Noble Lord, Good Shepherd: Episcopal Power and Piety in Aquitaine, 877-1050 (Brill's Series on The Early Middle Ages, 17)

The bishop was a figure of unparalleled importance in the tenth and eleventh centuries, as he married the advantages of his noble birth to the sacramental and pastoral role of bishop, drawing upon the resultant range of powers to intervene in all areas of life. Scholarship on the episcopate in this period, however, has tended to cluster around two themes: the role of bishops in the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and the critiques of these bishops levied by certain church reformers. This book moves beyond these subjects and examines the full scope of bishops’ activities in southwest France, as they ruled their cathedrals, interacted with lay powers, patronized religious communities, and wrestled with the complex nature of their office. In Bishops We Honor Or Deny The Lord -- Ad Locum Sanctum, Ad Stipendia Fratrum : The Bishop And His Cathedral -- If The Count Should Send A Bishop : Lay Authority And The Bishops Of Aquitaine -- Episcopal Authority At Religious Communities -- Episcopal Foundation, Restoration, And Reform Of Religious Houses -- Aiding The Servants Of Faith : Bishops And Donations To Religious Houses -- Ideals Of Episcopal Power In Tenth-century Aquitaine. By Anna Trumbore Jones. Based On The Author's Dissertation (doctoral)--columbia University, 2003, Under The Title: Relations Between Bishops And Religious Houses In Aquitaine, Ca 877-ca. 1040. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [229]-252) And Index. CONTENTS......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 14 I. Introduction: In Bishops We Honor or Deny the Lord......Page 16 II. Ad locum sanctum, ad stipendia fratrum: The Bishop and His Cathedral......Page 42 III. If the Count Should Send a Bishop: Lay Authority and the Bishops of Aquitaine......Page 76 IV. Episcopal Authority at Religious Communities......Page 120 V. Episcopal Foundation, Restoration, and Reform of Religious Houses......Page 160 VI. Aiding the Servants of Faith: Bishops and Donations to Religious Houses......Page 198 VII. Conclusion: Ideals of Episcopal Power in Tenth-Century Aquitaine......Page 234 Bibliography......Page 244 Index......Page 268 This book examines the range of bishopsa (TM) activities in tenth- and eleventh-century southwest France, as they ruled their cathedrals, interacted with lay powers, patronized religious communities, and wrestled with the complex nature of their office