Penguin History of the Church #02: Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages

The concept of an ordered human society, both religious and secular, as an expression of a divinely ordered universe was central to medieval thought. In the West the political and religious community were inextricably bound together, and because the Church was so intimately involved with the world, any history of it must take into account the development of medieval society.

Professor Southern's book covers the period from the eighth to the sixteenth century. After sketching the main features of each medieval age, he deals in greater detail with the Papacy, the relations between Rome and her rival Constantinople, the bishops and archbishops, and the various religious orders, providing in all a superb history of the period.

List of Abbreviations

1. Church and Society

2. The Divisions of Time

I. The Primitive Age, c. 700-c. 1050

II. The Age of Growth, c. 1050-c. 1300

The main development

The rise and limits of clerical supremacy

The positive achievement

III. The Age of Unrest, c. 1300-c. 1550

The changing environment

Political change and reaction

3. The Divisions of Christendom

I. The Seeds of Disunity

Divergent habits

Political separation

Doctrinal differences

II. The Two Churches

III. The Search for Reunion

The military way

The political package deal

The way of understanding

Regression

4. The Papacy

I. The Primitive Age, c. 700-c. 1050

The Vicar of St. Peter

The supreme temporal lord

II. The Age of Growth, c. 1050-c. 1300

The Vicar of Christ

The growth of business

The primacy and temporal power

The lawyer-popes

III. The Inflationary Spiral, c. 1300-c. 1520

Indulgences

International politics

The struggle for benefices

5. Bishops and Archbishops

I. The Carolingian Church Order and Its Break-Up

The formation of a bishop

The break-up of the Carolingian ideal

II. Bishops in the Service of the Pope

An archbishop in northern France

An archbishop in England

A bishop in Germany

An episcopal family in northern Italy

6. The Religious Orders

I. The Benedictines

The Rule

The centuries of greatness

Change and decay

II. The New Orders

The Augustinian canons

The Cistercians

III. The Friars

The environment

Aims and origins

Growth and achievement

7. Fringe Orders and Anti-Orders

I. The General Environment

The behaviour of crowds

The influence of women in religious life

II. A Confusion of Tongues

The beguines of Cologne

The religious brethren of Deventer and its neighbourhood

Epilogue

List of Popes, 590-153 Index