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The officials of St Andrews exercised in contested disputes a jurisdiction delegated by the bishop in his role as 'ordinary'; it was an authority co-extensive with that of the bishop but excluded the ordinary's jurisdiction in correctional matters, which was delegated to other officers. Officials appeared in most Scottish dioceses during the course of the thirteenth century, and by their specialist skills soon acquired the responsibility in jurisdiction that had formerly pertained either to groups of clergy acting collectively, or to other episcopal officers such as the archdeacon. The venue of the official's work developed from the meetings of chapters to more comprehensive consistories, and finally to an established court with regular sessions. By the sixteenth century these courts were professionally staffed: the procurator fiscal had an important role in both advocacy and prosecution, while skilled procurators were available to represent clients in court. Court procedure could be highly complex, but in addition to the multiple stages of plenary procedure there were also forms of summary process which offered cheaper and more immediate settlements of disputes. Actions concerning the church or its priests were common, but the courts dealt more with the recovery of private debts, the settlement of testamentary matters and the regulation of contracts; the registration of acts of monition was also an important service to the minor financial transactions of the community. The officials and procurators were closely involved in the operation of the civil courts, and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction clearly represented an integral part of the national judicial system. The church courts were not, however, immune to criticism. In addition to acts of public violence the church lawyers faced much criticism of the delays and expense of their system. Certainly plenary procedure discriminated in favour of the wealthier suitors, but there were short forms of judicial process available, and there is no sign of regular appeals to Rome. Remaining relatively unmoved in times of national crisis, the church courts played an important role in the social and commercial affairs of ordinary people in sixteenth-century Scotland, and show no sign of decline less than a decade before the Reformation. Much of the system, both in practice and personnel, survived the religious revolution intact and played an influential part in the subsequent development of Scots Law.

The Cinque Ports are the only example of a fully-developed confederate structure in English history. As a result, historians have tended to consider the fortunes of the region as a whole and have stressed the factors which unified the member ports. This approach has, however, tended to ignore the individuality of each of the members. This study attempts to redress the balance by considering the impact of the confederate bond upon the individual members and, by so doing, to demonstrate that the concept of confederation was extremely limited and applied only in certain narrow and carefully-defined areas. This study, therefore, examines several aspects of life within the confederation, it traces the origins and development of the ports and attempts to explain why the confederation was declining in importance by the fifteenth century. It then considers the economy of the region and investigates the evidence for overall economic decline during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The central theme of this study is, however, an examination of the internal government of the member ports and the extent to which the development of institutions within each town was influenced by membership of the confederation. The governmental structure of each head port is investigated and particular attention is paid to modifications which were introduced and the circumstances which caused these changes, a similar examination is then made of the pattern of government within the corporate and non-corporate limbs and the structure of the governing class throughout the confederation is also discussed. This study then turns to an examination of the links between the members of the confederation. It considers the financial relations between head port and limb and examines the significance of disputes between the two parties. The central institutions of the confederation - the office of warden and the Brodhull - are then examined and particular emphasis is laid upon the nature and extent of their' powers over the members of the confederation. In considering each of these themes, this study intends to show that the internal affairs of each of the members were little affected by membership of the Cinque Ports confederation and seeks to demonstrate the extremely limited nature of the confederate bond.

This PhD dissertation focuses upon the role of Lyon's printing industry in the revival of Catholicism in the second half of the sixteenth century. Lyon was one of Europe's premier cities; booming trade and tolerant attitudes had been catalysts for its growth. It possessed one of the finest and most renowned printing industries on the continent. Reputations were turned upside down by the development of evangelical activism in the 1560s. By the late 1560s the city was once more firmly placed in the Roman Catholic camp. Lyon's presses joined in the newly found Catholic sentiment. Presses produced a vast range of texts necessary for the reconstruction of the Church. From the start, the commerce of the book and the fate of Catholic revival were closely bound together. Within a decade of the fall of the Protestant regime, Catholic authors and publishers produced steady streams of violent pamphlet literature aimed towards the eradication of the Huguenot. With a powerful combination of theological tomes and a flood of book and pamphlet literature addressed to a wider audience, Lyon's printing presses held an important role in the progress of Catholic revival. Chapter one sketches core aspects of the history of the printing industry in Lyon from its inception in the 1470s until 1600. Chapter two concentrates on the production of pamphlet literature between 1565 and 1588, the years of Catholic victory and the period leading up to the radical developments of the Holy Catholic League. Chapter three extends the survey of the period 1565 until 1588 by addressing the body of larger religious books published. Chapters four and five explore the role of pamphlet literature during Lyon's adherence to the Leaguer, and then Royalist movement. Chapter six examines the production of larger religious books throughout the years 1589 until 1600. This study of Lyon's place in print culture demonstrates that our preconceptions of the book culture - seen through the predominantly German model - cannot be accurately imposed across European printing centres. Contrary to the German experience print culture and the Counter-Reformation were inextricably linked. Moreover, French Catholic authors were prepared to confront the evangelical movement in the medium of print. By doing so Catholic authors and publishers fully utilised the weapons that had brought Protestantism so much success, making them their own.

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[In recent years there has been increased scholarly interest in the French poet Maurice Sceve (ca. 1500-1560) and especially in his Delie, object de plus haulte vertu, a love sequence of 449 dizains. In this study we have chosen to draw attention to Sceve's motto "SOVFFRIR NON SOVFFRIR," which until now has seldom been the focus of research. Sceve, instead of signing his full name in the Delie and his other major works, employed at least three different mottoes to identify himself. The poet, known for his careful and precise choice of words, must have given some thought to the motto which appears at the beginning and conclusion of editions known to have been published during his lifetime.]

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