the minds of the Irish, and using them to legitimate

emerging early medieval over-kingships. The Ui Néill, the dynasty that created

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the most successful over-kingship in early Ireland, the kingship of Tara, were especially adept at both political expansion and self-fashioning; and it was they
who patronized the literati, their propagandists. In return, the literati created

nothing less than an ideological basis for the high-kingship of Ireland.

As a counter-point to this historical theorizing, Aitchison synthesizes the latest excavation reports for two of the sites, Tara and Navan Fort, focusing mostly
on the latter. In sagas, Navan/Emain Macha was the traditional home of the
pagan Ulster kings; but the site was also a close neighbor to Armagh (Ard
Macha), the seat of St. Patrick and his ecclesiastical successors. (The last third of
the book contains a detailed analysis of the site of Armagh and its early surroundings.)
This was an irony not lost on early medieval monks, who not only knew but
actually wrote the old epics of pagan heroes. In fact, Ireland's clerical literati
were unique, Aitchison contends, in constructing a pre-Christian past with no
reference to pagan Rome; instead, the literati relied on their own home-grown
monuments to fill in the historical blanks. It was all part of a planned, premeditated attempt by ambitious churchmen and secular leaders to claim and justify
political and/or sacral status.
The book has a few flaws. Aitchison's reading of particular sites or texts is not
always innovative, and his argument is occasionally tautological. Even the theory employed by Aitchison is a little old. The prose is sprinkled with annoyingly
long quotes from secondary sources and pompously simple pronouncements,
for example: "... Urban form is both a manifestation and an expression of
power. Power is the ability to define reality" (p. 291). Aitchison rarely distinguishes between political leaders and the men who produced the written texts;
and he identifies the literati (with the exception of some renegade Kildarians)
with the clerics of Armagh. Finally, the book needed more editing; even the
dullest reader could not escape being hammered repeatedly by Aitchison's
thesis.

But this is nonetheless a very good book. Aitchison has clearly toiled over the
early medieval texts (although he might have read Heist's collection of saints'
lives) and just as clearly knows his archaeological stuff. And, unlike the recent
endeavors of some of his archaeological colleagues, Aitchison's book reveals a
real feeling for the mentalities of the early medieval period. Only creative scholars can take the familiar, rearrange it, and surprise us with new and thoughtprovoking conclusions, which is exactly what Aitchison accomplishes in
Armagh and the Royal Centres.
Lisa M. Bitel

University ofKansas

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Archbishop Theodore: Commemorative Studies on His Life and Influence.
Edited by Michael Lapidge [Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England,
11.] (NewYork: Cambridge University Press. 1 995 . Pp. xiii, 349)

Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury (668-690) was commemo-

rated by a seminar of experts in Cambridge on the thirteen hundredth anniversary of his death. The appointment by Pope Agatho of a sixty-year-old Greek
monk with Syriac connections has always seemed bizarre. In the event the
choice was a triumphant success. Theodore established a school at Canterbury
second only to that based on Jarrow and Wearmouth in Northumbria, a superiority largely dependent on one name, Bede. This book is the result of that seminar together with extra papers supplied later. The book is scholarship at its
most austere, but it is pervaded by a sense of barely suppressed excitement in
almost all the contributions. Professor Lapidge puts it in his preface (p. viii):"It

very quickly became clear from the discussion at the symposium that wholly

new—indeed revolutionary—awareness was emerging of the role which
Theodore had played in transmitting Greek learning to the Latin West and the
establishment of higher education in Anglo-Saxon England. The foundations of
this new awareness were twofold: the demonstration that the vast body of

scholarship preserved in the so-called 'Leiden family' of glossaries had its origin

in the school of Theodore and Hadrian at Canterbury; and the imminent publication of the biblical commentaries to the Pentateuch and gospels which were
similarly produced in that school. Together these previously untapped sources
revealed an enormous range of learning in Greek and Latin patristic literature as
well as expertise in scholarly disciplines otherwise scarcely known in the Latin
West at that time." Dr. Lapidge does not overstate his case. Richard Marsden
gives a study of Theodore's Bible: the Pentateuch both learned (very) and penetrating. Jane Stevenson and Carmella Vircillo Franklin convincingly identify
Theodore as the author of two rare but important texts. The latter is a life of St.
Anastasius, a Persian soldier turned Christian martyr, whose cult was the result
(as was Theodore's career) of the advance of Islam in the Near East. Anastasius's

followers promoted his cult in a Rome where obscure saints were not exactly
unknown in a way that shows that hype was as familiar to the seventh century
as it is to the twentieth. Sebastian Brock illuminates the Syriac background in a
way that shows how inadequate are the conventional accounts of Monophysitism and Nestorianism. Of the very widest interest is Thomas CharlesEdwards on Theodore's Penitential. He shows how easily Theodore's
penitential discipline, learned in the tradition of Basil, fitted in with the needs of
Celtic Christianity. He says: "Theodore may be seen, in his penitential teaching,
applying rules he had inherited from Basil, and applying them, moreover, to the
conditions of a country in which the feud was part of the fabric of society. Inevitably this meant that his approach came close to that of the Irish, for they
faced a similar situation." Not that Theodore liked the Irish much. Many Irish
students came to Canterbury and he likened them to yapping puppy dogs. He
wasn't being racialist. He was probably the most sophisticated intellectual and
learned teacher in the Church: his Irish students were hicks from the sticks—

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515

they could hardly have been anything else—in other words, Theodore was not
immune to academic snobbery. In this case that was a venial sin. The book
opens vistas that promise rich results for the history of the early Middle Ages if
there is anyone to make use of them. Most of the contributors to this book are
in their early middle age, many of them Cambridge dons the product of a famous generation of Anglo-Saxon scholars. Will they have similar successors?
The prospects for the English groves of academe are not brilliant.
Ewe John

University ofManchester

Bede and His World. With a preface by Michael Lapidge. Volume I: The Jarrow
Lectures, 1958-1978; Volume II: The Jarrow Lectures, 1979-1993. (Brook-

field, Vermont: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Company. 1994. Pp. xvi,999.
$245.00.)

A reviewer might wonder how to encompass the diversity of the thirty-six
lectures collected in these two volumes, but Michael Lapidge's preface solves
the problem. Lapidge borrows the categories employed by the first Jarrow lecturer, Bertram Colgrave, to outline Bede's achievement, and uses them to summarize the concerns of the lectures themselves: "Bede's life and writings; the
historical and cultural milieux in which he worked, including not merely the
immediate Northumbrian context, but also the wider English and European arenas which shaped his perceptions; Northumbrian manuscripts; Northumbrian
art; and Northumbrian architecture" Q, ix). Nearly one-third of the lectures fall
into each of the first two categories; the more specialized subjects are treated in
four or five lectures each.

The lectures have been given every year since 1958 in Bede's own church, St.
Paul's, which Colgrave rightly called "perhaps the most historic parish church
in England" (1,3). The forum of the lectures is peculiarly British; they are learned
talks not just for a general public but even for a local one, including "the English
motorist, hurrying north along Al on his way to Scotland" (so pictured in the introduction to Colgrave's lecture, 1, 1). The first Jarrow lecture was held on the
1273rd anniversary of the dedication of the church, an event Colgrave sketches
memorably. It was attended by Bede, then age 12, and probably also by King
Ecgfrith, whose mind, Colgrave imagines, wandered from the proceedings to an
impending, ill-advised, and ultimately fatal expedition against the Picts (I, 3).
As the lectures have developed over the decades, they have come to serve
the needs of scholars rather than those of the general public. To signal this

change, Lapidge points to Paul Myvaert's 1964 discussion of Bede and Gregory

the Great (1, 103-132), which included full scholarly apparatus, as opposed to
recommendations for further reading (I, xv). But the lectures that preceded
Meyvaert's are by no means general disquisitions for the benefit of a curious
laity. For example, the fourth, Harold McCarter Taylor's description of English ar-

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chitecture in the time of Bede, an excellent primer, is detailed and somewhat

dry. And some of those that followed Meyvaert's, such as David Wilson's "Reflections on the St. Ninian's Isle Treasure" (1969), retain a gratifying, personal

perspective. Speaking more than a decade after the discovery of the treasure,

which he describes as "the most important Scottish hoard of the early Christian

period," Wilson remarks that unpacking it at the British Museum was "the most
exciting moment of my life as an archaeologist" (I, 249). Equally engaging is
Patrick Wormald's eloquent and witty presentation of the charter evidence for
the conversion of England, which is designed to persuade readers that "charterstudy is not without its charms" GI, 613). His lecture, which shows the subject
to be both complex and compelling, includes appendices listing the charters

and offering, for "both the interested amateur and the professional expert," a
guide to their reliability and to secondary sources (?, 636-640). Several of the

lectures are classic essays in Anglo Saxon scholarship. These include R. L. S.
Bruce-Mitford's discussion of the Codex Amiatinus, with twenty plates (J,
185-234), and T.J. Brown's 1971 extraordinary, even revolutionary lecture on
"Northumbria and the Book of KeUs" (I, 285-320).

The index created by Alicia Correa is a useful but general guide to themes

and ideas that link the essays. One finds an entry for Slavs, which one would not
necessarily expect (II, 744), but no entry for slaves, which one would. In a discussion of the Rule of St. Benedict, Bede, and social class (I, 405-434), Henry
Mayr-Harting notes Bede's belief that there was "some positive good in the institution of slavery" —a view in which, of course, Bede was hardly alone (1, 420).
In another essay that calls attention to issues of class in Bede's period, Rosalind
Hill remarks, "When the first impetus of conversion dies away, the lasting

strength of a new faith is shown less by what people proclaim in church than

by what they do in the market place." Hill claims—implausibly, in my view—
that "as you read your Bede, . . . always in the background you will see the decent, godfearing layman, travelling, fighting, working in his fields, building his
house" ("The Labourers in the Field" [1, 369-383], p. 383). As I read my Bede, the

hardworking layman and lay woman are rather harder to spot than Hill suggests, and learned essays about Bede's world seldom recall them except in
vague and collective terms. Nor is the marketplace much in evidence in Bede's

writing. One of the few scenes that Bede actually set in a market place—Gregory the Great's encounter with the Anglian slave boys he dubs "Angli," meaning
both "angels" and "English" —is more frequently cited for its admittedly impor-

tant language play than for its relevance to the institution of slavery or to England's commercial ties to the Continent. Women too are seldom discussed in

these lectures; the index refers to women just twice, "as landholders" (I, 418)

and "in the church" (1, 96). Although Lapidge suggests that the growth of AngloSaxon studies since 1958 can be described as an "explosion" (I, xv), the topics
of the Jarrow lectures hardly suggest a rapid expansion of subjects of interest.
Areas of investigation for future talks appear to be plentiful.

These essays form an exemplary collection. Whatever the fate of their local
reputation, or the fundraising drive that launched them (to restore St. Paul's, for

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517

a now-modest-seeming sum of£.8,000), the Jarrow Lectures have for many years

deserved their reputation as one of the most prestigious forums for the presen-

tation of research on Bede. The collection, which makes this significant body of

scholarship widely available for the first time, belongs in every library in which

the early Middle Ages are seriously represented. Publishing these crammed and

costly volumes was a worthy venture, in several senses. To adapt slightly the

comments of J. O. Cobham, who introduced Colgrave's inaugural lecture, "It is
hoped that those who read [these lectures] will send a cheque to the Rector, St.
Paul's Rectory, Borough Road,Jarrow, Co. Durham" Q, 2), as well as to their bookseller.

Allen J. Frantzen
Loyola University Chicago

Ordines Coronationis Franciae. Texts and Ordines for the Coronation of
Frankish and French Kings and Queens in the Middle Ages, Volume I.
Edited by Richard A.Jackson. [Middle Ages Series.] (Philadelphia: Univer-

sity of Pennsylvania Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 283. $49.95.)

A number of modern scholars have studied or produced editions of the royal
or imperial coronation ordines of the Middle Ages; Georg Waitz, Carl Erdmann,

Percy Ernst Schramm, Michel Andrieu, Reinhard Elze are a few of the names that

come to mind. Richard A. Jackson, the author of a good book on the later French
coronation ceremony, now joins this select group with his edition of all French
coronation texts and orders from the Sacramentary of Gellone (790-800)

down to the Ordo of 1200, some nineteen in all. This constitutes the first volume of a projected two-volume work and contains, among other topics, a gen-

eral introduction to coronation rituals, a discussion of their manuscript sources,
an analysis of the historical development of the ceremony and a statement of
principles governing the edition and presentation of texts.
Like some other scholars, perhaps, the present reviewer was initially dubious

of the need for a new edition, especially for the Early Middle Ages, since I had

long trusted the MGH texts as well as some of those published by the scholars
noted above. In his introduction, as well as in related studies recently published
in Viator, Jackson convincingly argues otherwise. Not only has he made a real

contribution with his new edition of the four orders attributed to Hincmar of

Reims and his analysis of their liturgical and political background, but he has

produced a complete series of dependable texts for future students of kingship,

liturgy, and church-state relations. It is especially welcome to have all of these
between two covers. Jackson's introduction and individual commentaries for
each order are clearly written and fully footnoted; his presentation of variant
readings after each paragraph in smaller type rather than in a separate apparatus criticus is a good idea, and the layout of materials is visually pleasing. The
scholarship throughout is reliable and impressive.

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BOOK REVIEWS

I venture to disagree with one interpretation, however, although because of
the brief space allotted, the explanation will be in summary form. In Jackson's

view, the origin of the royal anointing rite of the Franks—a critically important
ritual because it was a decisive step in the Christianization of Germanic kingship—might have developed through eitherVisigothic or Irish influence or else
have been developed by the Franks themselves by drawing on the Old Testament or the baptismal ritual. In my view, the evidence for Irish influence is
much stronger than he allows, while arguments for other possible sources fail

for several reasons.

To take the latter two hypotheses first: although the unction rite might theoretically have been developed by the Franks themselves from Old Testament ex-

amples or the baptismal rite, there is absolutely no evidence that they ever
actually considered applying such ideas to the contemporary kingship. The
Franks simply did not think in such terms whereas copious evidence (that discussed by Raymund Kottje and Kim McCone, for example) shows that the Irish
very definitely did, and did so frequently and programmatically. Moreover, the
Carolingians sought for new legitimation techniques on a number of occasions
in the seventh and eighth centuries right up to Pippin's own time, but the best

they could do was the cappa of St. Martin and traditional Germanic adoption

rituals—not much evidence for theoretical manipulation or innovation here,
the area where it is required. But what then happened in the 740's, the period
when Pippin came to power, to alter the status quo? It was at this time, I suggest, that the Collectif) canonum Hibernensis became known to the Franks and
inspired Pippin's unction. As two seventh-century saints' vitas demonstrate,
some contemporary Irish churchmen were actively seeking a new Christian ordination rite based on Old Testament precedents. In a third text, the Collectio,
written shortly after 700, this group cited Old Testament unctions in their
canon law directive that Christian kings of the present should be created in the
same way. Whether such was ever actually done in insular kingdoms is debatable but is unnecessary to the thesis of continental influence. We know that the
Collectio was available in Francia during the 740 's because it is cited in an important legal compilation prepared under the supervision of Grimoald of Cor-

bie, the abbot of that foundation who was also a cousin of Pippin III and a

supporter of Carolingian policies. Here then is an influential Carolingian family
member associated with Pippin who was very probably aware of the anointing
directive and had an incentive to recommend the concept, even if one supposes that Irish supporters of the Carolinigians at the time like Vergil of
Salzburg (who can later be plausibly associated with the Collectio) did not.
The Visigothic alternative lacks a similar foundation. One must remember
that the Visigoths ceased anointing kings in the early eighth century. No evi-

dence exists to suggest that the seventh-century Historia Wambae regis men-

tioned by Jackson was known in Francia by 751 or even considerably later. Nor

is there evidence to support the opinion—a possibility entertained by the author—that the abandoned Visigothic rite was known in Aquitaine and arrived in

Francia via that route. All of this is speculation. Moreover, even if in the future a

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519

copy of or references to the Historia Wambae be discovered in Francia, it
would still be useless as proof of influence unless it were also demonstrable
that it was known to the circle about Pippin III. Stated otherwise, precisely the
sequence of connections that proponents of the Visigoths seek has already
been attested for the insular side and that renders additional hypotheses superfluous unless or until new evidence can be adduced.

Although the origin of the Frankish anointing rite is an interesting question
in itself, the discussion above is intended solely as clarification of a specialized
topic. It is not a substantial criticism of Professor Jackson's book, which, in my
view, is likely to become a standard work in the field.
Michael Enright

East Carolina University

Eriugena: East and West: Papers of the Eighth International Colloquium of
the Societyfor the Promotion ofEriugenian Studies, Chicago and Notre
Dame, 18-20 October, 1991- Edited by Bernard McGinn and Willemien
Otten. [Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, Number V] (Notre

Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. 1994. Pp. xii, 290. $3995.)
Since 1970 scholars interested in Eriugena, an Irish master who came to the
Continent probably in the 830's, have gathered to share their research. The
1991 colloquium focused on the central, if not unique, feature of Eriugena's
scholarship, his command of Greek patristics. The volume's lead essay, Michael
McCormick's "Diplomacy and the Carolingian Encounter with Byzantium
Down to the Accession of Charles the Bald," documents extensive contacts be-

tween the Franks and the Byzantines "before John the Scot first set foot on the
European continent" (p. 24). The late John Meyendorff's "Remarks on Eastern
Patristic Thought in John Scottus Eriugena" resuscitates the image of Eriugena

as a "lonely, isolated genius" (p. 66) whose work failed to bridge the gap between the Byzantine and Frankish intellectual communities. Willemien Otten's
"Eriugena's Periphyseon: A Carolingian Contribution to the Theological Tradition," also swims against the current of "East-West encounter" when she con-

cludes that Eriugena's "anthropological optimism" roots him deeply in the

Western, specifically Carolingian, tradition. Both J. C. Marler ("Dialectical Use of
Authority in the Periphyseon") and Giulio d'Onofrio ("The Concordia of Augustine and Dionysius: Toward a Hermeneutic of the Disagreement of Patristic
Sources in John the Scot's Periphyseon") explore Eriugena's stance toward authority in theological discourse. Eriugena, according to Marler, inspired by
Pseudo-Dionysius and by Maximus the Confessor, developed a theory of auctoritas that saw Eriugena bend "authority to reason in a way that renews the influence of Plato in Latin Christianity" (p. 108). D'Onofrio cautioned that
Eriugena in his search for truth in the face of divergent authorities was not
proposing "a solution based on the autonomy of critical reason of an Abelardian

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BOOK REVIEWS

type" (p. 120). D'Onofrio, with Otten, views Eriugena in a western, specifically
Augustinian tradition of philosophical probabilism, but a tradition that, in Eriugena at least, was enhanced by the Neoplatonic possibility of"suprarational unification of the multiple and the particular" (p. 129). Deirdre Carabine also
reveals the multiple strands of Eastern and Western thought in Eriugena in "Eriugena's Use of Symbolism of light, Cloud, and Darkness in the Periphyseon. "
Carabine finds that Augustine's light-dominated imagery influenced the expression of Eriugena's thought, but that Pseudo-Dionysius and Gregory of Nyssa influenced the content of his thinking. Where Augustine posited that the saved
will "see" God face to face, for Eriugena, in Carabine's words, "the elect [will]
pass beyond the cloud into the darkness which is in itself inaccessible Light"
(p. 150).

Wisdom 11:21, which reports God ordering "all things in measure, and num-

ber, and weight," played a central role in the Periphyseon. James McEvoy's "Bib-

lical and Platonic Measure in John Scottus Eriugena" explores the complex
sources of Eriugena's inspiration as well as his original synthesis of Augustinian
and Dionysian themes when he used the Wisdom triad to explain theophany
Jean Pepin's "Humans and Animals: Aspects of Scriptural Reference in Eriugena's Anthropology" also focuses on a particular text, Genesis 1:11-12,20,24,
and on Eriugena's largely Augustinian exegesis of the terms genus and species in
those passages. Once again, in Werner Beierwaltes's "Unity and Trinity in East
and West," Eriugena is shown to have skillfully blended Augustinian and
Dionysian traditions. But as Donald Duclow shows in "Isaiah Meets the Seraph:
Breaking Ranks in Dionysius and Eriugena?," Eriugena could also part company
with the Eastern tradition. Dionysius postulated angels as mediators between
God and men. For Eriugena, human nature was on the same plane as the angels
until the incarnation of Christ when human nature rose "still higher into the

hidden depths of the Godhead" (p. 246). Eric D. Perl's "Metaphysics and Chris-

tology in Maximus Confessor and Eriugena" suggests just how fragmentary and
selective Eriugena's knowledge of Greek thought was. Maximus, fully immersed
in Neoplatonism and heir equally to Greek Christology, could link the incarnation with the Platonic procession from and return to God in a kind of "pan-

Christism" (p. 261) unsuspected by Eriugena in the ninth century. Oleg

Bychkov's "Russian Scholarship on the Interrelation of Eastern and Western
Thought in John Scottus Eriugena" concludes Eriugena East and West by documenting lively interest in the Irish scholar in pre-Soviet Russia. It was precisely
his perceived blending of Eastern and Western thought that attracted nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian intellectuals to Eriugena.
To borrow a phrase from Bernard McGinn's introduction, the essays in this
volume, each in its own way, deftly describe "Eriugena's special role in the history of Christian thought" (p. 1 1).
John J. Contreni

Purdue University

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521

Liturgy and the Ecclesiastical History of Late Anglo-Saxon England: Four
Studies. By David N. Dumville. [Studies in Anglo-Saxon History.]
(Rochester, New York: The Boydell Press. 1992. Pp. x, 193. $5900.)
David N. Dumville's important collection of previously unpublished essays
on matters related to the English liturgy during the tenth and eleventh centuries is dedicated to Helmut Gneuss,"on his sixty-fifth birthday in gratitude for
his formidable contributions to the study of Anglo-Saxon liturgy and manuscripts." Such a tribute to Professor Gneuss is appropriate, for his work on liturgical manuscripts is central to the contemporary study of the English liturgy;
equally central, however, are Dumville 's own studies on the provenances and interrelationships of ninth-, tenth-, and eleventh-century manuscripts, and the
collection of studies under review presupposes access, if not indeed familiarity,

with Dumville's Wessex and Englandfrom Alfred to Edgar and English Caroline Script and Monastic History, volumes three and six respectively in the

Studies in Anglo-Saxon History series, as well as his important essays on "English

Square minuscule script" in volumes 16 and 23 oíAnglo-Saxon England.

The first study, "The Kalendar of the Junius Psalter," examines the neglected

kalendar (fols. 2'-T) of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Junius 27, the so-called "Junius Psalter." The feasts in this kalendar that were graded high are indicated by

hexametrical verses which replicate the lines in a metrical martyrology, some-

times known as the "Hampson" martyrology, the earliest surviving manuscript
of which is London, British Library, MS. Cotton Galba A.xviii. Dumville constructs an elaborate but plausible hypothesis which suggests Canterbury as the
probable point of origin of both the metrical martyrology and the liturgical material in the Junius Psalter's kalendar, which therefore allows the attribution of
MS. Junius 27 to Canterbury.
In "The Liturgical Kalendar of Anglo-Saxon Glastonbury: a Chimaera?"
Dumville argues that the kalendar of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 579,

the "Leofric Missal," does not derive from a Glastonbury original, but from Can-

terbury. His case for freeing the kalendar from Glastonbury is strong, indeed,
since the Glastonbury attribution was constructed on a scholarly repetition of
F. E. Warren's flawed argument for such an origin when he edited the Leofric
Missal in 1883; the case for attributing the kalendar to Canterbury remains, as
Dumville admits, to be proven.
The third article, entitled "Liturgical Books for the Anglo-Saxon Episcopate: A
Reconsideration," begins with Gneuss's data concerning only those books
which would have been used by a bishop or archbishop, to which Dumville
adds a brief essay on relevant paleographical and codicological considerations
for each book. He concludes with an assessment of all tenth- and eleventh-cen-

tury Anglo-Saxon pontificals known to him, showing how they emanate from

the metropolitan see out to other bishops. In fact, the article is rich in implications for the transmission of many kinds of liturgical books, pontificals being
traceable in sufficiently large numbers to define the paradigm.

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The final study comprises a selection of notes under the collective title,
"Liturgical Books from Late Anglo-Saxon England: A Review of Some Historical
Problems."There is hardly room here for a thumbnail sketch of each of the nine
problems with which he deals, for each short essay delineates a fresh approach
to a topic central to the history of the English liturgy. The topics include: the
continuity of liturgical tradition (and lack of it) as evidenced by the liturgical
manuscripts from the eighth century to the tenth; the transference of eighthand ninth-century books from northern to southern centers exclusively until
about the time of King ^Ethelstan, after which southern books are often seen to
be conveyed northwards; the liturgical or quasi-liturgical use of the hagiographical libellus containing a uita and sometimes benedictions and homilies;
the contribution of the Celtic (especially Breton) Church to the English Benedictine renewal, as evidenced by a variety of works of canon law, computistics,
and hagiography and poetry; the function of documentary materials added to
liturgical manuscripts to which a list of Gospel books so augmented is appended; the presence of Old English in liturgical books as evidence of a trend
which accelerated in the eleventh century before the Conquest to provide vernacular equivalencies for Latin texts; the categorization and function of a variety of liturgical books; the production of liturgical manuscripts in both its
material and political dimensions; the implications for scribal practice and
scriptorial identity of a "liturgical script."
This is a most important compendium of English liturgical materials, one that
will undoubtedly take its place beside Edmund Bishop's Litúrgica Histórica.
Like that work, it will provoke further scholarship on the considerable body
of Anglo-Saxon liturgical materials, materials which Dumville shows not
merely to illuminate the development of church ritual, but also to corroborate and authenticate the processes of English intellectual and cultural
history.
Patrick W. Conner

West Virginia University

La Pologne dans l'Eglise médiévale. By Jerzy Kloczowski. [Collected Studies
Series, CS 417.] (Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Co.

1993. Pp. x, 321. $94.95.)

The author of these collected studies is well known to readers of this journal
and to students of ecclesiastical history in general. Jerzy Kloczowski is, among
his other appointments, Professor of History of Polish Culture at the Catholic
University of Lublin and a long-time Corresponding Fellow of the American
Catholic Historical Association. His substantive scholarship, his editorial creativity and industriousness, his methodological innovations, and—especially for
many outside Poland—his support of younger scholars have marked him as one
of the major figures of our profession.

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523

This volume brings together eighteen studies—in French, English, and Italian—

published between 1962 and 1988 on the subject of medieval Poland in the

context of the larger history of east central Europe. All originally appeared in

west European or North American journals and series, in publications in the

western languages in Poland, or—in many cases—in conference volumes. To
list the individual items included here would do little more than reveal the

enormous scope of Professor Kloczowski's interests; instead it is more appropriate to identify some of the themes reflected in these essays and articles. One
important topic is the cultural and spiritual integration of Poland into the Christian civilization of medieval Europe. This is addressed particularly effectively in
the first essay, which focuses upon the crucial period of the tenth and eleventh
centuries. Another theme is the institutional history of the Church in medieval
Poland: the structure of ecclesiastical provinces and the growth of parishes. Yet
a third theme, which indeed has been central to Kloczowski's major scholarly
contributions in Polish, is the monastic and mendicant movements in Poland.
This is addressed in both general studies and in essays focused more specifically
on such varied groups as the Canons Regular, the Cistercians, the Carthusians,
the Dominicans and Franciscans, and others. Given the important contributions
which Professor Kloczowski has made over the years to the cultural and religious geography of Poland and the region, it is good to have a number of articles
which provide a summary of his approach, in particular item XI, his geographic,
chronological, and statistical panorama of mendicant education in Poland. Two
more themes deserve mention. One is the political, religious, and intellectual

ties Poland had with various persons and events in the larger church (such as
the Second Council of Lyon, 1 274, or the pontificates of Urban V and Gregory XI

and the outbreak of the Great Western Schism in 1378); the second is the role

Poland played in the spread of Christianity in the Middle Ages, especially to
Lithuania in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

A brief summary such as this cannot do justice to the richness and breadth of

these collected studies. Even the occasional overlap and repetition of material,
in large part due to the conference origins of many of these studies where presentations required background and context, does not impair an appreciation
of Professor Kloczowski's contribution. This particular volume contains, in addition to the original texts, a brief, helpful introduction by the author and a very
useful short Bibliographie complémentaire of his related works on the history
of Christianity in Poland, on the development of Christianity in East Central and
Northern Europe, on the general history of late medieval Slavonic Europe (his
Europa slowianska w XTV-XV wieku, appearing in translation in the Peuples
et Civilisations series as L'essor de l'Europe Centrale et Orientale aux
XTV-XV siècles), and on Catholic Reform in the sixteenth- and seventeenthcentury Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Because the eighteen items reprinted in this book originally appeared in such disparate forms and in some
publications not generally available, it is good to have them gathered here.

Paul W. Knoll

University of Southern California

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BOOK REVIEWS

The Medieval Cult of Saints: Formations and Transformations. By Barbara
Abou-El-Haj. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. xviii, 456.
$90.00.)

The title overpromises. This book is less about the cult of the saints than

about the thirty or so surviving series of hagiographie scenes (generally six or
more images) found in sculpture and manuscript before the mid-thirteenth century; in fact, it is less about that whole tradition than about one small part of it,
the three illustrated manuscripts of Saint-Amand (Valenciennes B.M. mss. 500,
501, and 502) to which three of the five chapters are devoted. The broad title
does indicate Abou-El-Haj 's desire to go beyond object-oriented art history.

This study boasts some significant achievements. Abou-El-Haj continues a re-

cent tendency to treat hagiographical illustrations as "texts" with their own programs, audiences, and dissonances; thus her analysis begins rather than ends
with relationships to written works. She highlights the links between illustrated

libelli and pilgrimage. She illustrates chronologies of cult development and
saintly subjects with crisp graphs (made a bit misleading by the decision to plot
church rather than altar dedications). Her 206 figures offer a sort of universal illustrated vita, presenting multiple examples of incidents such as ordinations,

donations, healings, exorcisms, etc. She provides the best published inventory
of series of hagiographical images (pp. 148-153).

Yet the book fails to prove its thesis that "in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, ... for the first time, large numbers of saints were illustrated in painted
manuscripts, on shrines and altars, and on church doors" (p. 1). A sequence of
narrative pictures was already found in the fifth century in the shrine of St. Martin at Tours, the West's trend-setting cult center. How far this tradition extended
is suggested by the ninth-century fragments of the St. Ambrose sequence on the
golden altar in Sant'Ambrogio in Milan. The illustrations of the Vita Wandregisili in Le Havre B.M. ms. 1 (late tenth century) present more problems than

Abou-El-Haj recognizes (p. 146), for she has not noted the different cropping

and other features which indicate that the four pages of images, sides of a single
sheet, were added from some pre-existing work. She does show that the vast

majority of the surviving evidence is from the High Middle Ages, but she is unconvincing in arguing ex silentio that the proliferation of illustrated sequences
began then.

Also questionable is the presumption that religious artistic monuments are
understandable as "calculated investments" to "generate pilgrimage" (pp. 1 and
17). Economic calculations were made, as Abou-El-Haj demonstrates in valuable
notes linking pilgrimage traffic and shrine building. But can we assume that all
cult developments resulted from clerical attempts to manipulate a passive laity

in order to maximize profits (e.g., pp. 17, 19, and 63)? Surely piety also played

some role in the glorification of patron saints. This would have been clear if
Abou-El-Haj had analyzed the possible audiences more closely: for example,
how would the hagiographie illustrations filling two blank folios in the back of
Valenciennes ms. 500 have been used to foment pilgrimage enthusiasm?

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525

Small defects are common. BFLL numbers would have helped identify hagio-

graphical texts. Factual errors include the claim that Cluny was "the papacy's
most powerful monastic ally" in the investiture struggle (p. 95); that the head of
St. Wandrille is at Maredsous (p. 146); and that St. Peter's in Rome and St. James'
at Compostela were the only "apostolic" shrines in Europe (even disregarding
Constantinople, Paul and Bartholomew were allegedly in Rome, Barnabas in
Milan, the almost-apostolic Mark in Venice, and a plethora of pseudo-apostles all
over France). True, such mistakes are concomitants of a bold attempt to move

beyond traditional art historical boundaries. Nevertheless, one wishes that
Abou-El-Haj had told her story less tendentiously and more quickly.
John Howe

Texas Tech University

From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion and Liter-

ature. By Barbara Newman. [Middle Ages Series.] (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press. 1995. Pp. vi, 355. $39-95 cloth; $18.95 paper.)

Barbara Newman has written an erudite and wonderful book. Drawing on

and in many ways surpassing the flood of work on medieval religious women
produced in the past fifteen years (a torrent within which her own Sister of
Wisdom was a significant stream), she gives us a set of learned, thoughtful, and
interrelated essays, written in lucid and beautiful prose. Truly interdisciplinary
in her instincts, Newman has a gift for close and subtle reading of texts without

straining to place them in the dichotomies that have too often dominated femi-

nist and non-feminist interpretation of the Middle Ages—secular versus religious, masculine versus feminine, literary versus theological, heterodox versus
orthodox, praxis versus belief. Although her tone falters occasionally in
the first two chapters, with chapter three she hits her stride. "Crueel Corage,"
which studies the theme of maternal martyrdom and child abandonment
against the context of patriarchal social structure, literary trope, and hagio-

graphical stereotype; "On the Threshold of the Dead," which assembles

new texts to demonstrate earlier scholarly work on the special relationship of
women to purgatorial suffering; "La mystique courtoise" an interpretation—

rare in its delicacy—of three of the major mystics of the Middle Ages; and the

witty yet ultimately serious readings in chapters six and seven of thirteenth-

and fourteenth-century sectarian movements and of Cornelius Agrippa as femi-

nist, more than feminist, and other than feminist: these are studies to treasure
and re-read.

Newman's title From Virile Woman to WomanChrist perhaps misleads, and
although the last three pages of her introduction are a model of how introductions should be written, she elsewhere shortchanges her own readings. Patristic and early medieval ideas cannot be summarized under the rubric
"unisex" or "virago," which are in any case not the same thing, and the term
"womanChrist" with its echoes of current goddess spirituality does not really

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BOOK REVIEWS

do justice either to Newman's own nuanced interpretation or to so much as a
line of Hadewijch or Marguerite Porete. Moreover, since these are separate stud-

ies, each based on a limited number of texts without overmuch attention to
chronology or to social and institutional setting, there are occasional over-generalizations and omissions. As Newman herself admits at the opening of chapter
five, "beguinal mysticism" is sometimes used too broadly. The "atypical" and
"marginal" (p. 135) become, not fully consistently, the "tip of the iceberg" (p.
136). Reading Heloise "as" a "mystic manquee" (this reviewer is always troubled
by the sleight-of-hand permitted by current notions of "reading as") seems inappropriate not only because it projects thirteenth-century categories back
into the twelfth but also because careful attention to what Newman actually argues shows that it is Abelard's Heloise not Heloise's Heloise who can be so
read. Finally, one is surprised not to find Herbert Grundmann in the bibliogra-

phy, since the interpretation of Newman's epilogue is surely (and rightly!) a return to his.

Nonetheless, whatever is lost in textured background by Newman's focus
on individual writings, her interpretations of the writings themselves are exquisite. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist should be required reading in every
university-level Women's Studies course—for its method, its substance, and its
prose.
Caroline Walker Bynum

Columbia University

Lanfranco di Pavia e I'Europa del secólo XI (nel IX centenario délia morte
[1089-1989]). Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi (Pavia, Almo CoIlegio Borromeo, 21-24 settembre 1989). Edited by Giulio D'Onofrio. [Italia
Sacra: Studi e documenti di storia ecclesiastica, Vol. 51.] (Rome: Herder

Editrice e Librería. 1993. Pp. xiv, 774. Lire 160,000 paperback.)

Lanfranc, of Pavia, Bec, and Canterbury, the teacher of both St. Anselm and Ivo
of Chartres, and archbishop of Canterbury under King William I, is neither an
elusive nor an insignificant figure. Commemorating the nine hundredth an-

niversary of his death, the nearly eight hundred pages of scholarship published

here—the "acta" from a Pavian conference held in 1989—is clear testimony to
the interest which Lanfranc and his environment still generate among medievalists. The vast scope of his activity, in widely diverse localities and circumstances, is mirrored in the divisions and the specific contents of this collection

of essays. The work is divided into six sections, treating general themes as fol-

lows: (i) Lanfranc and his century; (ii) From Pavia to the Abbey of Bee: Juridical
studies and monastic discipline; (iii) Liberal arts, philosophy, and theology: Lanfranc and the culture of his century; (iv) The Berengarian controversy; (v) The
Archbishop of Canterbury; and (vi) Master Lanfranc. The book continues with
an appendix presenting an edition and commentary on the Vita Lanfranci by
the late Margaret Gibson, and ends with a set of indices.

BOOK REVIEWS

527

The following studies are found herein. Maria Teresa Fumagalli Beonio Brocchieri,"Lanfranco di Pavia 'maestro dei nostri studi': cultura e filosofía nel secólo
XI"; Margaret Gibson, "The Image of Lanfranc"; Aldo Angelo Settia, "Pavia capitale del 'Regnum' nel secólo XI"; Gian Paolo Massetto,"Gli studi di diritto nella
Lombardia del secólo XI"; Reginald Grégoire,"Il diritto monástico elaborate nei

'Decreta' di Lanfranco";Mark Philpott,"Lanfranc's Canonical Collection and 'the

Law of the Church'"; Marcel Baudot, "Maintenance du prestige de Lanfranc de

Pavie au XIVe siècle à l'abbaye du Bec-Hellouin en Normandie"; Pierre Riche,

"L'enseignement des arts libéraux en Italie et en France au XIe siècle";Inos Biffi,
"Lanfranco esegeta di san Paolo"; Giulio d'Onofrio,"Lanfranco teólogo e la storia délia filosofía"; Dario Schioppetto, "Enciclopedia e Sacra pagina tra VII e XII
secólo"; Renato Borghi and Rodobaldo Tibaldi, "Lanfranco 'musicus'"; Stefano
Maria Cingolani, "Normandia, Le Bec e gli esordi délia letteratura francese"; Jean
de Móntelos, "Lanfranc et Bérenger: Les origines de la doctrine de la Transsubstantiation"; Marta Cristiani,"Le 'ragioni' di Berengario di Tours"; André Cantin,

"La position prise par Lanfranc sur le traitement des mystères de la foi par les

raisons dialectiques"; Gillian R. Evans, "'Solummodo sacramentum et non
verum': Issues of Logic and Language in the Berengarian Controversy"; Raymonde Foreville, "Lanfranc et la politique ecclésiastique de Guillaume le Con-

quérant"; Giorgio Picasso, "Lanfranco e Ia riforma gregoriana"; Herbert E. J.

Cowdrey, "Lanfranc, the Papacy, and the See of Canterbury"; Costante Marabelli,
"Un profilo di Lanfranco dalle sue 'Lettere'"; Martin Brett, "A Supplementary
Note on the Charters Attributed to Archbishop Lanfranc"; Coloman Viola, "Lanfranc de Pavie et Anselme d'Aosta"; ítalo Sciuto,"U problema della ragione in
Lanfranco, Berengario e Pier Damiano in relazione all'opera di Anselmo
d'Aosta"; Fabio Zanatta,"L'autorità della ragione. Contributo all'interpretazione
della Jettera 77 di Anselmo d'Aosta a Lanfranco di Pavia"; Massimo 01doni,"La
scuola di Lanfranco."

It is impossible to summarize the information and arguments presented in
these many studies, and I shall confine myself to one limited observation. Lan-

franc 's contributions to political history, to the institutional development of the

Norman church, to monastic history, and to the history of ideas, especially
through his biblical exegesis and as an opponent of Berengar, are universally
recognized. Despite the pioneering Birkbeck Lectures of Z. N. Brooke from
more than sixty years ago (published as The English Church and the Papacy),
Lanfranc's place in "studi giuridici" is less well understood. Happily this volume
contains essays (e.g. ,by Massetto, Grégoire, and especially Philpott), which deal
with legal issues, and, in the case of the study by Mark Philpott, with the still
unedited canonical Collectio Lanfranci.
Robert Somerville

Columbia University

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Apocalypticism in the Western Tradition. By Bernard McGinn. [Variorum Collected Studies Series, CS 430.] (Brookfield,Vermont:Variorum,Ashgate Pub-

lishing Co. 1994. Pp. x, 324. $89.95.)

Bernard McGinn is a master in the field of early and medieval apocalypticism.
This volume of his collected essays—all written between 1971 and 1991 —
amply demonstrates both the impressively wide range of his studies and the
richness of detail which brings his themes to life. There is inevitably some overlap between some essays but the different articles have been so arranged as to

form a coherent whole rather than a random selection. The volume justly deserves its broad title.

In Part !,"Background and Historiography," McGinn first picks a masterly path
through the controversies surrounding the origins and development of early
apocalypticism and then—defining "apocalyptic" as eschatology which an-

nounces the future and final course of history—gives a historiographical sketch

of a century of scholarship on medieval aspects of this subject, with illuminating comments on the variety of viewpoints (ecclesiastical and political) provoked by it. Part II deals broadly with "Themes of Medieval Apocalypticism."
"Symbols of the Apocalypse" emphasizes the intensely visual power of "John

the Seer's" Apocalypse, especially in its oppositions between Babylon and
Jerusalem, the cosmic conflict between evil and good. The essay then moves on

to the unique Figurae of Joachim of Fiore ("the first apocalypticist to be his
own iconographer") and the paradoxes of Dante's great picture-sequence at
the end of Purgatorio. The second essay in this section "Teste David cum
Sibylla," traces the origins and significance of the prophetic role played by
Sibylline texts in the Middle Ages. In the essay on "Angel Pope and Papal Antichrist," McGinn begins to deal with a specifically Joachimist theme but places
it within the broader context of the dialectical juxtaposition of roles assigned
to the Papacy in the drama of Last Things, as played out in the later Middle Ages

outside official doctrine. He concludes: "We can know all we want about hiero-

cratic theory, canon law, papal politics and finances; without some understanding of why Angel Pope and Papal Antichrist loomed so large in the
imagination and emotions of many, our grasp of the history of the papacy in the
later middle ages would be incomplete." The next essay deals in more detail

with the proliferation of fourteenth-century texts on the same theme, especially
in the "new literary genre" created by the "fusion of prophetic text and picture."

In a paper entitled "Apocalyptic Traditions and Spiritual Identity" the author
asks himself the question, "What were millenarian and apocalyptic ideas used
for in the Middle Ages?" He finds one answer in the nourishment of spiritual
identity which they gave to particular radical groups and, after instancing
Joachim of Fiore's prophecy of future viri spirituales, gives us a "triptych" of
which the central panel represents Franciscan involvement in apocalyptic ideas

and the two contrasting side panels portray Dominican appropriations of these

themes and their use by the extreme Apostolic Brethren. The tension created in

the Church by such claims to special identity in the Last Age are perceptively

explored and lead on to the last essay in Part II on Bonaventure's Theology of

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529

History, particularly as contained in his unfinished Collationes, where, argues
McGinn, Bonaventure chose to appropriate what he found valuable in
Joachim's vision and, in dependence on Joachim, "to depart from Augustine in
significant ways."
Part IH takes up specific themes and problems in Joachimist studies. The first
essay—McGinn's earliest in this field—contrasts the reactions of Aquinas and
Bonaventure to the radical eschatology of Joachim. The second, a theological
appraisal of Joachim's famous doctrine of the Tertius Status, brings out the
complexity of this concept as it emerges in the Abbot's vision from the double
procession of the Spirit. In the third, on the role of Bernard of Clairvaux as an
alter Moyses in Joachim's thought, McGinn suggests the possibility thatJoachim

knew and was influenced by Bernard's Sermones super Cántica. Finally, at-

tempting to assess the "Influence and Importance" of Joachim of Fiore, the author ponders on the difficulty of knowing whether we scholars claim "too

much or too little" for the Abbot. He cites Eric Voegelin's judgment "that Augustine and Joachim were the two great opponents in Western Christian theories
of history" and stresses further the dynamics of their encounter. Joachim's originality lies in the complexity of his patterns of history, above all in his insistence
that history must be inextricably both binary and ternary. "History . . . was a

great and growing act of praise . . . according to the two mysterious models of
Alpha and Omega. . . ."

It is possible here only to underline three of the many rich themes in this
book. First, there is the on-going discussion of the extent of Joachim's radicalism. Here, in this reviewer's judgment, McGinn has modified his view from his
earlier position that the Abbot was fundamentally radical (essay II), in that his
third status within history threatened the very foundations of the Church's authority, to a view which puts much more emphasis on the subtle interweaving
of Joachim's "twos and threes" and therefore on the coming transformation of
the Church of the Second Status into the Ecclesia Spiritualis of the Third.
The nub of this problem lies in the position accorded to Christ. Against the

statement in essay VIII that "Joachim's view of history was not fundamentally
Christocentric" we may set a little-noticed passage from his Expositio in

Apocalypsim (Ven. ed., 1527, fol.l2r) which envisages a mysterious rebirth of
Christ in the Third status:". . . ac si his diebus nasceretur Christus: his diebus re-

suscitaretur a mortuis: donum spiritus sancti insufflaret in discupulis suis. . . ."It

was such an insight that later inspired the Franciscan concept of a "Middle Advent" of Christ.

Secondly, McGinn returns again and again to the theme of the great dialectical drama being enacted in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries between the

Church as an increasingly centralized and bureaucratically organized power

structure—eventually the dominating power structure in western Christendom—and the irrepressible explosions of popular religious emotion which
punctuated these centuries, throwing up radical movements of lay men and
women with clamant voices for recognition. It became a tragic drama, since,

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BOOK REVIEWS

after some initial attempts to contain these movements of the Spirit, many of
them were increasingly marginalized and repressed. Yet the dialectic was never

completely sharp: recent research by Fiona Robb suggests that Innocent III,

through his intimacy with Joachim's disciple Ranier, was open to the vision;
Bonaventure could not shut it out, even while fighting its more dangerous implications within his order; the wistful figure of the Papa Angelicus haunted
western churchmen right down to the Renaissance period.
The third point follows from this. In 1975 (essay II) McGinn arraigned this reviewer for perfunctory treatment of popular apocalyptic movements and argued that "to date there are really no successful interpretations of the social and
political roots of medieval apocalypticism." This is still broadly true, though
there have been some limited analyses of individual popular movements. We
still need a full exploration of this theme, not only for a deeper understanding
of the pressures under which the medieval church operated, but also because
the tension between organized religious structures and charismatic movements
remains an abiding problem.
Marjorie Reeves

St. Anne's College, Oxford

Schottenklöster: Irische

Benediktinerkonvente

im

hochmittelalterlichen

Deutschland. By Helmut Flachenecker. [Quellen und Forschungen aus
dem Gebiet der Geschichte, Neue Folge, Volume 18.] (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. 1995. Pp. 402. DM 48,- paperbound.)
Anyone who has spent some time in Vienna has seen the Schottenkloster, the.
only still-functioning, former abbey of Irish Benedictines in the German-speaking
world. The Schotten have been the subject of considerable scholarly as well as
popular misinformation, caused in part by the fact that the high-medieval Scoti
were Irish, but that three of the monasteries were assigned to exiled Scottish
Catholics in the sixteenth century. However, the real reason for the confusion
lies in the sources themselves. Few documents survive, and the historian is thus

forced to rely on the Vita S. Mariant, written shortly after 1 180, a century after
the "founder's" death, and the Libellus de fundacione ecclesiae Consecrati
Petri, drafted in the 1250's. Both are highly tendentious and inaccurate works
that were designed to bolster the claim of the abbot of St. James in Regensburg
to be the head of the congregation of Irish monks. These high-medieval sources
must be supplemented with necrologies, the oldest of which dates only to the
fifteenth century, and with suspect early modern histories of the monasteries.
The latter propagated the erroneous view that the abbeys were founded by
Scots, who were replaced in the fourteenth century by Irish monks who were
responsible for the houses' rapid decline. Helmut Flachenecker has sifted
through this material to reconstruct the history of the Schotten during the
fourth and last phase of Irish monasticism on the Continent.

BOOK REVIEWS

531

After a brief stay in Bamberg, Marianus and his companions, who were on a
pilgrimage to Rome, decided in 1070 to remain in Regensburg. King Henry IV
took under his protection in 1089 the community of Irish hermits who lived at
the church of Weih Sankt Peter. A second community formed at St. James, to
which HenryV granted a charter in 1 1 12, and Weih Sankt Peter became a priory
of St. James. The foundation of the two houses was part of an antipapal reform
movement sponsored by the bishop and burghers of Regensburg. A variety of
patrons then called upon monks from St. James to establish Irish monasteries:
Erfurt by an imperial ministerial (1136); Würzburg by the bishop (1138);
Nuremberg by King Conrad III (1140); Constance by the bishop (1142); Eichstätt by the cathedral provost (ll48/49);Vienna by Duke Henry II of Austria
(1155/61); and Memmingen by Duke WeIfVI (1178/81). In addition, the congregation had two Irish priories at Cashel and Ross Carberry, which recruited
novices for the German houses; a settlement in Kiev that survived until the

Mongol onslaught; and a priory in Kelheim, where the monks prayed for Duke
Louis of Bavaria, who had been murdered in 1231. The monks were dependent
on Ireland for donations as well as recruits, and supported themselves by copying manuscripts or by working in episcopal or ducal chancelleries. Pope Lucius
III first referred in 1 185 to the congregation of Irish monks under the regimen
of Regensburg. Ultimately, this last wave of Irish monasticism must be judged a
failure (the smaller abbeys at Memmingen, Eichstätt, and Constance were abandoned already in the later Middle Ages) because of the difficulty of attracting
novices in Ireland for an outmoded religious ideal and the inability of cloistered
Irish monks to compete with the friars in German cities.
This book, Flachenecker's Habilitationsschrift, reads like one. The most obscure scholarly arguments are carefully weighed and there are seemingly irrelevant digressions on such topics as western relations with Kiev or Austrian
annals. Nevertheless, anyone who is interested in Irish or German monasticism
should read the book. I for one learned a lot.

John B. Freed

Illinois State University

Le diocèse d'Arras de 1093 au milieu du XTV' siècle. Recherches sur la vie

religieuse dans le nord de la France au Moyen Âge. By Bernard Delmaire.

2 vols. [Mémoires de la Commission départementale d'Histoire et

d'Archéologie du Pas-de-Calais, tome XXXI.] (Arras, 1994. Pp. 408;
409-640. 350F.)

This extraordinary work is a revised principal dissertation by a professor of
medieval history at the Université Charles de Gaulle-Lille III. He is already well

known for his many studies of Artois and for his service to the Revue du Nord.
What he presents in this work is material in many ways quite different from that

found in other examinations of French dioceses of the period. This is true prin-

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BOOK REVIEWS

cipally for two reasons: its location which often makes the diocesan activities
more like what is found in the Low Countries or the Rhineland than elsewhere

in France and his desire to focus as much as possible on the laity and parish life.
The work is divided into four parts (volume one) and four appendices, the
first of which is a 150-page listing of the approximately 500 parishes and
chapels of the period (volume two). The first two parts examine the structure
of the diocese. After sketching the geography, economic life, and relatively
dense population, with over thirty per cent living in towns, the first part traces
the restoration of the diocese in 1093- He suggests that this occurred in substantial part because of the desire of the reformed papacy to diminish imperial
power. The division of the diocese of Cambrai achieved this end, for the western portion, centered on Arras, was in the French lands of the count of Flanders.
The second part, in four chapters, is one of the most ambitious and valuable, for
it examines the almost 400 parishes by looking at such topics as size, the role of
lay nobles or religious houses, the tithe, and the parish priest, although he must
admit that the lives of the latter are difficult to establish because of the lack of
information.

The final two parts consider the clergy and the laity, with part three, in four
chapters, on bishops, diocesan administrators, canons, monks, and mendicants
and the final part, in six chapters, on the religious life of the laity. In many ways
part three is the more successful, and more traditional, because of all the data
available, but part four is clearly what principally interests the author. In this last
part he considers the relations between clergy and laity, at times prickly, especially in the mid-thirteenth century when the urban authorities were seeking to
obtain more revenue from the Church. He goes on to examine the growing importance of the laity in parish life (chap. 12); such problems affecting the laity
as sexual offenses, vengeance, and usury (chap. 13); the role of women in the
church of Arras,with an especially valuable section on the development of the

Béguines (chap. 14); the role of the sacraments, liturgy, and special devotions
(chap. 15) and a consideration of orthodoxy (chap. 16). His emphasis on lay

participation in the religious life of the parish is particularly timely, for it offers
a medieval precedent, all too often neglected, to the American bishops who
have recently addressed the importance of lay leadership in the contemporary
parish.

The author points out in the conclusion of the work that it is difficult to make
a comparison of the religious life of the diocese of Arras with that of other dio-

ceses because few studies of the medieval dioceses have so strong an emphasis
on the parish and the laity. It is to be hoped that this excellent work will inspire
others to make such comparisons possible in the future.
Daniel F. Callahan

University ofDelaware

BOOK REVIEWS

533

Parishes, Tithes and Society in Earlier Medieval Poland, c. 1100-c. 1250, By
Piotr Górecki. [Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,Volume
83, Part 2.] (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. 1993- Pp- x,

146. $15.00 paperbound.)

This brief study, derived from research which Professor Górecki undertook in
connection with his earlier study, Economy, Society, and Lordship in Medieval
Poland (New York and London: Holmes and Meier, 1992), concentrates upon
the duchy and diocese of Wroclaw, which was at this time considered part of
the Regnum Poloniae. It is a very carefully argued work, emphasizing chiefly
economic and legal matters. Although the title of the book suggests broader issues in ecclesiastical history, the actual focus of the book is more narrowly
upon the ways in which secular and ecclesiastical control emerged over the
churches of the area and how lords, both secular and religious, disposed of tithe
revenues. Nevertheless, there are some important insights which Górecki's
study provides for understanding the development of both parishes and tithes,
especially the way in which he shows how monastic churches appropriated
local resources as the (probable) result of episcopal passivity. (Because of
the limitations in source material, his focus is necessarily upon episcopal
and monastic churches for the earlier period. Only after the beginning decades
of the thirteenth century do parish structures and organization become
clearer.)

One of the elements missing from this study is any sense of the religious and
spiritual interests of the individuals involved. This characteristic is not, however, the author's fault; he is very careful to conclude from his documents only
what they are able to sustain and not to assert generalizations that cannot really
be supported in the evidence. For from documents which talk vaguely of "full
right of spiritual care" without spelling out in any way what this implied, it is
easier to analyze matters of rights, exemptions, and control than to talk about

the inner life of the parish. One of the important insights which Górecki is able

to provide bears upon some important larger issues in European historiography. Just as in his earlier study (noted above), where he shows the ways in
which the Polish lands should be considered in comparative context and not
treated as a late-developing variant in a "peripheral" zone of earlier traditions
from the European "core," so too he is able to show here that the history of
tithes and parishes in Wroclaw are very much like developments in the Holy
Roman Empire and in other regions of dynamic colonization. For both the fine
details, densely argued as they are, and the larger comparative implications for
an understanding of European developments, one should applaud and appreciate Professor Górecki's contribution.
Paul W Knoll

University of Southern California

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BOOK REVIEWS

Noble Bondsmen: Ministerial Marriages in the Archdiocese of Salzburg,
1100-1343- By John B. Freed. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
1995. Pp. xvi, 304.)
For more than twenty years John B. Freed has devoted most of his scholarly
energy to an intensive investigation of the ministeriales of the archbishopric of
Salzburg from the tenth to the fourteenth century; this book is the cumulative
result of those long labors. Ministeriais were those of unfree origin who
through their service to princes slowly rose up to become the core of the lower
nobility of the late Middle Ages. This development is usually regarded as a peculiarity of Germanophone Europe, although Otto of Freising, for instance,
noted with apparent admiration an analogous northern Italian practice of
knighting serfs. The difference lay perhaps in the determination of German
princes to keep their ministerials in their servile legal position, regardless of

their accomplishments. The resulting tensions could sometimes be highly explosive, as is revealed in Galbert of Bruges' famous account of the assassination
of Charles the Good, count of Flanders (1109-1127), at the hands of the powerful Erembald clan.

Freed's book represents an illuminating contribution to the literature on this
vexing problem of medieval legal and social history. While acknowledging Benjamin Arnold's achievement in German Knighthood, 1050-1300 (1985), Freed
finds Arnold's definition of ministerial as "servile knight" inadequate for the AustroBavarian part of the Empire. Freed also seeks to supplement the classic work on
this region, Land and Lordship by Otto Brunner, who chose to ignore the ministerial origins of the lower nobility and hence skewed our understanding of
the full picture. Furthermore, instead of pursuing the more customary legal or
political approach to this subject, Freed has taken the road of social history,

specifically by tracing closely the family history and marriage strategies of 169

lineages. He thus pays far more attention to women ministerials than has usually been paid, and he also imaginatively employs some artistic and literary evidence as well. The painstaking work required has paid off well here, for among
other things Freed expands our comprehension of the dynamics involved in the
creation of the second largest ecclesiastical principality in Christendom (after
the Papal States) and offers a convincing explanation for the resurgence of the
dowry in the thirteenth century. No doubt German and Austrian scholars will,
as usual, contest the attributions and connections made by an outsider, but I suspect that Freed's treatment will hold up well.
In short, this is a book which offers more than its title would suggest—the reverse, I regret to say, of the normal practice these days. It also represents a
happy marriage of traditional, precise scholarship grounded in the sources together with recent theories and models of family strategies.
Lawrence G. Duggan

University ofDelaware

BOOK REVIEWS

535

Crusaders and Heretics, 12th- 14th Centuries. By Malcolm Barber. [Variorum
Collected Studies Series, 498.] (Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum, Ashgate

Publishing Company. 1995. Pp. x, 289. $77.50.)

These essays were written over a period of more than twenty years, and they
have stood the test of time well, for although the author has made provision for
correcting and updating them, this has seldom proved necessary. They are
arranged chronologically, which enables the reader to appreciate the way in
which Malcolm Barber's scholarly interests have evolved. The first two essays
are concerned with the foundation and suppression of the Knights Templar, but
his interests soon widened to include other areas of Capetian intolerance. His
"Women and Catharism," published in 1977, a careful piece of investigation
based on the Inquisition records, is the earliest survey of a topic which has sub-

sequently become very popular. His Cathar interests are further developed in a

paper on the Occitan nobility which shows, with reference to three case histories, precisely how noble patronage of Cathars operated. He also wrote about
the pastoureaux uprising of 1320, which resulted in a cruel persecution of
lepers and Jews by Philip V; and about the Shepherds' Crusade to free St. Louis
in 1251, considering why that movement, which met with the approval of
Queen Blanche, regent of France, was treated as a conspiracy by most French
prelates and noblemen.

But the Templars, as is to be expected from the author of The New Knight-

hood, occupy pride of place in this collection. There is an illuminating essay on
why Philip IV did not disregard the Papacy when he brought the Templars to
trial; and another which shows how ill-directed much contemporary criticism
was which alleged that the Templars neglected their commitments in the East
in order to profit from their extensive western endowments, by demonstrating
how the Order dedicated its resources primarily to the needs of the Holy Land.
But the most impressive essay is the address to the Royal Historical Society in
which the Order is placed in its social context: welcomed at its foundation because it exemplified the ideals of knighthood which the Church had been
vainly seeking to promote for almost 200 years, it was later criticized because,
as it became more successful, it failed to observe those ideals. In "The Templars
and the Turin Shroud" Barber brings exact scholarship to bear on a topic which
seldom attracts it.

Writing on a quite different theme, he argues that Frankish Greece after 1204
had no resonance in the minds of most western people, apart from some
groups with special interests there, and suggests that this may explain why the
Latin Empire was so ephemeral. The volume ends with an essay on the comparatively neglected Military Order of St. Lazarus.

What struck me most strongly when reading these essays was the balanced
way in which Barber approaches the past. He clearly feels sympathy for the

poor and the persecuted, but this does not inhibit him from considering fairly
the problems of their secular and ecclesiastical rulers. Equally, while giving due
weight to economic trends and broad social developments, he never loses sight

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of the importance of individual men and women and their often imperfect responses to the situations in which they found themselves. It is a balanced, humane and scholarly view of the past such as we might expect from the author
of The Two Cities.
Bernard Hamilton

University ofNottingham

Military Orders and Crusades. By Alan Forey. [Variorum Collected Studies Series, CS432.] Brookfleld,Vermont: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Company.

1994. Pp. via, 318. $91.95 approx.)

Few scholars have contributed as much to our knowledge of the military religious orders in the twelfth through fourteenth centuries as has Dr. Alan Forey.
The present volume contains thirteen of his papers published between 1971
and 1991 , most of them in the 1980's. The first eight, devoted to the military orders as a whole, concern a wide range of important subjects which have often
received only cursory attention in the historical literature: their emergence in
the twelfth century, recruitment, novitiate and instruction of their membership,
associated female orders, their role in the Spanish reconquest, in the ransoming
of captives from Islam, in holy war against Christians, and in crusading propos-

als of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Two essays discuss the

Hospitallers: their initial militarization, and subsequent constitutional conflict
and change within the order. One delves into the history of the short-lived
Spanish Order of Mountjoy, and another into the long-lived but little-known
English Order of St. Thomas of Acre. The book concludes with an interesting
paper on the crusading vows of King Henry III of England.
The author is a meticulous scholar and one is constantly impressed by both
the chronological and geographical scope of the published primary and secondary sources upon which the articles in the volume are largely based. His capacity to integrate and balance the historical content of official documents
with the narrative accounts of the chroniclers enables him to progress beyond
the normal expectations of the evidence and to establish a meaningful evolution of events. He pursues controversial subjects, points out weaknesses in previously formulated arguments, establishes the present state of the question, and
offers new and valuable interpretations while at the same time opening the way
to additional avenues of research. He is as comfortable working with such
broad matters as the military orders in the Iberian Peninsula over nearly two
centuries as with the crucial metamorphosis of the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem from a hospitaller to a military organization during the course of a
generation. It is not surprising, given his comprehensive grasp of the literature
and encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, that his work is so frequently resorted to by contemporary authors working in similar and related fields. Despite the wealth of information he provides, Dr. Forey's conclusions are

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nevertheless cautious. He states, as a wise example for the profession, that "because of the paucity of the evidence available the most that can be expected of

any interpretation is a reasoned and coherent hypothesis" (X/16).

Although the subject matter it contains is less comprehensive, the wealth of
references to the sources makes this volume a more useful historical tool than

his recent work, The Military Orders (1992), which was apparently intended
for undergraduates and a wider general readership. On the other hand, the fact
that all quotations from the sources are, with the exception of his essay on the
ransoming of captives, reproduced in the language of the original, makes a vital
part of the present publication inaccessible to that same audience. Both specialist and other readers would best be served if the quotes were given in translation in the text and the original reproduced in the notes. The volume would
also have profited from the incorporation of subjects into the existing index of
persons and places, and a bibliography.
Of the many well-documented hypotheses put forward in this book, two may
be singled out for comment. The first concerns the author's contentions that
the favor experienced by the Templars after receiving ecclesiastical approval at
the Council of Troyes (1 129) should not be "regarded as a serious threat to the
fortunes of the Hospital" QX/86) and that the Hospitallers entered into a military role as early as the 1 130's. It was, in this reader's interpretation of the evi-

dence, precisely because the Hospitallers received so little patronage as a
purely charitable institution compared with the military role envisaged from
the start by the Templars, that the former were obliged to compete for funding
by taking on military responsibilities themselves. There is little indication that
the Hospitallers had the manpower or financial means to do so in the 1130's

but a sharp rise in western patronage from the ll40's suggests that militarization may be associated with events surrounding the Second Crusade. The other
contention deserving further research and debate is Dr. Forey's concluding re-

mark that, to the detriment of the movement, the thirteenth-century papacy
was itself largely responsible for diverting crusading energies away from the
Holy Land: "The crusade was tending in fact to become just another means of
obtaining men and money for any undertaking which had the support of the
Church. . ."(???/247).

Michael Gervers

University ofToronto

The Perfection of Solitude. Hermits and Monks in the Crusader States. By Andrew Jotischky. (University park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
1995. Pp. xviü, 198. $35.00.)

Despite the problems caused by the large gaps in the documentation, the uneven progress of archaeology, and the mythologies developed both then and
since, the many facets of the unique society created by the Latins in Syria and

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Palestine in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries continue to attract historians.

Although Peter the Venerable warned that "it is better to serve God in perpetual
humility and poverty, than to complete the journey to Jerusalem in pride and
luxury," it is clear that many twelfth-century Western Christians were so seduced by the prospect of living as a monk or a hermit in or near the holy places
of the East that they were prepared to take the risk. Evidence is not abundant,
but Andrew Jotischky has established a solid base for his study in the writings

of Gerard of Nazareth, Bishop of Latakia between ca. 1140 and ca. 1161 (the

subject of a fine reconstruction by Benjamin Kedar in 1983), and in his own research into the historical truth behind the Carmelite traditions. At the same

time he has taken care to place these men in the context of both western
monastic developments of the twelfth century and the long-established Greek
and eastern Christian communities which had been part of the Syrian scene
since the time of the desert fathers. The result is that crusade historians now

have a convincing picture of the monks and hermits of the East which complements Bernard Hamilton's study of the secular church.
Gerard of Nazareth's cast of characters is especially fascinating, ranging from
Bernard of Blois, who was afraid neither to inveigh against the immoralities of
King Baldwin II nor to preach the Christian message before Balak, ruler of

Aleppo, to Alberic, who looked after the lepers in Jerusalem, eating their left-

over food, kissing them after Mass, washing their feet, making their beds, and
carrying them on his shoulders. As can be seen, many of these men were not
content simply with ascetic exercises (ferocious as these seem to have been),
but fit the pattern of what Henrietta Leyser has called "a new kind of hermit,"
whose social role was more participatory. It is clear that at this time and in the

period of the early Carmelites in the late twelfth century, the situation remained
exceedingly fluid: some craved the isolation of the wilderness, while others

joined communities which, in turn, sought the discipline of a Rule. Ultimately,
during the thirteenth century, as in the West, papal control increased, and these
forms of religious life became more controlled and structured. This contrasted
with the Byzantine houses which, although heavily supported by Manuel Comnenus for political reasons, remained autocephalous. As Jotischky concludes, a
monastic purist like St. Bernard might see the dangers of"too close a mental association between the earthly and the heavenlyJerusalem," but the evidence analyzed in this book shows that this was quite distinctly "the minority view."
Malcolm Barber

University ofReading

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539

Recueil des actes de Louis VI, roi de France (1108-1137). Publié sous la direc-

tion de Robert-Henri Bautier par Jean Dufour. 4 vols. [Chartes et diplômes

relatifs à l'histoire de France.] (Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-

Lettres. Distributed by Boccard. 1992-1994. Pp. xxvii, 497; 497; 233, plates
5; 193.)

In 1894, the "Commission des chartes et diplômes" of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres resolved to provide historians with comprehensive
critical editions of French royal charters issued between 840 (accession of
Charles the Bald to the West Frankish kingdom) and 1223 (death of King Philip
Augustus). In the course of the twentieth century, all Carolingian and Robertian
diplomas were edited, along with the Capetian charters of Philip 1(1 060- 1 1 08)
and Philip Augustus (1 180-1223). Jean Dufour, who has already contributed the
respected Recueil des actes de Robert I" et de Raoul, rois de France 926-936
(Paris, 1978), now expands the corpus of Capetian diplomaties with his new
meticulous and scholarly edition of all known acts issued in the name of Louis
VI as king-designate and as king, and of his queen and dowager,Adelaide of Maurienne.

Faithful to the exacting rules of traditional diplomatics but also utilizing the
resources of computerized textual processing, Dufour provides analysis,
stemma, text or clue, and critical apparatus for some 500 Latin documents, ordered chronologically. This corpus, gathered by means of an extensive quest
which has uncovered thirty-two unpublished items and yielded ninety-six original documents and twenty forgeries, consists primarily of authentic copies or
references to acts now lost. Framing this rich material are graphic illustrations,
valuable appendices and indexes, and an erudite introduction in which Dufour
addresses the modes and significance of scribal production, chancery practice,
and diplomatic discourse.
Louis VTs diplomatic production was far more extensive than that of his father, King Philip I (180 articles), and introduced new rhetorical forms and vali-

dating procedure. Dufour relates these innovations in part to the personal

influence of Guillaume de Champeaux and of Suger, who may themselves have
penned some royal diplomas and to the scriptorial activity of their respective
abbeys of St. Victor and St. Denis. Louis' diplomatics was fundamentally shaped

by the literate culture of churchmen, as had been the case with royal documentary practices since Carolingian times. The chancellor responsible for the

royal seal and for documentary validation continued to head the royal chapel

and the chancery with both units being staffed by the same clerics who neither
prepared all royal charters nor filed them in a royal archive. As the principal recipients of the king's generosity, ecclesiastical establishments also drafted, and
preserved, the records of those gifts and decisions made in their favor by Louis
VI. Indeed, the great majority of Louis' charters involved religious institutions,
particularly Benedictine monasteries and communities of canons regular,
mainly located within the royal domain and the Ile-de-France; neither the Cis-

tercian nor the Prémontré abbeys appear to have been much favored.

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Irrespective of whether they were the products of the court or of ecclesiastical scriptoria, these royal charters express the king's will, utilizing peremptory
signs (seal, monogram) and tone, yet also suffused with a sense of accountability to God. Generally concerned with the conveyance of lands for salvific purposes, they begin with symbolic and verbal Trinitarian invocations, proceed to
the royal subscription containing the devotional formula "rex gratia Dei" or
"divina ordinanteProvidentia," are addressed to "all the faithful in Christ," continue with a preamble (arenga) often composed of excerpts from the Scriptures

which Dufour has conveniently identified and gathered in an appendix, and,

after describing the pious motifs prompting the gift and its recording, close
with spiritual maledictions.
As early twelfth-century Western society evolved its new dependency on the
written word, manifestations of royal power in writing came to be endowed
with a new format and significance. The charter production of King Louis VI,
now readily accessible in this reliable and outstanding edition by Jean Dufour,
will permit historians to chart the cultural divergence between script and scripture, between writing as inscription of divine order and the written as vehicle
for administrative development.
Brigitte Bedos-Rezak

University ofMaryland at College Park

Fortress-Churches of Languedoc:Architecture, Religion, and Conflict in the
High Middle Ages. By Sheila Bonde. (New York: Cambridge University

Press. 1994. Pp. xv, 270. $85.00.)

Sheila Bonde's gracefully written study of the development of the fortresschurch will certainly be of great interest to architectural historians. This excellent book will also appeal to a broader audience, that is, to medievalists
interested in subjects as diverse as the history of southern France, the intertwining of religious and military realms, and the expansion of Capetian power
in the twelfth century.
The fortress-church (which Bonde defines as a church whose structure incorporates elements of fortification) seems to have first appeared in western
Europe in Languedoc during the early twelfth century. Thus southern France

was not the architectural backwater that art historians obsessed with the emer-

gence of Gothic have tended to believe. Bonde's focus is on the three earliest
important examples of this architectural form: the abbey church of Saint-Ponsde-Thomières and the episcopal churches of Agde and Maguelone. She examines the physical fabric of each of these twelfth-century churches and the
institutional history of the community for which it was built. She also explores
archival sources to arrive at approximate dates for the construction of the fortified churches. In an appendix, Bonde provides the text of these Latin docu-

BOOK REVIEWS

541

ments and her English translations (which are generally accurate translations of
the often awkward Latin).
Bonde's extensive archival research explains why her study will be of great
relevance to scholars other than architectural historians. Bonde is keenly interested in the context, both local and larger, for these churches; hence, she also
writes very much as a historian. This is not to say that she ignores the stylistic
history of the fortress-church. Looking at Islamic and imperial Roman secular
architecture, English cathedrals, and local southern French predecessors and
parallels, Bonde traces the development of the distinctive architectural features

of fortress churches. She argues that their most important characteristic, the

machicolated arcade (a series of arches with an opening at their apexes allowing objects to be dropped on attackers), was introduced to western European
architecture from the Muslim world through the fortress-churches of Languedoc, and not through castles as has been assumed previously.

Bonde is equally interested in the functional and social history of these build-

ings. She discusses, for example, the manning and operation of the churches.
Using comparative architectural evidence, she also demonstrates that these
churches functioned not only as actual fortresses but also as symbolic proclamations of power and order, an order based on a desire for peace. For it was this
desire that motivated in large part the choice to build fortified churches, Bonde

argues. She compellingly shows how the fortress-church was a physical expression of the link between the spiritual and the military, a connection also articulated in the doctrine of just warfare, the Peace of God, the Crusades, the
emergence of the military orders, and the role patron saints could play as venge-

ful protectors. Bonde's finely wrought discussion shows that she is well acquainted with the extensive secondary literature on these subjects. Next,
Bonde turns to the local landscape in which these churches were embedded.

The sources often mention enemies— "Saracens, heretics, pagans" —threaten-

ing these ecclesiastical communities. Bonde explores how the organized Peace
of God of the twelfth century helped to create the language and categories of
enemy used in these texts. But as Bonde points out, peace regulations often stipulated that churches should not be fortified. Why then were Agde, Maguelone,
and Saint-Pons fortified?

Bonde's important and original answer involves not only local but also royal
politics. She argues that one of the strategies Louis VII employed to expand
royal power in the south involved undercutting the power of the local secular
nobility. By authorizing the bishops of Agde and Maguelone to build fortified
churches, Louis ensured that the power of the bishops would counterbalance
that of the local nobles (with whom Louis also allied himself in a divide and

conquer strategy). Here Bonde makes an argument that is very important for

historians interested in Louis VII and more generally in Capetian power in the
twelfth century. Yet, as Bonde argues, the sanction that Louis gave for the fortifications was retrospective; the construction began well before permission was
received. Ultimately, the motivation for the construction of these churches lay

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with the communities themselves, with their desire to defend themselves from
real or perceived threats, and to proclaim peace and order through their very
fabric.

Bonde's excellent study thus contextualizes and explains the emergence of
the fortress church, the physical incarnation of the medieval fusion of the mili-

tary and the spiritual. This book also represents an important contribution to
the all too often ignored history of southern France.

Amy G. Remensnyder

Brown University

The Letters ofHildegard ofBingen. Volume 1 . Translated byJoseph L. Baird and
Radd K. Ehrman. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1994. Pp. xiii, 227.
$39.95.)

To adapt a saying of Dr. Johnson's, the question posed by this book is not
whether it has been done well, but rather whether it should have been done at
all. In their translations of Hildegard's letters, the authors succeed admirably in
"rendering her thoughts accurately both in her clarity and her obscurity" (p.
23). That this is a difficult enough task will be appreciated by anyone who has
had to wrestle with Hildegard's allusive prose and idiomatic vocabulary.
On the vexed problem of gendered language the translators privilege "clear,
well-modulated English prose" over "awkward attempts to skirt around modern
sensitivities," at times rendering homines as men. Translators of Hildegard will
sympathize with such a decision after canvassing the possibilities of humankind, people, mortals, etc., to provide gender-neutral pronouns. However,
there is no such excuse for disregarding modern sensitivities in the generally informative introduction, where we read: "Until very recently, a reader of the letters was obliged either to use the manuscripts themselves, if he [sic] had access
to them . . ." (p. 23).
The notes are mostly helpful, although less comment on the tone of the letter
and more historical detail about persons mentioned would have been useful.
For example, "Count Hermann" (von Stahleck, a local notable and early supporter of Hildegard), mentioned in Letter 12, is not identified in the commentary. Greater familiarity with local conditions might have explained the allusion
to the Hundtragen in Letter 7 which puzzled the editors. A description of this
ritual punishment—closer to hand than their reference to Widukund of Cor-

vey—appears in the Annales Sancti Disibodi for the year 1156 where the same

Hermann von Stahleck was forced to "carry the dogs" by the Emperor for his
part in a dispute with Arnold of Mainz.
However, these are mere quibbles compared with the fact that only ninety of

the approximately 400 letters which make up Hildegard's correspondence are

BOOK REVIEWS

543

here translated. Indeed, the decision to publish the translations serially renders
the whole enterprise more problematical than might appear at first sight. The
reason lies in the particular arrangement of the letters in the source edition—
an edition which as yet only consists of two of the projected four volumes (and
whose ultimate appearance will be further delayed due to the death last year of
their editor, Lieven Van Acker).
Basing their work on the incomplete edition, the translators have had to follow its eccentric ordering (albeit one with manuscript authority) where the letters are arranged not chronologically, nor thematically but according to the
official status of the recipient. (But not always, as St. Bernard of Clairvaux takes

pride of place even before the Popes.) This means that a series of letters on the
same subject—for example, the removal of Richardis von Stade to Bassum—in-

volving correspondents of different status, will be scattered throughout the several volumes. Tracing the development of Hildegard's thought, her activities, or
even the extent of her network at any one time is at present impossible and will
remain laborious even when all volumes are complete.
How might such inbuilt structural problems be overcome? Short of suggesting that further publication be postponed until the Latin edition has been completed, I believe the best course would be to ensure that subsequent volumes of
the translation include a detailed cumulative index to help readers find their
way around this very important correspondence.
Sabina Flanagan

University ofAdelaide, Australia

Huguccio: The Life, Works, and Thought of a Twelfth-Century Jurist. By Wolfgang P. Müller. [Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Canon Law,Volume
3.] (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press. 1994. Pp.
ix, 220. $59.95.)
Wolfgang Miiller's study of Huguccio (d. 1210), the most important legal
thinker in the decretist tradition, is a major contribution to the ongoing task of
publishing the foundations of canon law. It also underscores the problems involved in that effort. Huguccio's commentary on the Decretum, one of the
longest ever written, provided a synthesis of the first half-century of decretist
thought.
The volume contains four tightly focused chapters, each dealing with a
fundamental issue. The first chapter deals with identifying Huguccio. Various
writers have identified Huguccio the canonist as the bishop of Ferrara, as the
author of the Derivationes, a widely read etymological dictionary, and as
the teacher of Innocent III. After reviewing the literature, Müller concludes
that Huguccio the canonist was indeed the bishop of Ferrara, but that it is
not clear that he was also the noted grammarian. Furthermore, Müller con-

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eludes that there is not much evidence that Huguccio was the teacher of Innocent III.

The second chapter deals with Huguccio's as yet unpublished Summa Decretorum. The lack of a published edition of this commentary has two causes:
it is "among the longest works of canonistic literature ever written" even

though it was never completed (p. 67); furthermore, there are forty-two manu-

scripts, including nine complete texts. Müller provides a survey of the manuscripts, indicating what is missing from the incomplete texts.

The third chapter deals with Huguccio's use of Roman law. The canonists debated the relationship between secular and ecclesiastical law, a struggle that
was at the heart of the medieval Church-State conflict. Were the two laws

equals, each supreme in its own jurisdiction, or was the canon law superior to

the secular law? Furthermore, to what degree should the canonists employ
Roman law? Would its use undermine the autonomy of the Church? Müller concludes that Huguccio was a dualist, that is, he recognized the autonomy of secular law in purely secular matters, but he also "did not hesitate to make
Christian equity the basic guideline for everyone, including secular judges" f.
129). This conclusion is a sensible solution to the occasionally sterile debate
about whether a particular canonist was a dualist or a hierocrat. As for Roman
law as a subject of study, Huguccio used Roman law instrumentally, citing it
where it supplemented the canon law, but otherwise had no particular interest
in it.

The final chapter deals with what other canonists termed the Rigor Huguccio, that is, the harshness with which Huguccio often judged cases. He did not,
for example, "admit the threat of death as a valid excuse, psychologically or
legally" for committing a sinful act (p. 137). Thus, he "also denied that the cir-

cumstances of an act could affect the degree of responsibility on the part of
those who performed it" (p. 139)· Later canonists backed away from Huguccio's
harshness, drawing from Roman law the principle that fear of death or other external circumstances could lessen an individual's responsibility for performing
an intrinsically sinful act.
MMer's work brings together what is known about Huguccio and his commentary and re-emphasizes his importance in the development of canon law.
What we need now is an edition of that commentary.
James Muldoon

Rutgers University, Camden

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545

The German Episcopacy and the Implementation of the Decrees of the
Fourth Lateran Council, 1216-1245: Watchmen on the Tower. By Paul B.
Pixton. [Studies in the History of Christian Thought, Volume LXIV] (Lei-

den: EJ. Brill. 1995. Pp. xv, 543. $135.00.)

The Fourth Lateranum was the most important medieval council. Its seventy
canons on such subjects as transubstantiation, the Jews, marriage, and auricular
confession have shaped Western culture. The conciliar decrees were to be executed by annual provincial and diocesan synods, episcopal visitations, and triennial general chapters of regulars. Paul B. Pixton examines the implementation

of its edicts in Germany before the First Council of Lyons (1245). Innocent Ill's
reform program built on a tradition of synodal activity, but ecclesiastical discipline had broken down after the double election of 1 198. The success of Innocent's plans depended on the zeal of individual prelates like Archbishops

Dietrich II of Trier and Eberhard II of Salzburg and after 1224 on the leadership
of the legate, Cardinal Conrad of Porto. Pixton concludes that this reform effort
failed for a number of reasons: the impossibility of reforming society through
legislation, the renewal of the papal-imperial conflict, and the contradiction be-

tween the council's emphasis on episcopal authority and Roman appellate juris-

diction. This book will be a reference work for any English-speaking scholar
who is interested in the thirteenth-century German Church.
Nevertheless, I was disappointed. First, anyone who attempts to synthesize

what happened in six ecclesiastical provinces will make mistakes that a spe-

cialist is likely to spot. Let me cite a few of Pixton's factual errors about

Salzburg. Reichenhall is in Bavaria, not Tyrol; Gerhoch of Reichersberg was a
provost, not an abbot; St. Victor is the Cistercian abbey ofViktring (pp. 27-31);

Eberhard II was a noble, not a ministerial, whereas Rüdiger of Radeck, the first

bishop of Chiemsee, was an archiépiscopal ministerial, not a noble (p. 199); the
bishopric ofVienna was established in 1469, not in the late thirteenth century

f. 217); St. Lambrecht is in Styria, not Carinthia (p. 231); and Archbishop-Elect

Philip was a Spanheimer, not an Ortenburg (p. 453). None of this is very significant, and I suspect that there are fewer mistakes in the treatment of Mainz and

Trier where Pixton is more at home, but some caution is in order.

Second, Pixton presents the information "in a chronological fashion in order
to reveal relationships between diocesan and provincial synods of specific regions of Germany, and also to suggest the response to papal, legatine, and

archiépiscopal stimuli" (p. 436). The result is an old-fashioned book that re-

minded me of the nineteenth-centuryJahrbücherfür deutsche Geschichte, including massive Latin quotations from chronicles and papal charters; indeed he
relies heavily on Eduard Winkelmann's biographies of Philip of Swabia, Otto IV,
and Frederick II in that series. Much of the secondary literature is equally dated.
For example, Pixton cites an 1880 book about Archbishop Conrad of Mainz and

Salzburg (p. 27) rather than Siglinde Oehring's 1973 monograph or an 1899 article on the election of Bishop Conrad of Hildesheim rather than Irene Crusius's
1984 piece (p. 304). Furthermore, the footnotes are hard to use because there

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is only a partial bibliography and no indication in subsequent references to the
first complete citation; see, for instance, the references to my own book on the
friars (pp. 205, 457). This positivist approach makes it extremely difficult to follow a specific story; e.g., to learn about the cause célèbre of the 1220's, the
heresy trial in Hildesheim of Henry Minnecke, the reader must turn to pages
304-305 and 330-33 1 . The subheadings are of little help; for instance, the eightpage section labeled,"The Condemnation of Henry Minnecke," starts with a single paragraph on this topic and then shifts in the next paragraph to marriage
negotiations in Toul. I tended to lose sight of the forest.
Finally, Pixton's presentation of Innocent's reform program is too limited. The
pope also sought to incorporate the new religious currents represented by SS.
Francis and Dominic into the Church; thus the rapid spread of the mendicants
should also be seen as part of the papal agenda. Surely, the friars' preaching

transformed the laity's understanding of the Gospel. It is noteworthy that Pix-

ton's clerical heroes, Cardinal Conrad, Conrad of Hildesheim, and Archbishop
Eberhard, were also among the friars' most important patrons. If Pixton had
broadened his view, he might not have concluded: "Without an inner commitment to the principles articulated at the Fourth Lateranum.the German church
of 1245 was not fundamentally different from that of 1200 or even 1500"
(P- xv).
John B. Freed

Illinois State University

Piety and Charity in Late Medieval Florence. By John Henderson. (New York:

Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. 1994. Pp. xviii, 533. $85.00.)

John Henderson's book is a long-awaited contribution to the history of confraternities and charity in Renaissance Florence. Many scholars have already

consulted profitably his 1983 thesis at the University of London entitled "Piety

and Charity in Late Medieval Florence: Lay Religious Confraternities from the
Middle of the Thirteenth Century to the Late Fifteenth Century." Readers will
not be disappointed with the range of knowledge and the number of issues addressed and all treated from numerous original sources from the Archivio di
Stato and other archives of Florence. The author has pieced together complex
data from thousands of documents relevant to confraternities and lay charity.
Art, musical, and literary historians will henceforth consult this book with great
profit on a wide range of topics. Also, highly useful is the appendix of the "Confraternities Meeting in Florence, 1240-1499," in which the author lists 163 Flo-

rentine confraternities (pp. 443-474).

The author writes," [T] he organization of the book into two main parts (piety
and charity) reflects the dual nature of charity" (p. 9). Part I surveys lay piety in
Florence from 1250 to 1500 by first establishing confraternities as one of many

forms of corporate organization in the High Middle Ages. Chapters 2 through 6

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547

trace the evolution of confraternities primarily through two forms, that of the
laudesi and disciplinan, ending with a finely nuanced study of the confraternity of Orsanmichele. Part II introduces the reader to the complex world of Florentine charity and hospitals. Documents from Orsanmichele provide evidence
for an extensive discussion of the systematic poor relief by this confraternity
and other Florentine institutions. Noting the decline of large charitable confra-

ternal institutions and the growing role of state supervision by the late fifteenth
century, the author concludes with a discussion of the relationship of these corporate groups with other institutions and particularly with the state.

In the introduction the author discusses a number of books on European and
Italian confraternities, which he organizes into the now conventional two
schools, the religious-local and social-historical. He states his intention of making historiographie progress by combining the two schools, but does the book
succeed in making a historiographie breakthrough beyond the two schools and
convey a fundamentally novel view of either Renaissance confraternities or
charity? It is apparent that, despite the fact that the question must be answered
in the negative, the book remains a highly useful survey of the religious and
charitable activity of the men of Renaissance Florence. It is arguable whether
the book has an overall design beyond the juxtapositioning of charity and confraternities. It is not clear if the author accepts Ronald Weissman's thesis in
Ritual Brotherhood in Renaissance Florence, the first analytical study of
Florentine confraternities, that Florentine men found urban social life agonistic
and that confraternities served, among other things, to assuage the guilt resulting from aggressivity and duplicity in the city and to establish social links be-

yond kin and social class (despite the comments on pages 421-422, 430-431)·

Henderson prefers to let his sources and work speak for him. Unfortunate it is
that the book with obvious familiarity with so many original sources and with
contemporary research problems does not stake out a substantial historiographie position.
The book, however, is filled with marvelous sections informed with problems
that have interested Florentine researchers in the last decade: for examples, the
number of members of the confraternity of San Girolamo who attended meetings in the mid-fifteenth century; the social origin of the recipients of the charity of the confraternity of Orsanmichele and the role of the Florentine
government in supervision of this important confraternity and others; and the
fears of communal magistrates that confraternities were centers of governmental

opposition. The vast number of historiographie problems touched upon can
only be indicated rather than analyzed in depth in this short review.

Other strengths of the book derive from the author's command of a broad
range of sources. Through his discussions of confraternal statutes he presents a
fine understanding of the organization and stated ends and through his analyses
of registers of payments, attendance, and punishments an excellent sense of the
behavior of members. Another area of research that the author opens up to English readers is hospitals, which he presents as an alternative form of charity by

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the late Quattrocento and describes in great detail. And finally, as the author
states, his book will provide an institutional basis for all subsequent studies of

confraternal association, hospitals, and charity in Florence.

James R. Banker

North Carolina State University, Raleigh

Eye Priory Cartulary and Charters, Part Two. Edited by Vivien Brown. [Suffolk
Records Society: Suffolk Charters,Volume XIII.] (Rochester, NewYork: Boydell Press. 1994. Pp. xviii, 194. $35.00.)
Volume II of Eye Priory Cartulary and Charters adds seventy-three documents to the 357 ofVolume I (reviewed ante, LXXX [April, 1994] , 344-345), including five originals. Although none of these documents were part of the
original cartulary, many of them predate the ca. 1260 composition of that cartulary, and they comprise an important part of the record of the priory. All

pre- 1260 documents are printed in extenso in Latin; the later ones are fully
calendared in English.

This volume provides a thorough introduction, two maps, and detailed indices of fifty-three pages serving both volumes, without which aids these medieval records would be of limited value. The five-part introduction discusses
the founder and his family, the history of the priory, the possessions of the pri-

ory, the charters, and the manuscripts. This concluding volume is especially use-

ful because the editor has documented her account with a diverse selection

of printed and manuscript sources in addition to the Eye documents themselves.

Eye was founded by Robert Malet, whose father fought at Hastings. Robert
forfeited his honor of Eye in the reign ofWilliam II; and although he returned to
prominence under Henry I, he survived only five or six more years. Only with
difficulty did Eye priory survive this period, with only nineteen of its original
thirty-two churches. Later holders of the honor of Eye, who granted or confirmed rights of the priory, included King Henry I, Stephen, both before and
after he became king, Stephen's son William of Blois, Henry II, and King John.
The cartulary makes no reference to Eye's mother house, Notre-Dame of Bernay
in Normandy, and the scant information about that relationship must be
gleaned from other sources. Brown discusses in detail Eye's difficulties as an
alien priory in the Anglo-French wars of the fourteenth century. But little is
known about fifteenth-century Eye.
In most of the churches the monks held only the advowson and a fixed pension. The I29I Taxatio Ecclesiastica (a surprising omission from the unusually

comprehensive indices) valued the priory's spiritualities, income from
churches and tithes, at £105, and its temporalities at £66 although "actual income must have exceeded these assessments of the Taxatio, especially with re-

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549

gard to temporal wealth." Brown discusses the financial difficulties experienced
by the priory because of corrodies, inflation, royal pressure during war, and loss
of property at Dunwich due to the depredations of the sea. In one of the more
valuable sections of the introduction, she gathers together information about
the various churches and tithes, with cross references to the documents. That

she categorizes document 326 a forgery is an example of her meticulous schol-

arship. This reviewer did note, however, a discrepancy between the Latin title
and the English calendar of number 369.

The editor and the Suffolk Record Society should be congratulated for providing these two volumes on Eye priory. Those interested in monastic history, in
the history of the honor of Eye, or in the genealogical history of persons associated with the Suffolk area will find these volumes valuable.

John W. Dahmus

Stephen F.Austin State University

Popular Piety in Late Medieval England: The Diocese of Salisbury,
1250-1550. By Andrew D. Brown. [Oxford Historical Monographs.] (New
York: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. 1995. Pp. x, 297. $58.00.)
Despite the immense difficulties always inherent in assessing what "popular
piety" may actually mean, perhaps no topic has come to attract more attention
from the most recent church historians of late medieval England. All the more
welcome is Dr. Brown's exemplary study of that fundamental if complex theme
within the Diocese of Salisbury, a work remarkable not only for its long chrono-

logical range (1250-1550) but also for its exploitation of a wide variety of un-

published and hitherto neglected archival material. Here is a book which
triumphantly succeeds in living up to its author's objective of revealing "a religious landscape of remarkable depth and vitality." Not that the copious evi-

dence Dr. Andrew Brown brings to light is usually at all easy to interpret; and he

deserves congratulations too on the powers of discrimination he brings to bear
on the various manifestations of popular piety he exposes to view. Naturally
enough, several of the problems he confronts remain problems still; but Dr.
Brown is nothing if not judicious, perhaps only seriously and understandably in

some difficulties when trying to explain the widespread and comparatively

rapid acceptance of sixteenth-century Protestantism in what had hitherto
seemed—on his own evidence—a religiously conservative and conventionally
pious diocese. However, this is a notorious issue which no ecclesiastical historian can be said to have satisfactorily resolved anywhere else in Reformation
England. As it is, Dr. Brown's highly thoughtful chapter (the last in his book) on
"The Reformation" is a most valuable contribution to a perennial debate, not

least for his somewhat paradoxical conclusion that "continuity in pious practices and devotional habits ultimately made religious change more acceptable."

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Popular Piety in Late Medieval England is nothing if not a comprehensive
as well as an elegantly written monograph. Quite rightly determined that the religious houses of the diocese of Salisbury should not be "shunted into some obscure sideline of devotional interest," Dr. Brown begins his book with an
admirable survey of the important role still being played by monks, nuns, and
friars (as well as the clergy of Salisbury cathedral itself) into the early sixteenth
century. Much more central to the purposes of this study are a series of chapters devoted to the complex web of pious and other activities focusing on the
parish church. Here the author's ability to give due emphasis to so many important but very different themes, ranging from parish fraternities and chantry
foundations to church-building, is highly impressive: and in many ways his
pages on these subjects provide the most balanced and satisfying account of
parish life in its entirety yet produced for any late medieval English diocese.
More perhaps might have been said about the parish priests themselves; but the
late Professor Hamilton Thompson would surely have welcomed so convincing
an explanation of why their churches were so continually rebuilt from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Even more perceptive are Dr. Brown's comments on hospitals, private devotion, and Lollardy; and by yet another paradox
it emerges that heresy and dissent tended to be most "intense" in towns like Devizes and Marlborough which otherwise seem most notable for their enthusiastic commitment to orthodox piety. Indeed, one of the most original features of
an original book is its attempt to explain the considerable variations in late medieval popular piety within the diocese of Salisbury in terms of the highly diverse social and economic contexts of its three constituent counties of Dorset,
Wiltshire, and Berkshire. Dr. Brown deserves a double round of applause, first
for making a major contribution to our understanding of the medieval English
church as a whole and, secondly, for a highly successful pioneering effort in the
difficult art of writing a regional history of a universalist church.
R. B. Dobson

Christ's College
University of Cambridge

Aquinas and theJews. By John Y. B. Hood. [Middle Ages Series.] (Philadelphia:

University of Pennsylvania Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 145. Paperback.)

In the narrow compass of 159 pages Hood has provided a surprisingly full
study of all the essential documentation left by Brother Thomas on his view of
the meaning, the rights, and the disabilities of Jews in a Christian polity. After
two deft chapters on the patristic background and on the general context of
the thirteenth century, Hood has analyzed the thomistic sources. Here the
Summa contra gentiles and the Summa theologiae, I—II, 98-105, and H-II, 10,
7-12, as well as the biblical commentaries by Thomas, in all of which Aquinas
dealt with his perceptions ofJudaism and Christianity on a generally theoretical
plane, are supplemented by the De regimine Iudaeorum. As Hood remarks,

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551

this title is misleading; far from naming a treatise, it has been attached to list of

responses to eight specific questions, five of which bear on Jews, posed to
Aquinas by the Countess of Flanders. Historians will note that Hood has opted,

correctly in this reader's opinion, for Marguerite of Flanders rather than the
Duchess of Brabant as the feudal inquirer. A number of those questions involve
the issue of usury on which Brother Thomas held an unbending, and faithfully
Aristotelian, condemnation of any interest on any loan. Incidental to this list of
ad hoc solutions is a passing reference to providing Jews with work rather than
growing rich in idleness by lending money at interest "as is done in parts of
Italy" (p. 105). Three "theological pillars" grounded the positions of Aquinas as
Hood reads them: the dispersion of the Jews as punishment for the crucifixion
of the Messiah, the Pauline conviction that there will be an ultimate conversion

to Christianity of a "remnant" of the Jews, and last, the Augustinian view that
Jews give unwitting testimony to the truth of the Church: The Christological

prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures could hardly have been forged by Christians. Hood reminds us that the teaching and writing career of Aquinas occurred between the Parisian "Talmud trials" of 1242 and the recommendation

that the Talmud be used in efforts to convert Jews to Christianity; Thomas was
silent on both. Toward the end of his career there was increasing pressure
against usury, practiced by certain Christians as well as by Jews, and new pressure for taking Jewish children from their parents so that they might be given a
Christian upbringing. In the tradition of Aristotle, Brother Thomas produced
reasoned condemnations of usury (one thinks of the intolerable "servicing" of
national debts in our time). Hood suggests a parallel with prostitution, an evil
tolerable to avoid greater evils, as a way that Aquinas might have eased this ban.
In the name of natural law Thomas explicitly defended the rights ofJewish par-

ents over the upbringing of their children. As always, Thomas Aquinas was an

instinctive defender of whatever could be defended in the existing theological
and legal structures, and Hood more than once adverts to this (v.g., pp. xi, xii,
43,56,86,92,103,111).

If the thomistic attitude toward the Jews hardly merits efforts to reinstate it

in our time, Hood is convinced that even in the day ofAquinas the relatively tol-

erant tradition of Paul, of Augustine, and of the papal Sicut Iudaeos non was
largely out of touch 'with the forces of social change. Indeed, given "the stereotypes theologians such as Aquinas had helped develop and perpetuate—the
image of Jews as dangerous infidels, as usurers, as Christ-killers— . . . the more

tolerant tradition that Thomas Aquinas represented was simply irrelevant" (p.
111).

This lucid and reliable study fills a serious gap in thomistic bibliography. It
might well be used for seminar work on the university level.
Edward A. Synan

Pontifical Institute ofMedieval Studies, Toronto

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Meister Eckhart and the Béguine Mystics:Hadewijch ofBrabant, Mechthild of
Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete. Edited by Bernard McGinn. (New
York: Continuum. 1994. Pp. x, 166. $1995.)

Marguerite Porete: The Mirror of Simple Souls. Translated and introduced by
Ellen L. Babinsky. (New York: Paulist Press. 1993. Pp. x, 249. $24.95 cloth,
$17.95 paperback.)

The growing interest in medieval women's religious literature, as evidenced
in the proliferation of critical editions, translations, and scholarly studies of their
works over the past several decades, has now led to the establishment and exploration of a new and promising area of medieval studies, namely, the affinities
between these authors and their medieval male counterparts. Since Meister
Eckhart has long been one of the most widely studied of the latter group, it is
not surprising that the volume Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics
should be one of the first book-length publications to explore this new frontier.
Growing out of papers delivered during two sessions of the twenty-eighth International Conference on Medieval Studies held at Kalamazoo, Michigan, in
1993, the book includes studies by eight scholars, including a lucid introduction
by the editor, Bernard McGinn, and a carefully nuanced conclusion by Richard
Woods. The other six papers—by Paul Dietrich, Amy Hollywood, Maria Lichtmann, Saskia Murk-Jansen, Michael Sells, and Frank Tobin—examine affinities

between the work of Eckhart and that of the individual béguines named in the
book's subtitle.

For the most part, the authors do not claim that Eckhart was directly influenced by the writings of these béguines, most of whom lived a generation or
two earlier (although Amy Hollywood is less hesitant than the others in this regard). Instead, they are intent on showing, in the words of Michael Sells, that
there was "a sustained and intricate conversatio between the Beguine tradition
of vernacular theology that in some ways culminated with Porete and the formal traditions (Neo-Platonism, scholasticism) that reached another sort of culmination with Eckhart" (p. 146). Among the common themes and vocabulary of
this conversatio are those of the desert or wasteland, detachment, nothingness,
and (especially in the case of Porete) the soul's reversion to the innocence of its
precreated being. It should be noted that while none of the authors overlook
differences between Eckhart and the béguines, this is particularly true of
Woods, who insists that showing the extent to which Eckhart drew upon a
common tradition of mystical theology does not diminish "the luster of his originality" but instead "augments the stature of his creativity, revealing his sensitivity to the crucial spiritual and indeed theological issues which these prophetic

figures had raised to new levels of awareness and expression" (p. 164).

A useful complement to this important exploratory volume is a new English
translation of Porete's only book, The Mirror of Simple Souls, the first such
translation to have been produced since Porete's authorship of the treatise was
discovered by Romana Guarnieri half a century ago. Ellen Babinsky's lengthy in-

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553

traduction provides an overview of the beguine movement, an account of the
reasons that led to Porete's execution as a heretic, and reflections on this be-

guine's understanding of the nature of the soul, its spiritual progress, and its
transformation and union with God. The translator's endnotes regularly elucidate obscure parts of the text, while the extensive bibliography will be appreciated by readers who wish to delve more deeply into some of the issues raised
by Porete's text.
James A.Wiseman, O.S. B.

The Catholic University ofAmerica

TheArt ofDevotion in the Late MiddleAges in Europe, I3OO to 1500. By Henk
van Os, with Hans Nieuwdorp, Bernhard Ridderbos, Eugène Honée. Translated from the Dutch by Michael Doyle. (Princeton: Princeton University
Press. 1994. Pp. 192; 85 color illustrations; 110 black and white illustrations. $49.50.)
This is not an easy study to define. It is at once a catalogue accompanying an
exhibition of the same title and a lavishly illustrated book intended to last beyond the exhibition of the featured objects. While exhibition catalogues by nature often play a dual role, this one reveals a greater than usual intimacy
between the works chosen for exhibition and the ideas governing the historical
interpretation. The author describes in an unusual foreword the exhibition parameters, emphasizing a wide geographical spread of the "best objects from
Dutch collections" made for a "private room."Van Os explains that the Director
of Exhibitions "did not want the show to be accompanied by a hefty tome containing profound scholarly analyses of each work . . ." but rather to use the objects as a "framework for a straightforward narrative aimed at the general
public." I am not sure precisely what sort of "general public" would understand
certain aspects of this text (the "Hague scene" is hardly a common way to refer
to an image), though it is an engaging source for undergraduate students of the
late Middle Ages. If not a general public, then who is the reader of this book?
Although not meant to be a scholarly "tome," the book is for scholars
nonetheless. First of all, the illustrations are magnificent. For those scholars
who could not view the exhibition, the plates in the book, along with the au-

thor's precise and evocative descriptions, convey something of the physical

presence of works that late medieval viewers themselves found so compelling.
Since no specialist would deny the exhibition its scholarly contribution, the
claim should be extended to the book for sustaining the visual considerations
long after the exhibition closed its doors. The text reminds specialists that devotion had an earthy side: that people then as now kneel, say prayers out loud,
fondle religious items, and like to keep in touch with God while "on the road."
There is a range of details for scholars to reconsider. How many of us know that
Joseph's stockings were venerated as relics in Cologne Cathedral, or have actu-

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ally stopped to think that "the art of portraiture evolved exclusively within the
culture of prayer" (p. 78). The author puts a plethora of details (any one of
which would occupy an individual's entire scholarly career these days) into the
living setting of human beings; and what is more, he does so without theorizing
or using the terminology that so many art historians currently do when treating
"context."

Finally, this book is written by a specialist whose experience with the visual
and historical material is immense; and that experience as well as the author's
background is as present as the subject of his inquiry is. How gratifying to see
the Dutch vernacular beside the English text, to consult a Netherlandish bibli-

ography, and to observe the author's facility with objects from diverse geographic settings, while keeping sight on the precocious contribution of the
Low Countries. This is not to claim that van Os's information is flawless. There

are some factual errors, errors of omissions (one wonders why Jeffrey Hamburger's work is not cited in the bibliography), slippage into exhibition discourse, and phrases that jar most scholars, such as "tasteless self-flagellation,"
"sugary" private worship,"hideous" nineteenth-century surfaces.Yet these problems seem minor beside the breadth and clarity of van Os's vision.
Crisp, informative essays are included by Hans Nieuwdorp and Bernhard Ridderbos on two panels reassembled for exhibition and another by Eugène
Honée, whose history of private devotion and prayer warrants greater length.
The book closes with Norbert Middelkoop's catalogue of the objects. The
graphic design (illustrations aside) of chapter headings and objects is problematic; it is extremely difficult to penetrate.
In refraining from adopting a scholarly mode, the author invites us to approach the material in ways faithful to his thesis: that objects and acts of private
piety are marked first and foremost by their sensory and emotional nature.
Joanna E. Zjegler

College of the Holy Cross

L'Abbaye Prémontré du Lac dejoux des origines au XW siècle. By Claire Martinet. Avec une étude de Jean-Luc Rouiller,"Les Sépultures des Seigneurs de
La Sarraz." [Cahiers Lausannois d'Histoire Médiévale, 12.] (Lausanne: Sec-

tion d'histoire, Faculté des Lettres, Université de Lausanne. 1994. Pp. 320.
Paperback.)
The series "Cahiers lausannois d'histoire médiévale" treats aspects of medieval life in the Swiss diocese of Lausanne (Canton Vaud). Most of the previous
titles deal with aspects of religious ritual vis-à-vis church hierarchs and/or the
nobility. This volume is comprised of two parts: the first (pp. 13-200 of which
pp. 101-200 reproduce the archival sources) deals with the Premonstratensian

(Norbertine) Abbey of Lac de Joux (founded between 1 126 and 1 134 and sup-

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pressed in 1542) vis-à-vis its noble founders (the family Grandson) and the
abbey's later patrons/advocates of another family (the La Sarraz). Particular contributions of this study are the author's clarification of the date of the foundation of the abbey and the uncovering of fourteenth-century tamperings with
earlier documents in regard to the protective rights of the nobility in relationship to the abbey.

The second part of the volume (pp. 201-301 of which pp. 265-299 are

source texts) deals with the places of burial of the La Sarraz family. This is a well
researched study of the symbolic role of dynastic burial places as expressions of
familial continuity and the abiding relationship between members of the nobility and the religious communities they helped to found and protect and from
whom they, in turn, expected immemorial prayer. This study provides photographs of the La Sarraz cenotaph which is one of the more fascinating examples of late medieval funerary art (a recumbent figure being consumed by frogs
and worms!).

This work is particularly useful in providing all the archival sources used for
the writing of the studies. The bibliography seems quite adequate and the index
is thorough.
This is a rather esoteric little work but one which gives considerable insight
into some important dimensions of the social history of medieval religious and
political life. This is the sort of research which provides the data for the more
comprehensive sociological perspective exhibited in such works as Patricia
Wittberg's The Rise and Fall of Catholic Religious Orders. A Social Movement

Perspective (State University of NewYork Press, 1994).

Andrew D. Ciferni, O.Praem.

Washington Theological Union

History, Prophecy, and the Stars: The Christian Astrology of Pierre d'Ailly,
1350-1420. By Laura Ackerman Smoller. (Princeton: Princeton University
Press. 1994. Pp. xii, 233. $35.00.)
With the contributions of such scholars as Ouy, Courtenay, Bernstein, Pascoe,
Guenée, Kazmarek, Pluta, and Chappuis, fans of Pierre d'Ailly appear of late to
be growing in number, and they have good reason to welcome this cogent, intriguing, and well-researched book, which packs a good deal of learning into
surprisingly small compass. A faithful follower of the via moderna at the University of Paris, d'Ailly rose to prominence as one of the most distinguished theologians of his day, as chancellor of the university, reforming churchman,
cardinal of the Pisan obedience, and a leading conciliarist spokesman at the
Council of Constance, deeply involved in the successful efforts of that assembly
to end the schism. Scholars have long known that he dabbled in astrology as
well as wrote on astronomical, calendric, and geographical questions, but de-

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spite his arresting choice of the year 1789 for the future arrival of Antichrist, no
previous scholar has accorded this aspect of his life and work the degree of
painstaking attention extended to it by Smoller.
In so doing, she constructs a persuasive portrait of a thinker who in his ear-

lier years had shared both the widespread apocalyptic foreboding generated by
the protracted schism and the antipathy toward the claims made for astrological divination long common among churchmen, but who in the last ten years of
his life, as his hopes for a genuine reform of the Church waxed and his apocalypticism waned, turned to astrology as an analytical tool to help him confirm
his sense that the coming of Antichrist was not imminent. For by that time, and
unlike such contemporaries as Nicole d'Oresme and Heinrich von Langenstein,
he had come to view astrology as a rational science that would enable him to
make sense of history and prophecy.

This portrait is of interest for at least three reasons. First, and beyond the obvious appeal of the reassuringly modest estimate of the earth's circumference
that d'Ailly gave in his Imago mundi, because it may help explain the further
appeal to Christopher Columbus (who read and annotated them all) of the
other tracts of d'Ailly's dealing with astrology which he found bound together
with that geographical work. Second, because of what it tells us about the
changing fortunes of astrology across the medieval centuries and the appeal it

could hold even for intellectuals possessed of some philosophical sophistica-

tion. Third, because of the new and helpful light it throws on d'Ailly himself,
who, in an effort to harmonize his astrological and theological commitments,
and evoking a distinction between natural and supernatural causality, sought to

establish astrology as a"natural theology." And it is on this point that Smoller uncharacteristically stumbles. Confused, it may be, by the ambiguity of d'Ailly's

handling of the classic potentia Dei absoluta/ordinata distinction, she con-

trives to portray him as a thinker for whom "there are no natural laws of morality" (italics mine), while at the same time one who overemphasizes the ordained

power at the expense of the divine omnipotence. But, without the sort of case
that is certainly not made here, the latter claim is less than persuasive, while the
former, without extensive qualification, is simply incorrect.

Francis Oakley

Williams College

The Reforms of the Council of Constance (1414-1418). By Phillip H. Stump.

[Studies in the History of Christian Thought, Volume LIII.] (Leiden: E. J.

Brill. 1994. Pp. xv, 463. $151.50.)

Following an eruption of interest in the Council of Constance prompted by

Vatican Council II, the flow began to cool, perhaps due to the obstacles presented by the famous Constance decrees,Haec sancta (a council's authority derives directly from Christ) and Frequens (councils must assemble every ten

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557

years), and the censure of Hans Küng, who based some of his early work on
Constance. Now two scholars who were "in for the long haul" have come to the

fore: Walter Brandmüller, the first volume of whose history of the council ap-

peared in 1991, and this first-rate work on its reform program by a younger
American scholar. Neither the method, nor the price, will attract the novice,
but—to his credit—Stump spent much effort mastering canon law texts and
the art of editing manuscripts, as well as the usual historical tools, before he
brought his work to publication. The result is a substantial work which includes
a lengthy critical apparatus and a new edition of a central document, the deliberations of the council's Reform Committee. Earlier works on Constance —es-

pecially those by Bernhard Hübler and Johannes Haller—stressed either

political history, or—more recently—ecclesiology, but Stump adds a third emphasis, the reform ideology itself, for which purpose he adopts the framework
of Gerhart Ladner's pioneering study, The Idea of Reform (1959). Ladner's
method combines a close analysis of concrete reform measures with an analysis
of the images by which the reformers envisioned them, above all their diverse
attitudes toward change, as expressed in key terms and phrases. As to concrete

measures, Stump gives a detailed account of proposed reforms in three major

areas: papal finances and provisions (e.g., indulgences, annates, reservations, expectancies); reform of the head (alienations, transfers, deposition); and reform

of the members (morality, qualifications, and performance of clergy). The results combined heated debate, some enactment, and much compromise, but left
a considerable number of areas to the new pope, Martin y to work out in the

form of concordats with the nation-states. As to conceptual framework, Stump

argues that Frequens provides a special opportunity to understand the Con-

stance reform ideology insofar as it was not, pace Brandmüller, primarily a

means to end schisms, but "the greatest single success in the areas of both re-

form theory and practice" which created "a strong new theory of ongoing conciliar reform of the church" (p. 137), and "effectively synthesized the vertical

and the horizontal, the hierarchical and collégial views of reform" (p. 232).

Rather than a laicizing, democratizing, anticlerical revolution, the Constance re-

forms arose from a conception of the council as a representative of the whole

hierarchical order. The basis for this apparent paradox goes back to the Pauline
(and Pseudo-Pauline) literature, especially its notion of the Body of Christ both

as a spirit-led community and a reforming institution. Medieval thinkers captured this notion in the status ecclesie, another key concept for the reformers
which, as "welfare," comprehends amelioration, and as "constitution" promotes

restoration. Both conceptually and in practice, then, Stump argues that the Con-

stance reform program was a real achievement, not just an end to many abuses
of the Great Schism, and not just "institutional tinkering," but a vision of spiritual
renewal. All of which leaves open the question of what, if anything, brought
about its decline. Rejecting as too simple the argument that the blame falls
upon the papal concordats with the nation-states, Stump closes this rich and re-

warding book with the observation that demise must be sought in the Council

of Basel (1431-1449) and in "the actions of the pope who was conspicuously
absent from that council" (p. 272). To substantiate this suggestive projection,

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BOOK REVIEWS

we will need a book like Stump's on Basel's program, or—better yet—on the
whole reform movement from Pisa to Trent.
Gerald Christianson

Lutheran Theological Seminary
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

La visite des églises du diocèse de Lausanne en 1453- Edited by Ansgar Wildermann and Véronique Pasche. 2 vols. [Mémoires et documents publiés

par la Société d'histoire de la Suisse romande, 3rd series, tomes XTX and

XX.] (Lausanne: Université de Lausanne, Faculté des Lettres, Histoire

Médiévale. 1993- Pp. 179,658,Sw. fr. 135.)

This edition of a Swiss bishop's visitation in 1453 is a welcome addition to

the growing number of visitations being made available to students of medieval

Christianity. Scholars have had good editions of English visitations for some
years now, and this publication provides better access to continental records.

Wildermann and Pasche have published the record of the agents whom Bishop
George of Saluées commissioned to visit the churches of the Diocese of Lausanne in 1453.

The visitation is published in two volumes. The first volume is a useful intro-

duction, with maps showing the itinerary of the visitors, photographs of liturgical accoutrements, and glossary of liturgical terms. The introduction also
includes a thorough description of the single manuscript that preserves the visitation. The introduction likewise describes the career and concerns of the man

who commissioned the visitation, Bishop George of Saluces (1440-1461).
George was the youngest son of a comital family. His mother was a Visconti. He
was early in life destined for a career in the Church, and was involved in the
most important ecclesiological development of his day, namely, the Council of
Basel (1431-1449) as an agent of Pope Eugene IV George seems to have been a

responsible pastor. He commissioned visitations of the diocese in 1447 and in

1453- For the later visitation he named as his agents François de Fuste, master of
theology and associate of the Spanish reformer Louis Alemán, and Henry of Ali-

bertis, a priest and wily pluralist. Wildermann and Pasche show that their travels were carefully planned to make the most efficient use of time and energy.
Mother churches were first visited, then daughter churches. The text demonstrates a careful attention to the concerns of the reforming bishop, which above
all were that Christian worship and church property be maintained. Unlike

many English visitations, liturgical books, vestments, and accoutrements, rather
than the morals of the parishioners, most preoccupied the agents of Bishop
George.
Volume two contains the text of the visitation. The organization of the document is chronological. The editors preserve the original orthography wherever

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BOOK REVIEWS

grammatical usage is consistent with convention; otherwise spelling is altered
to agree with grammar and the original spelling is presented in a footnote. The

visitors record the condition of church property and sometimes the pledges of
pastors and parishioners to improve them. Whether those pledges were fulfilled is an interesting question, but of course cannot be answered by the visitation. The preoccupation of the bishop and his visitors with liturgical
accoutrements testifies to the importance that worship played as a measure of
"Christianitas."

Scholars interested in late medieval pastoral care and in the condition of late

medieval parishes will find the edition ofWildermann and Pasche most useful.

Robert W Shaffern

University ofScranton

Lorenzo U Magnifico: Image and Anxiety, Politics and Finance. By Melissa
Meriam Bullard. [Istituto Nazionale di studi sul Rinascimento: Studi e testi,
XXXTV] (Florence: Leo S. Olschki. 1994. Pp. xv, 245. Lire 58,000.)
This is a very important collection of eight articles by Melissa Bullard drawn
together by a common concern with the fifteenth-century Florentine states-

man, Lorenzo de' Medici. The concentration on one man is occasioned by a

combination of two circumstances: the fifth centenary of Lorenzo's death in

1992, marked by conferences in the United States and Europe at which Bullard

was a key speaker, and her collaborative work of more than a decade on an edition of Lorenzo's letters. This detailed and painstaking work has left Bullard in
an enviable position of superiority vis-à-vis understanding the functioning of
the Laurentian machine, and has enabled her to formulate new theories about

the Magnifico himself, his inner circle, and the construction of his image.

The first section of the book contains, among others, two articles which pro-

pose convincing revisions to the accepted orthodoxies of Lorenzo's life. One
introduces the concept of anxiety, arguing that Lorenzo's dissemination of an
image of his own magnificence was initially a response to uncertainty, and that

control of his public reputation (and as a byproduct the invention of the myth
surrounding him) helped to compensate for his vulnerability. According to this
reading, cult of personality deflected attention from personal and political
shortfalls. The second article almost heretically suggests that Lorenzo was not a

heroic superman who administered Florentine affairs single-handedly but a
more prosaic corporate manager who delegated day-to-day tasks to a handpicked team of decision-makers.

It is the second part of the book, on Lorenzo and Rome, which will be of most
interest here, and Bullard's expertise in financial matters ensures the reader of

fascinating new insights. Concentrating on the 1480's and early 1490's, Bullard
isolates two incidents in the relationship between Lorenzo and Pope Innocent

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BOOK REVIEWS

VIII of crucial importance for the history of both Florence and Rome. In De-

cember, i486, Innocent established an appalto or tax farm with nine firms of
Italian bankers (including the Medici bank) which loaned the pope money in
advance on his spiritual revenues, thereby assuring him of a more regular income. Over the eight-year period of the farm's existence, these nine expanded

to become a body of forty-six investors, and from the point of view of the initial
bankers, the enterprise was a dismal failure and may, in Lorenzo's case, have

helped to lead to the downfall of the Medici bank. Innocent, however, profited,
and the idea of a funded debt was taken up later by Clement VII. Bullard also
maintains that the arranged marriage between Lorenzo's daughter and InnocentVffl's son which took place in 1487 bound the two fathers together for the
rest of their lives, providing Lorenzo with a much-enlarged arena for patronage

and with greater financial opportunities, but in addition sucking him into the

black hole of Innocent's debt.

This collection makes very exciting and persuasive reading, and is coherent,
accessible, and well written. It is a welcome and individual contribution to stud-

ies of Laurentian Florence and of the late fifteenth-century papacy.
Kate Lowe

Goldsmiths' College, University ofLondon

Writing Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain. The Mothers of
Saint Teresa ofAvila. By Ronald E. Surtz. [Middle Ages Series.] (Philadel-

phia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1995. Pp. xii, 223. $32.95.)

The topic of women writers is not a novel area of research for Ronald Surtz.
In the Guitar of God, published in 1990, Surtz treated questions of gender,
power, and authority in the visionary world of Mother Juana de la Cruz

(1481-1534), depicting the Franciscan abbess as an avid chronicler and de-

fender of her visionary experiences of the divine. Mother Juana's only extant
work, El libro del conorte, is again treated in the final chapter of the present volume, which also examines perceptively the writing of four other women of the
Spanish Middle Ages and Renaissance, namely, Teresa de Cartagena, Constanza

de Castilla, María de Ajofrín, and María de Santo Domingo. Against the formida-

ble obstacles—social and religious—posed to women intent on writing, these
nuns undertook with vigor and firm conviction the task of not only recording

on paper their extraordinary religious experiences but also incorporating into
their verbal message a staunch defense of the authenticity of those supernatural

events.

In chapter I, "The New Judith: Teresa de Cartagena," Surtz reviews the pathetically moving life of the deaf Franciscan nun and her avant-garde assertiveness
as an exponent of literary expression, once cited by Alan Deyermond as a rare
example in medieval Spanish letters of "a writer's reflections on the creative
process, an indication of how it feels to be a writer" ("'El convento de

BOOK REVIEWS

561

dolencias': the Works of Teresa de Cartagena,"Journal ofHispanic Philology, I
[1976], 25). In fact, Teresa de Cartagena's Admiración operum Dei, a powerful
defense of her right to literary activity, has been seen by some critics as an ex-

quisite example of a feminist text. Following a brief explanation of Teresa's first
extant work, a spiritual treatise titled Arboleda de los enfermos, Surz focuses at
length on the Admiración'^, rhetorical strategies and varied imagery to explain

Teresa's defensive and protective posture toward her own writings. Surtz pays
particular attention to Teresa's skillful use of three images, the bark/pitch

image, the biblical Judith, and the blind man on the road to Jericho. The result is
a carefully structured work which points to the role of divine empowerment in
enabling a feeble woman, Teresa, to conquer her weak female status by performing tasks traditionally reserved to the male gender, while picturing herself
and her writing as a "sign of divine might" (p. 40).
Chapter 2, titled "Constanza de Castilla and the Gynaeceum of Composition,"
provides a socio-historical and literary picture of Constanza, the legitimate
granddaughter of King Pedro I, who in the midst of political feuds sought refuge
in the Dominican convent of Santo Domingo el Real, where she served as prioress for some fifty years. While in the convent, Constanza wrote a collection of

prayers, devotional treatises, and liturgical offices, all gathered in manuscript
7495 of the Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid). Surtz examines the polemic revolving

around the authorship of the works collected in ms. 7495, focuses on Constanza as the author, and discusses with clarity and critical insight the nature,

form, content, and style of those varied works. The object is to show a self-

confident Constanza who circumvents male authority and "claims the realm of

compassion as her own and as that of all women" (p. 67).

Another pious woman, María de Ajofrín, a fifteenth-century mystic, closely as-

sociated with the Hieronymite order, is the focus of chapter 3. Here Surtz examines the controversies surrounding Maria's life and work and her prominent

role in the social and religious life of late fifteenth-century Toledo. Several of
Maria's best-known visions, recorded in written notarial testimony, are studied
by Surtz, who concludes that in spite of her humble birth and her gender Maria
succeeded in gaining both status and authority in a male-dominated society.

Chapter 4 analyzes important details of the controversial life, mystical expe-

riences, and writings of the so-called "New Magdalen," María de Santo Domingo,
a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Her major work, the Libro de la

oración, an anthology of Maria's revelations, is one of the great examples of late

fifteenth-century hagiography, and Surtz concentrates on the first of those revelations, both as a novelesque recreation of Christ's appearances after the Resurrection and a reflection on the spiritual significance of those events as well as
the relevance of Maria as a woman writer and as a valid messenger of biblical
teachings.

Once again Surtz has given scholars and students alike a thoroughly researched area of literary studies which is both spiritually edifying and socially

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BOOK REVIEWS

relevant. Some eighty pages of detailed notes, an up-to-date bibliography, a cogent and insightful presentation of subject matter are all evidence of critical
writing at its best.
Bruno M. Damiani

The Catholic University ofAmerica

The Humanist-Scholastic Debate in the Renaissance and Reformation. By
Erika Rummel. [Harvard Historical Studies, 120.] (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1995. Pp. x, 249. $45.00.)
The noisy controversies between humanists and scholastic theologians in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries may represent an irrepressible conflict between two fundamentally opposed views of human knowledge, or they may
have been little more than a collision between an entrenched academic estab-

lishment and a band of ambitious youths, more a struggle over place and power
than a collision between rival intellectual positions. The author of this learned
and judicious book finds that this was serious intellectual business, not just
petty squabbling. She identifies three stages in the confrontation. The first stage
filled the fifteenth century and included the famous debate between the humanist Salutati and the Dominican friar Giovanni Dominici, as well as contribu-

tions from figures like Leonardo Bruni, Pico della Mirándola, Ermolao Bárbaro,
and the youthful Erasmus. This stage raised issues that persisted, such as the
value of dialectic in theology, the relative merit of patristic and scholastic authorities, and the utility of classical learning. In general, these early debates
were moderate in tone. As humanism spread into northern Europe about 1500,
however, the humanists' pressure for significant reforms in university curricula
called forth a sharper tone, probably because questions of power and prestige
were at stake. In this second stage, theological faculties became the center of resistance to change. The authority-claims of the theologians made it inevitable
that pressures for reform of theology would elicit not only opposition but even
questions about the critics' orthodoxy. Rummers description of the theologians' claims to exclusive authority over discussion of many subjects is especially important, because humanism presented itself as a universally valid
intellectual method for all studies that rested on authoritative ancient texts: that

is, for all university subjects. By claiming a prior right to apply their linguistic
and philological skills to the text of the textbooks, humanists were claiming authority in all fields. The climax of this second stage came with attacks on those
humanists—notably Erasmus and Lefèvre—who applied their linguistic and
philological skills to scripture and who sought to turn theology toward the
Bible and the Church Fathers and away from the scholastic doctors. Rummel
gives considerable attention to the defenders of orthodoxy, one of whom was
rude enough to discount Pope Leo X's endorsement of Erasmus' New Testament by pointing out that Leo had no theological training. Both the nature of
theological education and the locus of authority were at issue; and Rummel's

BOOK REVIEWS

563

theologians were not bashful about claiming effective control of Catholic doctrine. The third, most harsh phase of the debate began with the outbreak of the
Reformation. Catholic humanists were in an especially awkward position. Conservatives laid the blame for the new heresies squarely on them. A valuable
chapter analyzes the humanists' critique of scholastic dialectic, beginning with
the work of Valla and Agrícola and continuing into the new century with Vives,
Melanchthon, Ramus, and Nizolius. Rummel shows that several of these critics
aimed beyond scholasticism at the authority of Aristotle himself, early hints of
the following epoch's repudiation of Aristotelian rationalism.
Charles G. Nauert, Jr.

University ofMissouri-Columbia

Early Modern European

From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft ofDying in Sixteenth-Century
Spain. By Carlos M. N. Eire. [Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History]
(NewYork: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 571. $4995.)
In all our lives there comes a time when thoughts of death and human mortality become particularly intense. Carlos Eire's book, From Madrid to Purgatory, records the multifaceted history of Spain's epochal fascination with death.
It is Eire's concern, in this long and detailed study, to demonstrate not only the
ways in which mortuary rituals were conceived and crafted in sixteenth-century
Spain, but to suggest that the enormous amount of time, effort, and money devoted to these rituals revealed a compulsive emotional drive among Spaniards
for spiritual security in an age of economic distress and political instability.
Eire's reasons for labeling sixteenth-century Spanish death practices "obsessive" come hard and fast: the first third of the book presents evidence from several hundred wills in sixteenth-century Madrid which express a conscious and
deliberate use of deathbed distributions of alms to enhance the spiritual status
of testators' souls. Eire has calculated, moreover, from these wills, that the aver-

age number of post-mortem Masses requested by testators for their souls' benefit rose from ninety in the 1520's to 777 by the end of the century, an
inflationary spiral that deserves to be called, as Eire has called it, a "numeric
delirium in pious bequests." And if the sheer number and subtle gradations in
types of mortuary devotions are not sufficient to demonstrate Spain's "obsession" with death, the final two sections of the book describing popular responses to the deaths of King Philip II in 1598 and of Teresa of Avila in 1582
decisively confirm the judgment. We learn in exhaustive detail about the gruesome way in which Spain's most powerful monarch met his death—about the
gout and ulcers and boils and abscesses that drenched Philip II's sheets—and
more importantly, about the enormous popularity of tracts and sermons that
narrated these personal events. We learn as well about the wondrous stories

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BOOK REVIEWS

that the Spanish people wove around the "sacred" death of Teresa of Avila—of

nuns who saw resplendent lights across the sky, who heard the great saint's
moans, and who smelt delicious odors from her flesh miles and miles away from
her deathbed. The eagerness with which Spaniards dismembered Teresa's dead

body for its healing powers and the readiness with which they accepted reports of her supernatural reappearance on earth is testimony to their refusal to
accept the idea of mortal extinction and temporal flux. By insisting upon the

continuous presence of cherished heroes and heroines after death, Eire argues,
the Spanish people found a means of imposing imaginary order and stability on
an otherwise chaotic and disintegrating universe.
Professor Eire is to be commended for attempting to assess the psychological
value of Spain's death-denying rituals even though his conclusions are apt to

elicit debate and even heated opposition. After considering the possibility
that Spain's devotion to the fate of the dead amounted to a morbid misdirec-

tion of corporate interests and a superfluous investment of wealth in unproductive ventures which contributed to Spain's decline as a nation, Eire opts

for a more benign assessment of the period's death practices. He concludes
that Spain's emotional and financial investment in the fate of dead men's souls

was not a cause and symptom of cultural decline but a positive communal response to national crises, a means of fortifying public spirit against apparent
signs of temporal decay, and a practical, "even gallant," struggle for survival
against the forces of personal extinction. His conclusion is as poignantly hopeful as Ernst Becker's affirmation, in The Denial ofDeath, of the ultimate health-

fulness of all immortality-ideologies. Historians who have perceived a decline of
Spanish culture in the early modern period might well point out, on the other
hand, that the cost paid by the Spanish people for their spiritual comfort was all
too high. The issue to be contemplated, after all, is whether Spanish society
sought to protect itself from death in life-enhancing or in life-contracting experiences.
Maureen Flynn

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Association News

The president of the American Catholic Historical Association, William J.
Callahan, has appointed Frederic J. Baumgartner of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at Blacksburg to the Committee on the John
Gilmary Shea Prize for a three-year term. The Committee this year, therefore,
consists of Professor Baumgartner for modern European history, John Howe of
Texas Tech University (the chairman) for medieval history, and Mary J. Oates,
CSJ., of Regis College for American history.
The chairwoman of the Committee on Program for the Association's seventyseventh annual meeting, which will be held in NewYork on January 3-5, 1997,
Jo Ann McNamara of Hunter College of the City University of NewYork, has announced that nine sessions have been planned besides the business meeting,
social hour, and presidential luncheon. Professor Callahan's address will deal
with the broad topic of "Regalism, Liberalism, and General Franco." Four of the
sessions will be devoted to medieval or early modern European history; one to
late modern European; and four to American history. Copies of the printed program and practical information will be sent to all members in the autumn.
The Association's spring meeting of 1997 will take place at the University of
Virginia on April 4 and 5. The chairman of the organizing committee is Gerald
E Fogarty, S.J., who was president of the Association in 1992. In order to present a program in which all the major fields of history are proportionately rep-

resented, Father Fogarty especially requests that topics in medieval, modern

European, and Latin American church history be submitted. Proposals of papers or (preferably) complete sessions should be sent to Father Fogarty by January 2, 1997, in care of the Department of Religious Studies, Cocke Hall,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903; office telephone: 804-

924-6707; fax: 804-924-1467; home telephone: 804-979-8592.

Meetings, Conferences, Seminars, Lectures, and Tours

AndréVauchez, director of the École française de Rome, inaugurated the new
academic year of the Istituto per Ie Recerche di Storia Sociale e di Storia Religiosa in Vicenza on March 2, 1996, with a lecture entitled "Charismes et histoire: prophètes, visionnaires et mystiques en Occident aux derniers siècles du
Moyen Age."

565

566

NOTES AND COMMENTS

"La giustizia nell'Alto Medioevo, II," was the theme of the forty-fourth Settimana di Studio of the Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, which took

place at Spoleto on April 1 1-17, 1996. Among the papers read were "Le giustizie del papa" by Girolamo Arnaldi of the University of Rome "La Sapienza";
"Gregorio VII e la giustizia" by Ovidio Capitani of the University of Bologna; "La
giustizia ecclesiastica nell'età della riforma délia Chiesa" by Peter Landau of the
University of Munich; "Vescovi giudici e critici della giustizia: Attone diVercelli"

by Renato Bordone of the University of Turin; "Giving God and King Their Due:
Conflict and Its Regulation in the Early English State" by Patrick Wormald of
Christ Church, Oxford; "Synoden und Bischöfe als Richter im ostfränkischdeutschen Reich des X. und beginnenden XI. Jahrhunderts" by Wilfried Hartmann of the University of Tübingen; and "What was 'public' about public

penance? Justice and paenitentia publica in the Carolingian World" by Mayke
de Jong of the University of Utrecht.

At the New England Historical Association's spring conference held at
Amherst College on April 20 Martin R. Menke of Boston College read a paper
entitled "Christian Yet National: German Centrists' Sense of Responsibility to
Community and Individual in the Weimar Republic," and Richard Nelson of the

University of Maine at Machias read one entitled "Casuistry, Conservatism, and
the Cold War: Will Herberg's Invention ofJudeo-Christian America."

The American Cusanus Society sponsored three sessions during the thirtyfirst International Congress on Medieval Studies, which took place at Western
Michigan University in Kalamazoo on May 8-12, 1996. In the first session, on
"Jews and Muslims in the Age of Cusanus," papers were read by Jesse D. Mann of
the University of Chicago ("Juan de Segovia on Islam and Conciliarism"), Steven

J. McMichael, O.EM.Conv., of Saint Louis University ("What is the Problem with
Jewish Law and Rites? Alfonso de Espina's Answer"), and Brooks Schramm of
Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary ("Luther and the Rabbis"). In the third session
Bernard McGinn of the University of Chicago Divinity School read a paper on
"Aspects of Mysticism in the Age of Cusanus."
The Canadian Catholic Historical Association held its sixty-fourth annual

meeting at Brock University in St. Catharines on June 2 and 3, 1996. Under the

theme "The Writing of Church History in Canada," sessions were devoted to
"Ethnic Tensions in Nineteenth-Century Canada," "The Experience of Women
Religious in Canada," "Fragmentation or Synthesis" in the historiography of
Canadian Catholicism, and "Socio-Political Issues and the Catholic Canadian
Church," and a round table discussed "The Research and Writing of Parish His-

tory." The next annual meeting will be held at Memorial University, St. John's,
Newfoundland. Proposals for papers and sessions are desired that deal with the

Canadian Catholic experience and the Catholic experience around the world.
The themes will be focused on the history of the Church in Atlantic Canada, including the history of family, gender, First Nations, and the devotional life. Pro-

posals should be sent by December 15, 1996, to Margaret Sanche, St. Thomas
More College, 1437 College Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 0W6; fax:

NOTES AND COMMENTS

567

306-966-8904; E-mail: sanchem@sask.usask.ca; or to Elizabeth Smyth, OISE,

1115 Yonge Street, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7E 2T6; fax: 807-475-8149; E-mail:

esmyth@oise.on.ca.

An eight-day tour of London and environs (including Oxford, Canterbury,
and Rochester) tracing the life of St. Thomas More will be conducted by

the Thomas More Society of America on September 9-17, 1996. Sister Anne

O'Donnell, S.N.D., associate professor of English in the Catholic University of
America, will accompany the tour. Other scholars also will give lectures, and
guides well versed in Moreana will explain the sites visited. The projected comprehensive price is $2,530 per person (double occupancy) from Washington
with breakfast and one other meal each day. The group will be limited to

twenty-four persons. Inquiries should be addressed to George F. Georges, 4000
Tunlaw Road, N.W, Washington, D.C. 20007.

At the fifty-eighth Congresso di Storia del Risorgimento, which will be held

in Milan on October 2-5, 1996, and will be focused on the theme "L'ltalia
nell'età napoleónica," Francesco Margiotta Broglio will read a paper on "Società
civile e società religiosa."

The sixth biennial conference on the works of Nicholas of Cusa will be held

at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary on October 18-20, 1996. A selection of his

major sermons will be studied by a limited number of participants. The guest
speakers will be Karlfried Froelich of Princeton Theological Seminary and
Klaus Reinhardt and Walter Andreas Euler, both of the Institute for Cusanus Re-

search at Trier. Registration forms are available from the chairman of the conference committee, Peter Casarella, in care of the Department of Theology, The

Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 20064; telephone: 202-3195481.

The Society for Confraternity Studies will sponsor sessions at the meeting of

the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference in St. Louis on October 24-26, 1996.
Papers on all aspects of Northern European and Mediterranean confraternities
from 1450 to 1650 will be welcome; special sessions on artistic patronage and

confraternities, children and confraternities, and charity in Renaissance confraternities are planned. Further information is available from Nicholas Terpstra
at Luther College, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S ORl; tele-

phone: 306-585-5047; fax: 306-585-5267; E-mail: terpstra@max.cc.uregina.ca.

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture in Indianapolis
has announced a program for early-career scholars in American religion, funded
by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Beginning in January, 1997, a series of seminars
devoted to the enhancement of the teaching and research of younger scholars
in American religion will be offered at four campus locations and will be directed to four different fields of study. The aims of all the seminars are to develop ideas and methods of instruction in a supportive workshop environment,
to stimulate scholarly research and writing, and to create a community of scholars that will remain intact after the two-year program. The two sets of sessions

568

NOTES AND COMMENTS

that would presumably interest readers of this journal are those for historians
and for seminary professors. The former (four sessions between March, 1997,

and July, 1 998) will be conducted by Philip Gleason, professor of history in the
University of Notre Dame, at the Cushwa Center and, in July, 1997, in Indianapolis. The latter (four sessions between February, 1997, and July, 1998) will

be conducted at the Duke University Divinity School by Grant Wacker, an associate professor of American religious history in that institution. Scholars who
have launched their careers within the last seven years and who are working in
a sub-field of the area of North American religion are eligible. Ten applicants
will be selected for each seminar series with the understanding that they will
undertake to attend all four sessions. All costs for transportation, lodging, and
meals will be covered; there is no application fee. Applications must be received by September 1 , 1 996. Those thinking of applying should write to the director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana

University—Purdue University at Indianapolis, 425 University Boulevard, Room
344, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-5140.

A conference on "Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker" will be held at Marquette University on October 9-12, 1997, to commemorate the centenary of
her birth (November 8, 1897). The keynote speaker will be David J. O'Brien of
the College of the Holy Cross. More information may be obtained from the assistant archivist, Philip M. Runkel, in care of Marquette University Libraries,

Post Office Box 3141, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201; telephone: 414-288-7256;

fax: 414-288-3123; E-mail: runkelp@vms.csd.mu.edu.
Anniversary

Pope John Paul II has written an apostolic letter, dated April 18, 1996, to

commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Union of Uzhhorod. On April 24,
1646, in the church of the Castle of Uzhhorod (which was then in Hungary,
from 1918 to 1939 was the chief town of Carpathian Ruthenia in Czechoslova-

kia, and since 1946 has been in Ukraine) sixty-three Byzantine-rite priests of the

Eparchy of Mukacheve (or Mukachevo; in Hungarian, Munkács), led by the
Basilian monk Parthenius Petrovyc and in the presence of the Bishop of Eger,
George Jakusics, were received into full communion with the See of Rome. It

was part of the process of reunification of the Churches of East and West that

had begun at the Council of Florence in 1439 and had blossomed in the Union
of Brest (1595-96). In 1771 Pope Clement XTV established the Greek-Catholic
Eparchy of Mukacheve, the seat of which was transferred a few years later to
Uzhhorod. In the late nineteenth century many of the faithful emigrated from
this region to the United States, where eventually the Metropolitan See of Pittsburgh and the suffragan eparchies of Passaic, Parma, and Van Nuys were
erected. The Holy Father also recalled the "suffering and sorrow" that the
eparchy endured in recent times, particularly the "persecution, Imprisonment,
and even the supreme sacrifice of their lives" under Communist domination.

NOTES AND COMMENTS

569

Causes of Saints

On March 17, 1996, in St. Peter's Basilica Pope John Paul II beatified two Italian bishops who founded missionary congregations now laboring in many

parts of the world. One was Daniel Comboni, born at Limone sul Garda on
March 31, 1831, who studied at an institute for poor boys in Verona and prepared for the priesthood there. In 1849 he solemnly dedicated his life to preaching the Gospel in Africa. In 1857, three years after his ordination, he went to
Sudan with five other missionaries, several of whom died there from tropical
diseases. Back in Italy in 1864 he drafted a missionary "plan for the rebirth of

Africa," which could be summed up in the phrase, "Save Africa through Africa."

He traveled widely in Europe seeking material and spiritual support for the

African missions. In 1867 he founded the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of

Jesus, or the Verona Fathers, and in 1872 the Comboni Missionary Sisters, or the
Missionary Sisters ofVerona. In 1877 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Cen-

tral Africa and was consecrated a bishop. In 1880, for the eighth and last time,

he returned to Africa to work alongside his sons and daughters, to combat the
scourge of slavery, and to consolidate the missionary activity of the Africans
themselves. He died in Khartoum on October 10, 1881, worn out by his labors
and illness. The other new beatus was Guido Maria Conforti, who was born at
Ravadese, Parma, on March 20, 1865. From his youth he longed to imitate St.
Francis Xavier but was prevented by poor health. Ordained a priest in 1888, he
founded seven years later the Emilian Seminary for Foreign Missions; in 1898 it

was officially recognized as the Congregation of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign

Missions (today called the Xaverian Institute). In 1902 Conforti took religious
vows, dedicating himself to the missions. Later he became archbishop of
Ravenna, and after resigning that see for reasons of health, he was appointed

bishop of Parma in 1907. His missionaries worked especially in China. In 1916

he founded the Missionary Union of the Clergy (now the Pontifical Missionary
Union) and was its first president from 1918 to 1927. In 1928, in spite of poor
health, he traveled to China to visit his missionaries. He died of fatigue in Parma
on November 5, 1931. In 1945 a female branch of the Xaverian Missionaries,
the Missionaries of Mary, which he had long envisioned, was established. The
Holy Father in his homily said that when Conforti was called to be bishop in an
area where a disturbing rejection of the faith was occurring, he became convinced that one of the most effective ways to revitalize religion in lands evan-

gelized long before was to strive to proclaim the Gospel to those who did not

yet know it. Conforti also radically proposed the validity of the missionary vocation ad vitam through the missionary vow.
Gabriel B. O'Donnell, O.P, an associate professor of liturgy and spiritual the-

ology in St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, Philadelphia, has been appointed promoter of the cause of Father Michael J. McGivney (1852-1890),

founder of the Knights of Columbus. He will organize existing information
about McGivney and will seek further information with an eye toward eventual
presentation of the cause to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In asso-

570

NOTES AND COMMENTS

ciation with a group of laymen McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus at
New Haven in 1882; he was originally buried in Waterbury, Connecticut, but in
1982 his remains were reinterred under Knights' auspices in St. Mary's Church,
New Haven. Father O'Donnell was born in Syracuse, New York, and studied at
St. Stephen's College in Dover, Massachusetts, at Boston College, at the University of Notre Dame, at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in
Washington, D.C., and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome before
receiving the doctorate from the Institute for Spiritual Theology in Rome. He is
a consultant to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies
of Apostolic Life and is coauthor of the book Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church (1990).
Manuscript
The eighty-page manuscript of Martin Luther's tract Wider Hans Worst, a
screed against the papacy, written in the Reformer's own hand in 1541, has
been returned to Germany by the Concordia Historial Institute in St. Louis.
Joseph Lortz called this composition "the supreme example of crudeness," in
which Luther's "revelling in abuse and in subumbilical imagery reaches an absurdity of immoderation. Luther's craze for exaggeration, his frequent lack of
sober judgment and of balance are particularly crudely exemplified in this
work." The manuscript, which had been preserved in the Museum of Cultural
History in Magdeburg until World War II and then stored in a salt mine for protection from Allied bombing, was found in a factory by an American soldier at
the end of the war and eventually came into the possession of a Lutheran minister in New Jersey, who in 1950 turned it over to the Institute for safekeeping
until such time as Magdeburg would no longer be under Soviet domination. On
February 20, 1996, the director of the Institute, Daniel Preus, handed it over to
Matthias Puhle, director of the museum in Magdeburg, at a transfer ceremony
in St. Louis. Dr. Preus admitted that in this writing Luther's attacks on his opponents "seem somewhat unrestrained" by contemporary standards; the consul
general of Germany in Chicago, Gabriele von Malsen-Tilborch, who had made
the arrangements for the return of the manuscript, commented, "I would
hardly know the English equivalents to most of the drastic wording he [Luther]
uses. They certainly are not being taught at schools for diplomacy." Temporarily
the manuscript is being displayed in a special exhibition in the State Library of
Berlin that opened on February 28. A facsimile will be made for the Institute.
The transfer took place during the week that began observances of the 450th

anniversary of the Luther's death (February 18, 1546). As part of the commem-

oration the cities in eastern Germany where Luther lived—Erfurt, Wittenberg,
Eisenach, and Magdeburg—are staging exhibitions and arranging tours. This is
the first such special occasion since the reunification of Germany.

NOTES AND COMMENTS

571

Newspaper Archival Service
L'Osservatore Romano is offering the following new services: access to the
newspaper's archives, now completely available on microfilm; computerized
research by year from July, 1 99 1 ; the transfer of data onto diskette; and public
access for research purposes. For issues after July 1, 1991, a cross-reference
search can be done based not only on subject and author but on a specific passage in an address of the Holy Father or in an article, on a work mentioned in
the text, or even on a single word. The electronic archives also store the Sunday
supplement, the weekly editions in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish,
and Portuguese, and the Polish monthly, in addition to the daily. Each issue of
the daily and of the various other editions is also archived with a number code
that enables it to be copied onto high-density diskettes, which can then be consulted on any personal computer. This last-mentioned innovation also accommodates the many historians and journalists who have daily recourse to the
archives to obtain data regarding the newspaper's articles and the opinions expressed on various topics by the Holy See over the past 135 years. The micro-

film collection of all the issues of the daily for every year (since 1861) and of the
weekly English edition since its inception in April, 1968, is particularly useful
for historical research. The 1849-50 issues oí L'Osservatore Romano and those

of// Costituzionale Romano published in 1849 are also kept on film; these two

papers can be considered the forefathers of the present-day L'Osservatore Romano. Thanks to modern microfilm viewing equipment available in the
archives—a Bell and Howell ABR2700 machine—it is now possible to read the
article desired, and, even more importantly, photocopies of the whole or a part
of a page can be made in various sizes. Since the archives are not open to the
general public, written requests should be sent by mail (Archives of L'Osserva-

tore Romano, 00120 Vatican City State, Europe) or by fax (01139-396-69883675). Those responsible for the archives ensure that requests are processed

within forty-eight hours at the most; the fee for this service is modest. In order
to meet the new demands, the archives oí L'Osservatore Romano have recently
been transferred to new, spacious premises, appropriately situated close to the
paper's new library. The new, completely autonomous office also makes it possible to keep bound volumes for every year of the daily.
Publications

A round table on "The Sources of the Ecclesiastical History in Italy and in
England during the Late Middle Ages" was held during the International Congress of Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, Michigan, in May, 1993. The four
papers read on that occasion are now published, with a presentazione by
Laura Gaffuri, in the issue of Ricerche di Storia Sociale e Religiosa for JulyDecember, 1995 (Volume XXIV, Number 48), as follows: Robert N. Swanson,
"'Speculum Ecclesiae'? Sources for the Administrative History of the Late Medieval English Church" (pp. 13-32); Norman Tanner, "Sources for Popular Religion in Late Medieval England" (pp. 33-51); Roberto Rusconi, "Problemi e fonti

572

NOTES AND COMMENTS

per la storia religiosa délie donne in Italia alia fine del Medioevo (secoli
XIII-XV)" (pp. 53-75); and Daniel E. Bornstein, "Corporazioni spirituali: pro-

prietà délie confraternité e pietà dei laici" (pp. 77-90).

The issue oí Naturaleza y Gracia for September-December, 1995 (Volume
XLII, Number 3) is an "Homenaje a San Antonio de Padua, 'Doctor Evangélico',
en el VIII Centenario de su nacimiento: 1195-1995." It contains the following

estudios: Domingo Montero, "Antonio de Padua y la Sagrada Escritura" (pp.
505-524); Enrique Rivera, "El Hno. Antonio y la enseñanza de la teología entre

los frailes menores" (pp. 525-536); Alejandro Villamonte, "La imagen de Cristo

en San Antonio de Padua"(pp. 537-572); José Calasanz Gómez, "La religiosidad

popular en torno a San Antonio de Padua" (pp. 573-603); Luis Ortigosa

Rodríguez, "Labor evangelizadora de los Capuchinos en el 'Santuario de san An-

tonio'" (pp. 605-638); and Fermín de Mieza, "La devoción popular a san Antonio en torno a la revista El Santo" (pp. 639-650).

R. William Franklin has edited the issue of the Anglican Theological Review
for winter, 1996 (Volume LXXVIII, Number 1), under the title "Anglican Orders:
A Century of Apostolicae Curae: Essays on the Centenary of Apostolicae
Curae, 1896- 1996."After a foreword by the retired Episcopal Bishop of Birmingham, Hugh Montefiore, and an introduction, "The Opening of the Vatican
Archives and the ARCIC Process," by the editor (pp. 8-29), the following articles are published: George H. Tavard, "Apostolicae Curae and the Snares of Tradition" (pp. 30-47); Stephen Sykes, "'To the Intent that these Orders may be

Continued': An Anglican Theology of Holy Orders" (pp. 48-63); Edward
Yarnold, "A New Context: ARCIC and Afterwards" (pp. 64-74); Paul F. Bradshaw,
"The Liturgical Consequences of Apostolicae Curae for Anglican Ordination

Rites" f?. 75-86); Christopher Hill, "Anglican Orders: An Ecumenical Context"
(pp. 87-95); Sara Butler, "The Ordination of Women: A New Obstacle to the
Recognition ofAnglican Orders" (pp. 96-1 13); Joanne McWilliam, "A Response
to Papers on Apostolicae Curae" (pp. 114— 116); J. Robert Wright, "The Di-

mension of Ecumenical Consensus in the Revision ofAnglican Ordination Rites:
A Response to Professor Bradshaw" f?. 117-121); Jon Nilson, "A Roman

Catholic Response" (pp. 122-124); and Frank T. Griswold, "Final Commentary"
(pp. 125-126). The English texts oí Apostolicae Curae and Saepius Officio

(edited excerpts from the "Answer of the Archbishops of England to the Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII on English Ordinations," February 19, 1897) are
given at the end.
Five of the papers that were presented at the conference organized by the
History of Women Religious Network and held at Cardinal Stritch College in
Milwaukee in June, 1995, have been published in the issue of the U.S. Catholic

Historian for winter, 1996 (Volume 14, Number 1), as follows: Mary Anne
Foley, C.N.D., "We Want No Prison Among Us': The Struggle for Ecclesiastical

Recognition in Seventeenth-Century New France" (pp. 1 - 1 8); Judith Metz, S.C. ,
"The Founding Circle of Elizabeth Seton's Sisters of Charity" (pp. 19-33);
Jeanne Hamilton, O.S.U., "The Nunnery as Menace: The Burning of the

NOTES AND COMMENTS

573

Charlestown Convent, 1834" (pp. 35-65); Florence Deacon, O.S.E, "More Than

Just a Shoe String and a Prayer: How Women Religious Helped Finance the

Nineteenth-Century Social Fabric" (pp. 67-89); Carol K. Coburn and Martha

Smith, C.S.J., "Creating Community and Identity: Exploring Religious and Gen-

der Ideology in the Lives of American Women Religious, 1836-1920" (pp.

91-108); Linda Marie Bos, S.S.N.D., "Empowered by a Shared Story" (pp.
109-120); and M. Shawn Copeland, "A Cadre of Women Religious Committed

to Black Liberation: The National Black Sisters Conference" (pp. 121-144).

The annual keepsake for 1996 sent to the Friends of the Archival Center of

the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is a twenty-two-page pamphlet entitled "Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken (1902-1983): A Personal Memoir," by Francis J.
Weber. Published as Volume III of the "California Catholic Miscellany" series, it
is the text of an address that Monsignor Weber delivered at the tenth annual
symposium on the "History of Bay Area Catholicism," which was held at the
University of San Francisco on October 7, 1995. The Archbishop of San Francisco was born in Los Angeles.

The historical "Encyclopedia of African American Associations" is seeking
scholars willing to contribute assigned entries. This single-volume reference
work will include associations established by African Americans and interracial
groups working in the interest of African Americans. Requests for a list of entries and for further information should be addressed to Nina Mjagkij in care of

the Department of History, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana 47306; E-mail:
oonOmjagkij@bsuvc.bsu.edu.

Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly invites submissions for its
twentieth-anniversary issue, which will appear in 1997. Though the editors will
accept articles on any theoretical, generic, historical, or cultural aspect of
lifewriting, they especially desire essays that extend the range of biography,
autobiography, hagiography, oral and group history into other fields and disciplines. They would also like to see articles on lifewriting outside the AngloAmerican literary corridor, especially Asian. Manuscripts should be between
2,500 and 7,500 words and should be sent to the Center for Biographical Research in care of the Department of English, 1733 Donagho Road, University of

Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822. More information may be obtained
from the editor, Craig Howes, at the mailing address given above or by telephoning 808-956-3774 or at E-mail: biograph@hawaii.edu.
Distinctions

The book by Mary J. Oates, C. S.J., of Regis College, The Catholic Philanthropic Tradition in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995),
received honorable mention in this year's competition for the Staley-RobesonRyan-St. Lawrence Prize for Research on Fund Raising and Philanthropy, -which
is awarded by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives.
The Conference on Latin American History has awarded its Howard Cline

574

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Prize for 1995 to David Block for his book Mission Culture on the UpperAmazon: Native Tradition, Jesuit Enterprise, and Secular Policy in Moxos,
1660-1880 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994). It has also given the
James A. Robertson Honorable Mention to Karen Viera Powers for her article
"The Battle for Bodies and Souls in the Colonial North Andes: Intra-Eccelsiastical

Struggles and the Politics of Migration," HispanicAmerican Historical Review,
75 (February, 1995).
Memorial

A slate and marble memorial to Cecilius Calvert, second Baron of Baltimore,

was unveiled by the Governor of Maryland, Parris N. Glendenning, in the
Church of St. Giles-in-the-Field in London, where the founder of the colony of

Maryland was buried after he died within the parish in 1675 and where his re-

mains had lain for more than two centuries in an unmarked grave. In penal
times Catholics in England had to be buried in Anglican churches or churchyards.
Personal Notices

Sister Mary Alice Gallin, O.S.U., is a visiting research scholar at the Catholic
University of America. She has received a three-year grant from the Lilly Endowment to write a history of American Catholic higher education from the
1960s to the 1990's.

Glenn W. Olsen of the University of Utah at Salt Lake City has been elected
vice-president of the Medieval Association of the Pacific for a two-year term; he
will succeed to the presidency of the Association in 1998. He has also received
both a grant from the University of Utah Research Committee for research in

France, Germany, and Spain in the summer and fall of 1996 and the 1996 Uni-

versity of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award.

John W. O'Malley SJ. , of the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, has been
elected vice-president of the Renaissance Society of America for a two-year
term. He will be president from 1998 to 2000.
James M. Powell of Syracuse University has been appointed DistinguishedVisiting Professor of Medieval History in Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New

Jersey, for the academic year 1996-1997.

Thomas J. Shelley has been appointed an associate professor of historical theology in Fordham University.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS

Theologiegeschichtsschreibung und Kontroverstheologie. Michael Basse.

Zeitschriftfür Kirchengeschichte, 107(1, 1996), 50-71.

Christentumsgeschichte in globaler Perspektive. Klaus Koschorke. Zietschrifl
für Kirchengeschichte, 107(1, 1996), 72-89Europa y sus raíces cristianas. Guy Bedouelle. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec,
1995), 523-535.

Confessione: il tormento e l'estasi. Giuseppe Maria Viscardi. Ricerche di Storia
Sociale e Religiosa, XXIV (Jan.-June, 1995), 23-50.
Die Bibliothek der ehemaligen Benediktinerabtei Schuttern. Udo Kühne.
Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv, 115(1995), 5-33.
Franciscan Manuscripts in Russia. Vladimir Vasilik. Archivum Franciscanum
Historicum, 88 (July-Dec, 1995), 533-558.
El convento de religiosas Claras de la Purísima Concepción de Alcázar de San
Juan. Felipe Ciudad Río-Pérez. Archivo Ibero-Americano, LV (Jan.-Dec,
1995), 321-343.
Laurent Receveur OFMConv (1757-1788) scienziato e circumnavigatore. —IVVI. Nuove imprese dalla California all'Australia (15 sett. 1786- 1788). Morte.

Isidore Gatti, OFM Conv. Miscellanea Francescana, 95 (July-Dec, 1995),
605-666.

Don Giuseppe De Luca et l'histoire de la piété. Emile Goichot. Ricerche di
Storia Sociale e Religiosa, XXFV (July-Dec, 1995), 91-1 1 1.
ANCIENT

Una nuova proposta su Ippolito. Manlio Simonetti. Augustinianum, XXXVI
(Jan., 1996), 13-46.

Synésios à Constantinople: 399-402. D. Roques. Byzantion, LXV (2, 1995),
405-439.

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia: A Possible Occupant. Gillian Mackie. Byzantion, LXV (2, 1995), 396-404.

575

576

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

La cité de la Parole: Saint Augustin entre la théorie et la pratique de la communication latinophone. Michel Banniard. Journal des Savants, (July-Dec,
1995), 283-306.
MEDIEVAL

Medieval Christian Nubia and the Islamic World: A Reconsideration of the Baqt

Treaty. Jay Spaulding. InternationalJournal ofAfrican Historical Studies,
28 (3, 1993), 577-594.

Deux nouveaux feuillets de la comptabilité domaniale de l'abbaye Saint-Martin
de Tours à l'époque mérovingienne. Pierre Gasnault./owrM«/ des Savants,
(July-Dec, 1995), 207-321.

Bede and the Isidorian Legacy. William D. McCready. Mediaeval Studies, 57
(1995), 41-73.

Bede, Isidore, and the Epístola Cuthberti. William D. McCready. Traditio, 50
(1995), 75-94.

Allegory in the Navigatio sancti Brendani. Dorothy Ann Bray. Viator, 26
(1995), 1-10.

L'image byzantine; production et usages. Daniel Barbu. Annales, 51 (Jan.-Feb.,
1996), 71-92.
Inventivité et sérialité des images médiévales. Pour une approche iconographique élargie. Jérôme Baschet. Annales, 51 (Jan.-Feb., 1995), 93-133.
Alfred the Great and the Destruction and Production of Christian Books.

Richard Gameson Scriptorium, XLIV (2, 1995), 180-210.
S. Giovanni di Mediliano: ricerche intorno a una pieve rurale. Giuseppe Banfo.
Bollettino Storico-Bibliograflco Subalpino, XCIII (2, 1995), 393-440.

Le rôle de l'Église de Naples dans le Midi. À propos de deux assemblées

ecclésiastiques du IXe siècle et de leurs actes. Jean-Marie Martin. Mélanges

de l'Écolefrançaise de Rome, Moyen Age, 107 (1, 1995), 39-64.

Portraits, the Cult of Relics and the Affirmation of Hierarchy at an Early Medieval Monastery: San Vincenzo al Volturno. John Mitchell and Richard

Hodges. Antiquity, 70 (Mar., 1996), 20-30.

Les hérésies de l'an Mil. Nouvelles perspectives sur les origines du catharisme.
Anne Brenon. Heresis, No. 24 (June, 1995), 21-36.
The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Crusade. John France. Journal of

Ecclesiastical History, 47 (Jan., 1996), 1-17.

Locum sepulturae meae . . . elegi: Property, Graves, and Sacral Power in
Eleventh-Century Germany. Jonathan Rotondo-McCord. Viator, 26 (1995),
77-106.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

577

Gregor VII. als "Publizist." Zur Wirkung des Schreibens Reg. VIII, 21. Stefan

Beulertz. Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, 32 (1994), 7-29.
Cycles de la Genèse et calendriers dans l'art roman hispanique. À propos du

portail de l'église de Belefta del Sorbe (Guadalajara). Manuel Antonio
Castiñeiras González. Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale, XXXVIII (Oct.Dec, 1995), 307-317.

The Career of Philip the Cleric, Younger Brother of Louis VII: Apropos of the
Unpublished Charter. Andrew W. Lewis. Traditio, 50 (1995), 111-127.
The Count, the Bishop and the Abbot: Armengol VI of Urgel and the Abbey of
Valladolid. Simon Barton. English Historical Review, CXI (Feb., 1996),
85-103.

Richard the Lionheart and the Birth of a National Cult of St George in England:
Origins and Development of a Legend. Olivier De Laborderie. Nottingham
Medieval Studies, XXXLX (1995), 37-53-

Innocent III, Defender of the Innocents and the Law: Children and Papal Policy

(1 198-1216). Constance M. Rousseau. Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, 32
(1994), 31-42.

Regesten aus dem Kapitelarchiv von S. Maria in Via Lata (1201-1259)—Teil IL
Ingrid Baumgärtner. Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen
Archiven und Bibliotheken, 75 (1995), 32-177.

Le siège de Séverac par Simon de Montfort en 1214. Laurent Albaret. Heresis,
No. 24 (June, 1995), 53-66.
Santa Chiara e Frate Elia. Ancora un ricordo del centenario Clariano. Giovanni

Odoardi, OFMConv. Miscellanea Francescana, 95 (July-Dec, 1995),
547-555.

Henry HI and the Gothic Rebuilding ofWestminster Abbey: The Problematics of
Context. Suzanne Lewis. Traditio, 50 (1995), 129-172.

Local Reality and Papal Policy: Papal Provision and the Church of Arezzo,
1248-1327. Blake Beattie. Mediaeval Studies, 57(1995), 131-153.
English Vowed Women at the End of the Middle Ages. Mary C. Erler. Mediaeval
Studies, 57(1995), 155-203.

Death by Document: A Re-appraisal of Spalding Priory's Census Evidence for

the 1260s. E. D. Jones. Nottingham Medieval Studies, XXXLX (1995),
54-69.

The Poverty of Christ in the Medieval Debates between the Papacy and the
Franciscans. Sean Kinsella. Laurentianum, 36 (3, 1995), 477-509.

Mendikant und Theologe. Thomas v. Aquin in den Armutsbewegungen seiner

Zeit (zu Contra retrahentes c. 15). Ulrich Horst. Münchener Theologische

Zeitschrift, 47(1, 1996), 13-31.

578

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

Women and Preaching in Medieval Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Saints' Lives. Alcuin
Blamires. Viator, 26(1995), 135-152.
L'"andata" dogale a San Vio: Rituali, un quadro, una "beata", una chiesa. Lina
Urban. StudiVeneziani, XXVIII (1994), 191-202.
Sexual Relations and Marriage in Later Medieval Normandy. A. J. Finch.Journal

ofEcclesiastical History, 47 (Apr., 1996), 236-256.

Eine unbekannte Streitschrift aus dem Kreis der Münchner Franziskaner gegen
Papst Johannes XXII. Christoph Flüeler. Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 88 (July-Dec, 1995), 497-514.
A Discourse on the Poor: The Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux. Gerald B. Guest. Viator, 26 (1995), 153-180.
Alfonso XI y Cluny. La restauración de un vínculo tradicional en la primera
mitad del siglo XTV. José Luis Senra Gabriel y Galán. Hispania Sacra, 47
(July-Dec, 1995), 537-558.
The Household of Cardinal Langham. Margaret Harvey. Journal of Eccelsiasti-

cal History, 47 (Jan., 1996), 18-44.

Giovanna I d'Angiö e l'inizio del Grande Scisma d'Occidente. La doppia
elezione del 1378 e la proposta conciliare. Anna Maria Voci. Quellen und
Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 75 (1995),
178-255.

Bona ablata: An Inventory of Property Stolen from George of Liechtenstein,

Prince-Bishop of Trent (1390-1419). Diane E. Booton. Viator, 26 (1995),
241-264.

John-Jerome of Prague and Monastic Reform in the Fifteenth Century. Wil-

liam Patrick Hyland. American Benedictine Review, 47 (Mar., 1996),
58-98.

What the Nuns Read: Literary Evidence from the English Bridgettine House,
Syon Abbey. Ann M. Hutchison. Mediaeval Studies, 57 (1995), 205-222.
Il convento di Santa Maria dell'Aracoeli nel XV secólo e il suo ruólo pubblico
nel Comune di Roma. Marianna Brancia di Apricena. Antonianum, LXXI
(Jan.-Mar., 1996), 79-103A Fifteenth-Century Site Report on the Vatican Obelisk. Brian Curran and Anthony Grafton. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, LVIII
(1995), 234-248.
SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Botticelli's Mystic Nativity, Savonarola and the Millennium. Rab Hatfield./owrnal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, LVIII (1995), 88-114.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

579

Visitas a la Universidad de Alcalá en vida del Cardenal Cisneros. José García Oro
and María José Pórtela Silva. Archivo Ibero-Americano, LV (July-Dec,
1995), 5-264.

An Unedited "Oratio" by Tommaso Radini Tedeschi, O.P. (1488-1527). Michael
Tavuzzi, O.V.Archivum Historiae Pontiflciae, 32 (1994), 43-63.
Luthers itio spiritualis. Robert Stupperich. Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte,
107(1, 1996), 19-28.
Luthergegner der ersten Stunde. Motive und Verflechtungen. Götz-Rüdiger
Tewes. Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 75 (1995), 256-365.
Breaking the Silence: Women, Censorship, and the Reformation. Peter Mathe-

son. Sixteenth CenturyJournal, XXVII (Spring, 1996), 97-109.

Un catéchisme offert à Marguerite de Navarre. MarcVenard. Bulletin de la Société

de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, 142 (Jan.-Mar., 1996), 5-32.

Catholic Perceptions of Early French Protestantism: The Heresy Trial of Baudi-

chon de la Maisonneuve in Lyon, 1534. W. G. Naphy. French History, 9

(Dec, 1995), 451-477.

Monasteries and Their Patrons at Foundation and Dissolution. Benjamin

Thompson. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, IV
(1994), 103-125.

O Infante D. Henrique e a Colegiada da Senhora da Oliveira. Franquelim Neiva
Somes. Didaskalia, XXV (1-2, 1995), 267-323.
Political Authority and Ecclesiology in Melanchthon's De Ecclesiae Autoritate.

Ralph Keen. Church History, 65 (Mar., 1996), 1-14.

Un vescovo "ribelle" al concilio di Trento: Braccio Martelli. Piero Doria.

Ricerche di Storia Sociale e Religiosa, XXTV (July-Dec, 1995), 1 13-135.
A Sixteenth-Century Carmelite at Louvain: Adrianus Hecquetius and His Friendship with Petrus Nannius. Ingrid A. R. De Smet. Lias, 22 (1, 1995), 1-17.
Ignatius Loyola and Reginald Pole: A Reconsideration. Thomas M. McCoog, SJ.

Journal ofEcclesiastical History, Al (Apr., 1996), 257-273.

Le Plat pays de la croyance. Frontière confessionnelle et sensibilité religieuse

en France au XVIe siècle. Thierry Wanegffelen. Revue d'Histoire de l'Église

de France, LXXXI (July-Dec, 1995), 391-411.

Girolamo Seripando e le prediche sul "Pater noster." Gabriele De Rosa. Ricerche
di Storia Sociale e Religiosa, XXIV (Jan.-June, 1995), 201-223.
Voices from a Venetian Prison in the Cinquecento: Francesco Spinola and Dionisio Gallo. Marion Leathers Kuntz. Studi Veneziani, XXVII (1994),
79-126.

580

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

"The reik of Maister Patrik Hammyltoun": John Foxe, John Winram, and the
Martyrs of the Scottish Reformation. Thomas S. Freeman. Sixteenth Centuryjournal, XXVII (Spring, 1996), 43-60.

Six Dialogues, 1566: Initial Response to the Magdeburg Centuries. E. Michael
Camiüi.Arcbivfür Reformationsgeschichte, 86(1995), 141-152.

Les "Mémoires" de Tavannes et la Saint-Barthélémy. Jean-Louis Bourgeon. Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, 142 (Jan.Mar., 1996), 33-54.
Der hl. Philipp Neri in der Kirche seiner Zeit. Eberhard Prause. Internationale
Katholische Zeitschrift Communio, 24 (Nov.-Dec, 1995), 557-572.
La autoridad de los prelados postridentinos y la sociedad moderna. El gobierno

de don Teotonio de Braganza en el arzobispado de Évora (1578-1602). Fe-

derico Palomo. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec, 1995), 587-624.

Urbano VII: un papa de trece días. Enrique García Hernán. Hispania Sacra, 47
(July-Dec, 1995), 561-586.

"Pour avoir un évêque à son souhait." Le recrutement de l'épiscopat au temps
d'Henri IV et de Louis XIII. Revue d'Histoire de l'Église de France, LXXXI
(July-Dec, 1995), 413-431.

SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

Vias de continuidade e ausencia nos trabamos missionários e tipográficos na
India após o sínodo de Diamper (1599-1660). Manuel Cadafaz de Matos.
Didaskalia, XXV (1-2, 1995), 353-364.
Il chiostro grande dell'Annunziata di Pistoia: documentazione archivistica e letteraria. Davide Maria Montagna, O.S.M. Studi Storici dell'Ordine dei Servi
di Maria, XLY (J-Il, 1995), 151-224.

La documentación sobre patronato eclesiástico de Castilla. Concepción de la
Fuente Cobos. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec, 1995), 625-679.

Writing to Redundancy: Approaches to Spiritual Journals and Early Modern
Spirituality. Tom Webster. HistoricalJournal, 39 (Mar., 1996), 33-56.
Holy Fabrications: The Catacomb Saints and the Counter-Reformation in
Bavaria. Trevor Johnson./owr««/ ofEcclesiastical History, 47 (Apr., 1996),
274-297.

El P. Andrés Mendo y D. Juan José de Austria. Cartas de Mendo desde Barcelona.
Carmelo Oñate Guillen, SJ. Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, LXTV
(July-Dec, 1995), 237-264.
Crypto-Catholicism, Anti-Calvinism and Conversion at the Jacobean Court: The
Enigma of Benjamin Carier. Michael Questier.Journal ofEcclesiastical History, 47 (Jan., 1996), 45-64.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

581

The Caroline Church: James Ussher and the Irish Dimension. Amanda L. Capern. HistoricalJournal, 39 (Mar., 1996), 57-85.

Cardinal Mazarin. Richard Wilkinson. History Today, 46 (Apr., 1996), 39-45.
Thomas Hobbes and Cardinal Bellarmine: Leviathan and the "Ghost of the

Roman Empire." Patricia Springborg. History of Political Thought, XVI
(Winter, 1995), 503-531.

Louis XrV et les Papes aux prises avec le Jansénisme (Suite, 1665-1669). Pierre
Blet, S.I. Archivum Historiae Pontiflciae, 32 (1994), 65-148.

La Mère de Blémur (1618-1696) et l'Ordre de Cîteaux. Michel Pigeon. Collectanea Cisterciensia, 58 (1, 1996), 70-79.
Dom Claude Martin et Pierre de Bérulle. Guy-Marie Oury. Collectanea Cisterciensia, 58 (1, 1996), 61-69.
William HFs Declaration of Reasons and the Glorious Revolution. Tony Claydon. HistoricalJournal, 39 (Mar, 1996), 87-108.
Les Pyrénéens, la mort, le salut, 1701-1750: essai d'histoire comparative sur les
clauses religiueses des testaments. Jean-François Galinier-Pallerola. Bul-

letin de Littérature Ecclésiastique, XCVII (Jan.-Mar., 1996), 59-78.

An Underground Gentry? Catholic Middlemen in Eighteenth-Century Ireland.

Kevin Whelan. Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 10 (1995), 7-68.

Die Tagebücher des Abtes Petrus Glunk von St. Märgen aus dem Schwarzwald

(reg. 1736-1766). Elisabeth Irtenkauf. Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv, 115
(1995), 35-278.

La secularización de los jesuítas expulsos (1767-1773). Enrique Giménez López
y Mario Martínez Gomis. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec, 1995), 421-471.
Maestros contra Escolapios: pleito por la enseñanza en el Madrid ilustrado. Juan
Carlos Galende Díaz. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec, 1995), 473-521.
Noviziat und Priesterseminar der Redemptoristen in Warschau 1788-1808.
Adam Owczarski. Spicilegium HIstoricum C.Ss.R., XUII (2, 1995),
291-335.

Zwei unbekannte Briefe des hl. Klemens Maria Hofbauer an den polnischen
König Stanislaw August Poniatowski. Adam Owczarski. Spicilegium Historicum C.Ss.R., XUII (2, 1995), 489-497.
Il groviglio giurisdizionale dello Stato ecclesiastico prima dell'occupazione francese. Gabriella Santoncini. Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-

germanico in Trento, XX (1994), 63-127.
William Winterbotham's Trumpet of Sedition: Religious Dissent and Political
Radicalism in the 1790s. Michael Durey.Journal of Religious History, 19
(Dec, 1995), 141-157.

582

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES

Companions in the Wilderness? Missionary Wives in Colonial Australia,
1788- 1900. Hilary M. Carey.Journal ofReligious History, 19 (Dec., 1995),
227-248.

The Jesuits and Mark Tierney (1795-1862). John Vidmar, O.P. Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, LXIV (July-Dec, 1995), 217-236.

Le franciscain croate Andrija Dorotic et les débuts de l'agitation populaire en
Dalmatie.Vicko Kapitanovic, OFM. Archivum Franciscanum Historicum,
88 (July-Dec, 1995), 567-577.
Zur Religiosität und Mentalität der österreichischen Katholiken im 19. Jahrhundert. Der Beitrag Hofbauers und der Redemptoristen. Otto Weiß. Spici-

legium Historicum C.Ss.R., XLIII (2, 1995), 337-396.

Nuove congregazioni religiose nel Véneto neU'Otto e Novecento. Silvio Tramontin. Ricerebe di Storia Sociale e Religiosa, XXIV (Jan.-June, 1995),
185-199.

Antichi e nuovi istituti religiosi femminili dell'Ordine dei Servi in Italia tra il
1814 ed il 1868. Odir Jacques Dias. Studi Storici dell'Ordine dei Servi di
Maria, XLV(I-H, 1995), 15-70.

Anfänge und Frühgeschichete der deutschen evangelischen Gemeinde in Rom
1819-1870. Arnold and Doris Esch. Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 75 (1995), 366-426.
L'installation du culte protestant à Jérusalem (1820-1870). Natalie Clausse. Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, 142 (Jan.Mar, 1996), 129-136.
Von Tennenbach nach Freiburg—der erste Bau der Ludwigskirche. Rainer Humbach. Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv, 115 (1995), 279-314.

El anticlericalismo en la España del siglo XIX. Manuel Revuelta González. Razón
y Fe, 233 (Apr., 1996), 395-409.
As paróquias de Lisboa em tempo de liberalismo. Manuel Clemente. Didaskalia, XXV (1-2, 1995), 391-410.
Padroado Portugués: privüégio ou serviço (see XLX)? David Sampaio Barbosa.
Didaskalia, XXV (1-2, 1995), 365-390.
La desaparición de la propiedad amortizada en Madrid: El caso de los conventos
de franciscanas. Femando Negredo del Cerro and Carmen Soriano
Triguero. Archivo Ibero-Americano, LV(Jan.-Dec, 1995), 477-497.
The Anglican Origins of Newman's Celibacy. Brian Young. Church History, 65
(Mar., 1996), 15-27.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

583

No Heavenly Jerusalem: The Anglican Bishopric, 1841-83· Sybil M. Jack. Journal ofReligious History, 19 (Dec, 1995), 181-203.
Heinrich von Andlaw 1802-1871 — "ultramontan" oder "modern"? Clemens

Rehm. Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv, 115 (1995), 315-335.
"Not Worse than Other Girls": The Convent-Based Rehabilitation of Fallen

Women in Victorian Britain. Susan Mumm. Journal of Social History, 29

(Spring, 1996), 527-546.

West End Chapel, Back Street Bethel: Labour and Capital in the Wigan Churches
of Christ c. 1845-1945. Peter Ackers.Journal ofEcclesiastical History, 47

(Apr., 1996), 298-329.

The Ministry, the Middle Class and the "Civilizing Mission" in Manchester,

1850-80. Simon Gunn. Social History, 21 (Jan., 1996), 22-36.

Il Card. Antonio Maria Cagiano de Azevedo vescovo di Senigallia e due lettere
inedite del Card. G. M. Mastai Ferretti, Arciv. di Imola, scritte alia vigilia del
Conclave del 1846. Stefano Gizzi. Pio IX, XXV (Jan.-Mar., 1996), 32-56.
Piety and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poitiers: The Cult of St. Radegund.

Brian Brennan.Journal ofEcclesiastical History, 41 (Jan., 1996), 65-81.

Pio IX e il Cardinale de Cabrières. Stima di santità e devozione al Pontefice. Ar-

naldo Pedrini. Pio IX, XXV (Jan.-Mar., 1996), 57-71.
Pio LX e il tributo di onore dell'Arcadia nella ricorrenza del giubileo pontificale
(1846-1871). Arnaldo Pedrini. Pio IX, XXV (Jan.-Mar., 1996), 72-83.

Joseph Jungmann SJ. (1830-1885). Ein neuscholastischer Ästhetiker. Peter
Stockmann. Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, LXIV (July-Dec, 1995),
265-275.

Evangelización de los indios ranqueles. Interpretación pastoral de las Cartas de
las Misiones del Río TV entre Fr. Marcos Donati y Fr. Moysés Alvarez
(1874-1880). Pedro Guadiano. Archivo Ibero-Americano, LV (Jan.-Dec,
1995), 345-457.

Las Misiones de la Restauración: Nava del Rey, 1879. Manuel Gómez Ríos. Spici-

legium Historicum C.Ss.R., XLIII (2, 1995), 397-455.

Estudio sociológico-demográfico de la isla de Corregidor y Lianna (Filipinas,
siglo XIX), Adolfo Diez Muñiz. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec, 1995),
749-775.

The Australian Bush Brotherhoods and Their English Origins. R. M. Frappell.

Journal ofEcclesiastical History, 41 (Jan., 1996), 82-97.

L'Édit de Nantes, un enjeu pour son tricentenaire (1898). Patrick Harismendy.

Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, 142 (Jan.Mar, 1996), 81-127.

584

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

Lay Habits: Religious Teachers and the Secularization Crisis of 1901-1904.

Sarah A. Curtis. French History, 9 (Dec, 1995), 478-498.

Einheimische Bischöfe und innerkirchliche Protestbewegungen im Indien und
Nigeria der Jahrhundertwende. Klaus Koschorke and Frieder Ludwig.
Neue Zeitschriftfür Missionswissenschaft, 52 (1, 1996), 29-39.
Intervención del cardenal Merry del Val en los nombramientos de obispos es-

pañoles (1903-1914). Vicente Cárcel Ortí. Archivum Historiae Pontiflciae, 32 (1994), 253-291.

Correspondencia inédita del P José M." de Elizondo, OFM CAP (tl922): Historia de una polémica. Juana Mary Arcelus Ulibarrena. Archivo IberoAmericano, LV (July-Dec, 1995), 265-320.

La intervención de Alfonso XIII frente a Ángel Ayala y los propagandistas. José
Andrés-Gallego. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec, 1995), 405-419.

Socialist-Catholic Alliances and Gender: Work, War and the Family in Milan and
Lombardy, 1914-2 1. John M. Foot. Social History, 21 (Jan., 1996), 37-53.
Pius XI. und Paul Fridolin Kehr. Begegnungen zweier Gelehrter. Michael F. Feld-

kamp. Archivum Historiae Pontiflciae, 32 (1994), 293-327.
Friedrich Muckermann, SJ. Hubert Gruber. Stimmen der Zeit, 214 (Apr., 1996),
266-276.

Nicola Monterisi e il "vissuto religioso" nel Mezzogiorno. Gabriele De Rosa.

Ricerche di Storia Sociale e Religiosa, XXIV (July-Dec, 1995), 137-146.

Catholic Charity during the 1930 Great Depression. Damián Gleeson. Australasian Catholic Record, LXXIII (Jan., 1996), 68-80.
Report on the Canonical Visit to the Japanese Missions of the Toronto Province
(June 10th to July 14th, 1952) by Daniel Ehman, CSsR. Paul Laverdure.

Spicilegium Historicum C.SS.R., XLIII (2, 1995), 499-522.
AMEMCAN AND CANADIAN

Laboring in the Fields of the Lord [The Franciscan Missions of Seventeenth-

Century Florida]. Jerald T. Milanich. Archaeology, 49 (Jan.-Feb., 1996),
60-69.

Explaining Salem: Calvinist Psycholgy and the Diagnosis of Possession. David
Harley. American Historical Review, 101 (Apr., 1996), 307-330.
"Hippocrates' Twins": Religion and Politics in the American Revolution. Patricia

U. Bonomi. History Teacher, 29 (Feb., 1996), 137-144.

"Ordinary Events of Nature and Providence": Reconstructing Female Missionary Experience in the British West Indies, 1800-45. Patricia T Rooke.Jour-

nal ofReligious History, 19 (Dec, 1995), 204-226.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

585

Apostle of Removal: John Eliot in the Nineteenth Century. Joshua David Bellin.
New England Quarterly, LXIX (Mar., 1996), 3-32.
J. H. Hobart in England: Two Unpublished Letters. Lawrence N. Crumb. Angli-

can and Episcopal History, LXV (Mar., 1996), 44-49.

James Lloyd Breck and the Founding of Nashotah House. Thomas C. Reeves.

Anglican and Episcopal History, LXV (Mar., 1996), 50-81.
Le renouveau religieux québécois au XLXe siècle: éléments pour une réinterprétation. Christine Hudon. Studies in Religion, 24 (4, 1995),
467-489-

I cattolici, la democrazia e il progresso negli Stati Uniti (1860-1960). Lucio
Avagliano. Ricerche di Storia Sociale e Religiosa, XXTV (July-Dec, 1995),
147-164.

Romantic Religion in Wisconsin: James DeKoven and Charles C. Grafton.

Robert B. Slocum. Anglican and Episcopal History, LXV (Mar., 1996),
82-111.

Georg Sverdrup: Church-State Relations and the Public Schools. James S.
Hamre. Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, 68 (Winter, 1995),
151-165.

Dean Ling's Church: The Success of Ethnic Catholicism inYonkers in the 1890s.

Thomas J. Shelley. Church History, 65 (Mar., 1996), 28-41.

The Battery and the Windmill: Two Models of Protestant Devotionalism in Early

Twentieth-Century America. Richard Ostrander. Church History, 65 (Mar,
1996), 42-61.

Benoît XV, le Saint-Siège et la controverse des écoles bilingues de l'Ont-

ario. Donald Tremblay. Archivum Historiae Pontiflciae, 32 (1994),
195-251.

"The Padre at the Front": The World War I Letters of Chaplain Walter Beaudette.

Wisconsin Magazine ofHistory, 79 (Spring, 1996), 204-228.

L'influence de la gauche catholique française sur l'idéologie politique de la

CTCC-SCN de 1948 à 1964. Simon Lapointe. Revue d'histoire de VAmérique
française, 49 (Winter, 1996), 331-356.
LATIN AMERICAN

Die Geschichtstheologie bei José de Acosta SJ. (1544-1600). Donath Hercsik.

Neue Zeitschriftfür Missionswissenschafl, 52(1, 1996), 1-26.

Native Icon to City Protectress to Royal Patroness: Ritual Political Symbolism
and the Virgin of Remedies. Linda A. Curcio-Nagy. The Americas, 52 (Jan.,
1996), 367-391.

586

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

El capitán Francisco Rodríguez Leyte (ca. 1589-1650) y la pacificación y evangelización del oriente de Venezuela. Luis Martínez Ferrer. Hispania Sacra,

47 (July-Dec, 1995), 777-797.

Theater of Power: Writing and Representing the Auto de Fe in Colonial Mexico.

Alejandro Caneque. The Americas, 52 (Jan., 1996), 321-343·

El prelado Abad e Diana, vallisoletano ilustrado en Perú. José Antonio Benito
Rodríguez. Hispania Sacra, 47 (July-Dec, 1995), 799-817.
La prima missione pontificia neH'America Latina. Giacomo Martina, S.I.
Archivum Historiae Pontiflcae, 32 (1994), 149-193.
Un évangélisateur-ethnographe en Haití. Marianne Mahn-Lot. Revue His-

torique, CCXCIII (Apr.-June, 1995), 251-262.

The Changing of the Guard: Transformations in the Politico-Religious Attitudes
and Behaviors of CEB Members in Säo Paulo, 1984-1993- W E. (Ted)
Hewitt.Journal of Church and State, 38 (Winter, 1996), 115-136.

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Abulafia, David (Ed.). The French Descent into Renaissance Italy, 1494-95:Antecedents and Effects. (Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum. Ashgate Publishing Com-

pany. 1995. Pp. xiv.496. $91.95.)

African Synod (The): Documents, Reflections, Perspectives. Compiled and
edited by the Africa Faith & Justice Network under the direction of Maura

Browne, S.N.D. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. 1996. Pp. ix, 286. $22.00
paperback.)

Agasso, Domenico. Thecla Merlo:Messenger ofthe Good News. (Boston: St. Paul
Books & Media. 1994. Pp. 270. $8.50 paperback.)

Anderson, Jon W, and William B. Friend (Eds.). The Culture of Bible Belt
Catholics. (Mahwah,N.J.:PauIist Press. 1995. Pp. v, 303. $14.95 paperback.)
Ardolino, Frank. Apocalypse & Armada in Kyd's Spanish Tragedy. [Sixteenth

Century Essays & Studies, Vol. XXIX.] (Kirksville, Mo.: Sixteenth Century

Journal Publishers. 1995. Pp. xviii, 187. $35.00.)

Azevedo, Marcello, SJ. The Consecrated Life: Crossroads and Directions. Translated by Guillermo Cook. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. 1995. Pp. xvii, 141.
Paperback.)
Bammel, C. R Tradition and Exegesis in Early Christian Writers. [Collected

Studies Series.] (Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum. Ashgate Publishing Company.
1995. Pp. xii, 312. $87.50.) Among the articles included are"Ignatian Prob-

lems" (1982), "Justin der Märtyrer" (1984), "Herakleon" (first publication),
"The State of Play with Regard to Hippolytus and the Contra Noetum"
(1990), "Peacemaking and Religious Tolerance in the Early Church" (first

publication), and "Die Einheit des Glaubens und die Mannigfaltigkeit der
Bräuche in der christlichen Überlieferung nach Irenäus"(1990).
Bañuelas, Arturo J. (Ed.). Mestizo Christianity: Theology from the Latino Perspective. (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books. 1995. Pp. vi, 278. $17.00 paperback.)

Bartlett, Robert. The Making ofEurope; Conquest, Colonization and Cultural
Change, 950-1350. (Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1993. Pp. xvi,
432. $29.95.)

587

588

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Beauregard, David N., O.M.V. Virtue's Own Feature: Shakespeare and the Virtue

Ethics Tradition. (Newark: University of Delaware Press. 1995. Pp. 260.
$41.50.)

Bercé, Yves-Marie. The Birth ofAbsolutism: A History of France, 1598-1661.
Translated by Richard Rex. (NewYork: St. Martin's Press. 1996. Pp. viii, 262.
$45.00 cloth; $1995 paperback.)
Berquistjon hJudaism in Persia's Shadow.A Social and HistoricalApproach.
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 1995. Pp. vi, 282. Paperback.)
Bitel, Lisa M. Land of Women: Tales of Sex and Gender from Early Ireland.
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. 1996. Pp. xviii, 307. $35.00.)
Bloch, R. Howard. God's Plagiarist: Being an Account of the Fabulous Industry and Irregular Commerce of theAbbé Migne. (Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press. 1995. Pp. ix, 152. Paperback.) Originally published in

1994 and reviewed by Richard F. Costigan, S.J., ante, LXXXI (July, 1995),

450-451.

Boles, John B. Religion in Antebellum Kentucky. (Lexington: The University
Press of Kentucky. 1995. Pp. xii, 148. $9.95 paperback.) Originally pub-

lished in 1976 and reviewed by Thomas W Spalding ante, LXIII (October,
1977), 654-655.

Bracken, Joseph A., SJ. The Divine Matrix: Creativity as Link between East
and West. [Faith Meets Faith Series.] (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books. 1995.
Pp. xi, 179. $21.00 paperback.)

Brown, Elizabeth A. R. Franks, Burgundians, and the Aquitanians and the

Royal Coronation Ceremony in France. [Transactions of the Amerian
Philosophical Society, Vol. 82, Part 7] (Philadelphia: The Amerian Philosophical Society. 1992. Pp. xi, 189. Paperback.)

Brown, Peter. Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian
Empire. [The Curti Lectures, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1988.]
(Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. 1992. Pp. x, 182. $45.00

cloth; $12.95 paperback.)

Buckley, Anthony D., and Mary Catherine Kenney Negotiating Identity:

Rhetoric, Metaphor, and Social L>rama in Northern Ireland. [Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry.] (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1995. Pp. x, 270. $44.50.)

Butt, Gerald. Life at the Crossroads:A History of Gaza. (Epping, Essex: Rimai. A
division of Scorpion Cavendish. 1995. Pp. vii, 200.)
Buzzi, Franco. // Concilio di Trente (1545-1563): Breve introduzione ad al-

cuni temi teologici principali. [Facoltà Teológica dell'Italia Settentrionale.] (Milan: Glossa. 1995. Pp. 191. Paperback.) The main themes

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

589

developed here are revelation, original sin, justification, and the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist. There is an extensive bibliography.
Cardenal, Ernesto. Abide in Love. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. 1995. Pp. xxv,
164. Paperback.)
Carmichael, Joel. The Unriddling of Christian Origins: A Secular Account.

(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. 1995. Pp. 425. $34.95.)

Carmody, Denise Lardner, and John Tully Carmody. Serene Compassion.A Chris-

tian Appreciation of Buddhist Holiness. (New York: Oxford University

Press. 1996. Pp. vii, 136. $22.00.)

Chambers,Whittaker. Ghosts on the Roof: Selected Essays. Edited by Terry Teachout. [The Library of Conservative Thought.] (New Brunswick, N.J. !Trans-

action Publishers. 1996. Pp. xli, 361. $22.95 paperback.) Originally
published in 1989 by Regnery Gateway.

Clogan, Paul Maurice (Ed.). Medievalia et Humanística: Studies in Medieval
and Renaissance Culture, New Series, Number 22: Diversity. (Lanham,

Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1995. Pp. xiv, 315. $65.00.) The

first of the six articles published here is"Boniface and Dokkum: Terror, Repetition, Allegory," by John P. Hermann (pp. 1-29)·
Colson, Charles, and Richard John Neuhaus (Eds.). Evangelicals and Catholics
Together: Toward a Common Mission. (Dallas: Word Publishing. 1995. Pp.
xxxv, 236. $14.99 paperback.) Mark A. Noll has contributed an essay entitled "The History of an Encounter: Roman Catholics and Protestant Evangelicals" (pp. 81-1 14).
Craig, Robert H. Religion and Radical Politics:An Alternative Christian Tradition in the United States. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1992. Pp.
x, 307. $34.95.)

d'Alverny, Marie-Thérèse. Pensée médiévale en Occident: Théologie, magie et
autres textes des ??G-????" siècles. Edited by Charles Burnett. [Collected
Studies Series.] (Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum. Ashgate Publishing Company.

1995. Pp. x, 339. $105.00.)

Daniel, E. Valentine, and John Chr. Knudsen (Eds.). Mistrusting Refugees.

(Berkeley: University of California Press. 1995. Pp. xi, 286. $45.00 cloth;
$17.00 paperback.)

Daniels, Bruce C. Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New

England. (New York: St. Martin's Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 271. $23.95.)

Dante, Francesco. Storia délia "Civiltà Cattolica" (1850-1891). Il laboratorio
del Papa. [Il pensiero politico e sociale dei cattolici italiani, 14.] (Rome:
Edizioni Studium. 1990. Pp. 287. 28.000 Lire paperback.)
Davies, Horton. Worship and Theology in England. Book 1 : 1. From Cranmer
to Hooker, 1534-1603, and II. From Andrewes to Baxter and Fox, 1603-

590

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

1690; Book 2: III. From Watts and Wesley to Maurice, 1690-1850, and IV
From Newman to Martineau, 1850-1900; Book 3:V The Ecumenical Cen-

tury, 1900-1965, and VI. Crisis and Creativity, 1965-Present. (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1996. Pp. xix,
592; xi, 390; xi, 286. $150.00 the set paperback.) Volumes I-V were previ-

ously published by Princeton University Press. Volume I was reviewed by
George H. Tavard ante, LVIII (January, 1973), 637-638; Volume II by the
same, LXIV QuIy, 1978), 5 17-5 19; Volume III by Sister Albertus Magnus McGrath, XLVII (October, 196l), 376-377; Volume IV by Damián McElrath,

XLVIII 0uly, 1962), 268-269; and Volume V by George Tavard, LIV GuIy,
1968), 326-327. Volume VI, Crisis and Creativity, 1965-Present, is here
G3ook 3, pp. viii, 286) published for the first time.

Davies, Wendy, and Paul Fouracre (Eds.). Property and Power in the Early Middle Ages. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 322.
$59.95.)
de Aldama, Antonio M., SJ. The Constitutions of the Society ofJesus. Part JNJes-

uit Religious Life. Translated and abridged by Ignacio Echániz, SJ. [Series

II: Modern Scholarly Studies about the Jesuits in English Translation, No.
13] (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources. 1995. Pp. xii, 147. $14.95
paperback.)

Documents of the Thirty-Fourth General Congregation ofthe Society ofJesus:

The Decrees of General Congregation Thirty-Four, the Fifteenth of the Re-

stored Society and the Accompanying Papal and Jesuit Documents,
Rome, Curia of the Superior General. Edited by John L. McCarthy, SJ. [Series III: Original Studies Composed in English, No. 14.] (St. Louis:The Insti-

tute ofJesuit Sources. 1995. Pp. xii, 304. $13.95 paperback.)

Dunn, Charles W, and J. David Woodard. The Conservative Tradition in Amer-

ica. G-anham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1996. Pp. ix, 199.
$57.50 cloth; $14.95 paperback.)

Dunningan, John P. Deep-Rooted Conflict and the IRA Cease-Fire. (Lanham,

Md.: University Press of America. 1995. Pp. xiii, 112. $37.00 cloth; $18.50

paperback.)

Dupré, Louis. Passage to Modernity. An Essay in the Hermeneutics ofNature
and Culture. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1996. Pp. xi, 300. $32.50
cloth; $15.00 paperback.) Originally published in 1993.
Eckardt, A. Roy. On the Way to Death: Essays toward a Comic Vision. (New

Brunswick, NJ. .Transaction Publishers. 1996. Pp. xi, 180. $34.95.)

Eckstein, Nicholas A. The District of the Green Dragon: Neighbourhood Life
and Social Change in Renaissance Florence. [Istituto Nazionale di Studi
sul Rinascimento, Quaderni di "Rinascimento," XXII.] G^orence: Leo S.
Olschki Editore. 1995. Pp. xxvi, 274. 79.000 Lire paperback.)

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

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Enright, Michael J. Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy and Lordship in
the European Warband from La Tène to the Viking Age. (Portland Ore.:
Four Courts Press, c/o ISBS [International Specialized Book Services, Inc.].
1996. Pp. xiv, 340. $45.00.)
Farago, Claire (Ed.). Reframing the Renaissance.Visual Culture in Europe and
Latin America, 1450-1650. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1995. Pp.
xii, 394. $45.00.) Among the fourteen essays published here, which were
originally presented as papers in a conference session entitled "Reevaluating the Eurocentrism of Italian Renaissance Art History" and held in
Chicago in February, 1992, are " 'Popular Art' in Renaissance Italy. Early Re-

sponse to the Holy Mountain at Varallo,"by Alessandro Nova (pp. 1 13-126);

"Art Theory as Ideology: Gabriele Paleotti's Hierarchical Notion of Painting's Universality and Reception," by Pamela M. Jones (pp. 127-139); and
"Luca Signorelli's Rule ofAnti-christ and the Christian Encounter with the
Infidel," by Jonathan B. Riess (pp. 283-291).
Feldman, Glenn. From Demagogue to Dixiecrat: Horace Wilkinson and the
Politics ofRace. (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America. 1995. Pp. xviii,

311. $49.00 cloth; $32.50 paperback.)

Fenn, Richard K. The Persistence of Purgatory. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. viii, 209. $49.95 hardback; $16.95 paperback.)
Fernández-Armesto, Felipe. Millennium:A History of the Last Thousand Years.

(NewYork: Scribner. 1995. Pp. 816. $35.00.)

Fleming, David L., S.J. Draw Me into Your Friendship:A Literal Translation and
a Contemporary Reading of the Spiritual Exercises. [Series IV: Studies on

Jesuit Topics, No. 17] (St. Louis:The Institute ofJesuit Sources. 1996. Pp. vi,
302. Paperback.)

Franchi,Antonino.^45co/i'/wpenafe da Carlo Magno a Federico Il (800-1250).

[Istituto Superiore di Studi Medioevali, "Ceceo d'Ascoli"; "Studi e Documenta," 1.] (Ascoli Piceno: D'Auria Editrice. 1995. Pp. 308. Paperback.)

Frank, Arthur W The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. (Chicago:

The University of Chicago Press. 1995. Pp. xviii, 213. $1995.)

Fuellenbach, John. The Kingdom of God: The Message ofJesus Today. (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books. 1995. Pp. xi, 340. $20.00 paperback.)
García-Rivera, Alex. St. Martin de Porres: The "Little Stories" and the Semiotics

of Culture. [Faith and Culture Series.] (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books. 1995.

Pp. xvii, 142. $17.00 paperback.)

Geary, Patrick J. (Ed.). Authors of the Middle Ages: Historical and Religious
Writers of the Latin West. Volume II, Nos. 5-6. (Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum.
Ashgate Publishing Company. 1995. Pp. vii, 183. $54.95.) No. 5: Peter
Abelard, by Constant J. Mews; No. 6: Honorius Augustodunensis, by V I. J.
Flint.

592

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Gibbons, B. J. Gender in Mystical and Occult Thought: Behmenism and Its Development in England. [Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History.] (NewYork: Cambridge University Press. 1996. Pp. xi, 247. $54.95.)
Goizueta, Roberto S. Caminemos con Jesús: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theol-

ogy ofAccompaniment. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. 1995. Pp. xiii, 224.
$17.00 paperback.)

Gorringe, Timothy. God's Just Vengeance: Crime, Violence and the Rhetoric of
Salvation. [Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion, 9.] (New York:
Cambridge University Press. 1996. Pp. xiv, 280. $4995 hardback; $17.95
paperback.)

Grasso, Kenneth L., Gerard V. Bradley, and Robert P Hunt (Eds.). Catholicism,
Liberalism, Communitarianism.The Catholic Intellectual Tradition and

the Moral Foundations of Democracy. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1995. Pp. xi, 271 . $64.50 cloth; $26.95 paperback.)

Halsall, Guy. Settlement and Social Organization: The Merovingian Region of

Metz. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xx, 307. $69.95.)

Harkness, David. Ireland in the Twentieth Century:Divided Island. [British History in Perspective.] (New York: St. Martin's Press. 1996. Pp. x, 190.
$39.95.)

Harvey,Van A. Feuerbach and the Interpretation ofReligion. [Cambridge Stud-

ies in Religion and Critical Thought, 1.] (New York: Cambridge University

Press. 1995. Pp. x, 319- $59.95.)

Hayes, Diana L. And Still We Rise:An Introduction to Black Liberation Theology. (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press. 1996. Pp. iv, 219. $12.95 paperback.)
Henn, William, O.F.M. Cap. One Faith: Biblical and Patristic Contributions
toward Understanding Unity in Faith. (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press. 1995.

Pp. vi, 334. $22.95 paperback.)

Heschel, Abraham Joshua. Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity. Edited by
Susannah Heschel. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1996. Pp. xxx,
428. $27.50.)

HexterJ. H. TheJudaeo-Christian Tradition. Second Edition. (New Haven:Yale
University Press. 1996. Pp. xvii, 1 18. $20.00 cloth; $10.00 paperback.) The
first edition was published in 1966 by Harper & Row.
Higgins, George G., with William Bole. Organized Labor and the Church: Re-

flections of a "Labor Priest" (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press. 1993. Pp. iv, 245.
$12.95 paperback.)

Higgs, Robert J. God in the Stadium: Sports and Religion in America. (Lexing-

ton: The University Press of Kentucky. 1995. Pp. xv, 383- $3995 cloth;
$1595 paperback.)

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

593

Hinckley, Ted C. The Canoe Rocks:Alaska's Tlingit and the Euramerican Frontier, 1800-1912. (Lanham, Md.: University Press ofAmerica. 1996. Pp. xviii,
458. $56.00.)

Hoak, Dale, and Mordechai Feingold (Eds.). The World of William and Mary:
Anglo-Dutch Perspectives on the Revolution of 1688-89. (Stanford, Calif.:

Stanford University Press. 1996. Pp. xvii, 339. $49.50.) Among the fifteen

essays that make up this book are " 'Antichrist Stormed': The Glorious Revolution and the Dutch Prophetic Tradition," by Ernestine van der Wall (pp.

152-164), and "The Act of Toleration and the Failure of Comprehension:

Persecution, Nonconformity, and Religious Indifference," by Gordon J.

Schochet (pp. 165-187).

Hunt, Andrew. Oxford to Zimbabwe: A Life's Recall. (Oxford: New Cherwell
Press. Order from ISBS, Portland, Ore. 1994. Pp. viii, 241. $14.95 paperback.)

Ignatius of Loyola. A Pilgrim's Testament: The Memoirs of St. Ignatius of
Loyola. Transcribed by Luis Gonçalves da Cámara and translated by Parmananda R. Divarkar. [Series I: Jesuit Primary Sources in English Translations, No. 13.] (St. Louis: The Institute ofJesuit Sources. 1995. Pp. xxx, 150.

$14.25 paperback.)

Ingraffia, Brian D. Postmodern Theory and Biblical Theology: Vanquishing
God's Shadow. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xvi, 284.

$59.95 hardback; $17.95 paperback.)

Itnyre, Cathy Jorgensen (Ed.). Medieval Family Roles:A Book of Essays. [Gar-

land Medieval Casebooks, Vol. 15; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities,Vol. 1727.] (NewYork: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1996. Pp. xiv, 248.

$35.00.) The first of the twelve essays collected in this volume is "Dynastic

Sanctity in Two Early Medieval Women's Lives" by Carolyn Edwards (pp. 319).

Jackson, Robert H. Indian Population Decline: The Missions ofNorthwestern
New Spain, 1687-1840. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

1995. Pp. xii, 229. $16.95 paperback.) Originally published in 1994 and re-

viewed by Charles W. Polzer, SJ., ante, LXXXI (July, 1995), 472-473.

Jantzen, Grace M. Power, Gender and Christian Mysticism. [Cambridge Studies

in Ideology and Religion, 8.] (NewYork: Cambridge University Press. 1995.
Pp. xvii, 384. $64.95 cloth; $18.95 paperback.)

John XXIII (Pope). Days ofDevotion: Daily Meditations from the Good Shepherd. Edited by John R Donnelly and translated by Dorothy White. (New

York:Viking.A GinigerBook. 1996. Pp. 315. $17.95.)
Johnson, Phillip E. Reason in the Balance: The CaseAgainst Naturalism in Science, Law & Education. (Downers Grove, IU.: InterVarsity Press. 1995. Pp.
245. $19.99.)

594

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Juana (Sor) Inés de la Cruz. The Answer/La Respuesta. Including a Selection of
Poems. Critical Edition and Translation by Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell. (New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York.

1994. Pp. xvii, 196. $35.00 cloth; $12.95 paperback.)

Kakkanatt, Anthony. Christological Catechesis of the Liturgy: A Study on the
Great Feasts of Our Lord in the Malankara Church. (Rome: Mar Thoma

Yogam [St. Thomas Christian Fellowship]. 1996. Pp. xx, 362. Paperback.)

Kessler, Sanford. Tocqueville's Civil Religion: American Christianity and the

Prospectsfor Freedom. [SUNY Series in Religion, Culture, and Society] (Albany: State University of New York Press. 1994. Pp. xiv, 238. $ 17.95 paperback.)

Knitter, Paul F. One Earth Many Religions: Multifaith Dialogue and Global

Responsibility. (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books. 1995. Pp. xiv, 218. $17.00
paperback.)

Lavrin, Asunción. Women, Feminism, and Social Change in Argentina, Chile,

and Uruguay, 1890-1940. [Engendering Latin America, Vol 3] (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press. 1995. Pp. x, 480. $60.00.)

Lerner, Gerda. The Creation ofFeminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages
to Eighteen-seventy. [Women and History, Vol. Two.] (New York: Oxford

University Press. 1993. Pp. xiii, 395. $27.50.)

Lienesch, Michael. Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christ-

ian Right. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 1993- Pp.

xi, 332. $45.00 cloth; $17.95 paperback.)

Luciak, Uja A. The Sandinista Legacy: Lessons from a Political Economy in
Transition. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 1995. Pp. xx, 238.
$49.95.)
Marsden, Richard. The Text of the Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England.
[Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England, 15.] (New York: Cambridge

University Press. 1995. Pp. xxviii, 506. $80.00.)

Martin, R. N. D. Pierre Duhem:Philosophy and History in the Work ofa Physi-

cist. (La Salle, 111.: Open Court. 1991. Pp. xi, 274. $44.95 cloth; $19-95

paperback.)

Martin,Vincent. A House Divided: The Parting of the Ways between Synagogue
and Church. [Studies in Judaism and Christianity.] (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist

Press. A Stimulus Book. 1995. Pp. viii, 194. $1 1.95 paperback.)
McCaffrey, Lawrence J. The Irish Question: Two Centuries of Conflict. Second
Edition. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. 1995. Pp. x, 225.

$34.95 cloth; $15.95 paperback.) Originally published in 1968 and reviewed by Maurice R. O'Connell ante, LVIII (October, 1972), 415-416. In

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

595

this revised edition the period is extended to 1994. Footnotes are omitted,
but an essay on "Recommended Reading" is appended.
McDannell, Colleen, and Bernhard Lang. Heaven:A History. (New Haven: Yale

University Press. 1996. Pp. xix, 411. Paperback.) Originally published in
1988 and reviewed by Carl J. Peter ante, LXXVI (October, 1990), 813-814.

Mellon, John C. Mark as Recovery Story: Alcoholism and the Rhetoric of
Gospel Mystery. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1995. Pp. xv, 310.
$26.95.)
Metz, Johann-Baptist, and Jürgen Moltmann. Faith and the Future: Essays on
Theology, Solidarity, and Modernity. [Concilium Series.] (Maryknoll, N.Y.:

Orbis Books. 1995. Pp. xvii, 206. $18.95 paperback.)

Minow, Newton N. , and Craig L. LaMay. Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children,
Television and the FirstAmendment. (NewYork: Hill and Wang. A division

of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1995. Pp. xiii,237. $11.00 paperback.)

Morris, Thomas V (Ed.). God and the Philosophers: The Reconciliation ofFaith
and Reason. (NewYork: Oxford University Press. 1995Pp. vii,285. $1395
paperback.) First published in 1994.
New Testament and Psalms (The): An Inclusive Version. Edited by Victor
Roland Gold, et al. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1995. Pp. xxiii,
535.)

Nimsjohn Frederick (Trans.). The Poems ofSt.John ofthe Cross. Third Edition.
Original Spanish Texts and English Translations. (Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press. 1995. Pp. viii, 151. $1095 paperback.)
Pals, Daniel L. Seven Theories ofReligion. (New York: Oxford University Press.

1996. Pp. rx, 294. $19-95.)

Paris, Erna. The End ofDays:A Story ofTolerance, Tyranny, and the Expulsion
of theJewsfrom Spain. (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. 1995. Pp. 327.
$28.95.)

Peelman, Achiel. Christ is a Native American. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.

1995. Pp. 253. $20.00 paperback.)

Pilch, John J. The Cultural World ofJesus: Sunday by Sunday, Cycle A. (CoI-

legeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press. 1995. Pp. xiii, 170. $11.95 paperback.)

Plaschka, Richard G., Gerald Stourzh, and Jan Paul Niederkorn. Was heißt Österreich? Inhalt und Umfang des Österreichbegriffs vom 10. Jahrhundert
bis heute. [Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften: PhilosophischHistorische Klasse, Historische Kommission; Archiv für österreichische

Geschichte, Band 136.] (Vienna:Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der

Wissenschaften. 1995. Pp. 365; 16 plates.)

596

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Porter, J. R. The Illustrated Guide to the Bible. (New York: Oxford University
Press. 1995. Pp. 287. $35.00.)
Reynolds, Susan. Ideas and Solidarities of the Medieval laity: England and
Western Europe. [Collected Studies Series.] (Brookfleld,Vt.:Variorum. Ash-

gate Publishing Company. 1995. Pp. viii, 253. $77.50.)

Rich, John, and Graham Shipley (Eds.). War and Society in the Greek World.

[Leicester-Nottingham Studies in Ancient Society,Vol. 4.] (New York: Rout-

ledge. 1995. Pp. xiii, 263. $16.95 paperback.) Originally published in 1993.

Richter, Michael. Medieval Ireland.The Enduring Tradition. (NewYork: St. Mar-

tin's Press. 1996. Pp. xii, 214. $17.95 paperback.) Originally published in
1995.

Roberts, Elizabeth, and Ann Shukman (Eds.). Christianity for the Twenty-First
Century: The Prophetic Writings ofAlexander Men. (New York: Continuum. 1996. Pp. xii, 226. $1995 paperback.)
Rubin, Alexis P. (Ed.). Scattered among the Nations: Documents AffectingJewish History, 49 to 1975. (Toronto and Dayton: Wall & Emerson, Inc. 1993.

Pp. xviii, 350. $19.50 paperback.)

Smith, Christian. Resisting Reagan.The U.S. CentralAmerica Peace Movement.

(Chicago:The University of Chicago Press. 1996. Pp. xxi,464. $55.00 cloth;
$19.95 paperback.)

Smith, Susan L. The Power ofWomen:A Topos in MedievalArt and Literature.

(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1995. Pp. xvii, 294.
$44.95.)

Sorenson, Leonard R. Madison on the "General Welfare" ofAmerica: His Consistent Constitutional Vision. [Studies in American Constitutionalism.]

(Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefleld Publishers, Inc. 1995. Pp. xvii, 178.

$58.50 cloth; $22.95 paperback.)

Tarrago, Rafael E. The Pageant of Ibero-American Civilization: An Introduction to Its Cultural History. (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America.
1995. Pp. xii, 125. $28.50.)
Tatalovich, Raymond. Nativism Reborn? The Official English Language Movement and the American States. (Lexington: The University Press of Ken-

tucky. 1995. Pp. xiii, 319. $29.95.)

Teresa, Mother. In My Own Words. Compiled by José Luis González-Balado.

(Liguori,Mo.:Liguori Publications. 1996. Pp. 109. $11.95.)

Thompson, Bard. Humanists and Reformers: A History of the Renaissance

and Reformation. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company. 1996. Pp. x, 742. $40.00.)

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597

Treadgold, Warren. Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. 1995. Pp. xv, 250. $39.50.)
Vermigli, Peter Martyr. Dialogue on the Two Natures in Christ. Translated and
Edited with Introduction and Notes by John Patrick Donnelly, SJ. [Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies,Vol. XXXI; The Peter Martyr Library, Series
One, Vol. Two.] (Kirksville, Mo.: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers and

The Thomas Jefferson University Press. 1995. Pp. xxvi, 214. $35.00.) The
Dialogue, first published in 1561 ,was a refutation ofJohannes Brenz's trea-

tise in which the ubiquity of Christ's body is the basis for Christ's real presence in the Holy Eucharist. Vermigli died the following year.

Weaver, Mary Jo. New Catholic Women:A Contemporary Challenge to Tradi-

tional Religious Authority. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1995.
Pp. xxxviii, 272. $29.95 cloth; $14.95 paper.) Originally published in 1986.

Weaver, Mary Jo, and R. Scott Appleby (Eds.). Being Right: Conservative
Catholics in America. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1995. Pp.
xiv, 352. Paperback.) Following an introduction by Dr. Weaver, "Who Are

the Conservative Catholics?" (pp. 1-14), the essays are divided into three

parts: Part I: Contexts: 1. Joseph A. Komonchak, "Interpreting the Council:

Catholic Attitudes toward Vatican ?" (pp. 17-36); 2. R. Scott Appleby, "The

Triumph ofAmericanism: Common Ground for U.S. Catholics in the Twentieth Century" (pp. 37-62); 3. Benedict M. Ashley, O.P., "The Loss of Theo-

logical Unity: Pluralism, Thomism, and Catholic Morality" (pp. 63-87); 4.

Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ.," ? Pox on Both Your Houses': A View of Catholic

Conservative-Liberal Polarities from the Hispanic Margin" (pp. 88-104);Part
II: Insider Perspectives: 5. James A. Sullivan,"Catholics United for the Faith:

Dissent and the Laity" (pp. 107-137); 6. George Weigel,"The Neoconserva-

tive Difference: A Proposal for the Renewal of Church and Society" (pp.
138-162); 7. Helen Hull Hitchcock, "Women for Faith and Family: Catholic

Women Affirming Catholic Teaching" (pp. 163-185); 8. James Hitchcock,

"The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars: Bowing Out of the New Class" (pp.
186-210); Part III: Outsider Perspectives: 9. Sandra L. Zimdars-Swartz,"The

Marian Revival in American Catholicism: Focal Points and Features of the

New Marian Enthusiasm" (pp. 213-240); 10. William D. Dinges, '"We Are
What You Were': Roman Catholic Traditionalism in America" (pp. 241-269);

11. Michael W Cuneo, "Life Battles: The Rise of Catholic Militancy within
the American Pro-Life Movement" (pp. 270-299); 12. Mary Jo Weaver, "Self-

consciously Countercultural: Alternative Catholic Colleges" (pp. 300-324);

Epilogue: R. Scott Appleby, "What Difference Do They Make?" (pp. 325335); Appendix:John H. Haas, "Conservative Catholic Periodicals" (pp. 337344).
Wessinger, Catherine (Ed.). Religious Institutions and Women's leadership:
New Roles Inside the Mainstream. [Studies in Comparative Religion.] (Co-

lumbia: University of South Carolina Press. 1996. Pp. xi, 434. $24.95 paperback.)

598

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

White, Jonathan R. The Prussian Army, 1640-1871. (Lanham, Md.: University
Press ofAmerica. 1996. Pp. xviii, 359. $56.00 cloth; $38.50 paperback.)

Williams, Stephen N. Revelation and Reconciliation:A Window on Modernity.

(New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xvii, 180. $49.95 hard-

back; $16.95 paperback.)

Wblterstorff,Nicholas./o/w Locke and the Ethics ofBelief. [Cambridge Studies
in Religion and Critical Thought, 2.] (New York: Cambridge University
Press. 1996. Pp. xxi, 248. $59.95 hardback; $19.95 paperback.)
Wright, Neil. History and Literature in LateAntiquity and the Early Medieval
West-Studies in Lntertextuality. [Collected Studies Series] (Brookfield,Vt.:
Variorum. Ashgate Publishing Company. 1995. Pp. xiv,301. $82.50.)

Yates, William Butler. Under the Moon: The Unpublished Early Poetry. Edited
by George Bornstein. (NewYork: Scribner. 1995. Pp. 128. $22.00.)

Yousefi, Naghi. Religion and Revolution in the Modern World:Ali Shari'ati's

Islam and Persian Revolution. (Lanham, Md. : University Press ofAmerica.
1995. Pp. xv, 159. $38.50.)

Zuccotti, Susan. The Italians and the Holocaust:Persecution, Rescue, and Survival. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1996. Pp. xxviii, 334. $15.00
paperback.) Originally published by Basic Books in 1987.