The episcopal office, and the individuals who held it, were fundamental to the political, religious, social and cultural development of ducal Normandy. Not only men of great political power, many strove to create vibrant centres of learning in their dioceses, and accounts of their efforts to reform the Norman Church spread throughout Europe. However, while the episcopate of twelfth-century Normandy continues to be the subject of various studies, such as that published recently by Jörg Peltzer, there are few works, especially in English, which examine the careers of their predecessors in any real detail. This thesis is intended, therefore, as the first comprehensive analysis of the tenth and eleventh-century episcopate, and their role in the emergence of the Norman and Anglo-Norman realms. Using chronicles, ducal and episcopal acta, published conciliar records, architecture, and a wide variety of unpublished material in both French and English archives, this thesis traces the origins of the bishops, their recruitment and relations with the dukes of Normandy, their role in Normandy before the Conquest of England and in the governance of the Anglo-Norman realm, their secular role and connections, and their role as cultural patrons. It also includes, in various appendices, critical editions of texts either associated with, or created by, members of the episcopate, including the texts of over eighty episcopal acta.

This thesis examines the céli Dé, individual ecclesiastics who constituted the intellectual and spiritual elite in the early medieval Irish church. The period covered by the thesis is restricted in A.D. 700-900 and focusses most fully on the late eighth and early ninth centuries. A distinction is drawn between those individuals referred to as céli Dé during this period under study and those ‘communities within communities’, concerned for the welfare of the sick and the poor, to whom the name is later attested. The thesis examines the primary source material, considers past and present theories regarding these ecclesiastics and refutes the consensus of opinion that the céli Dé were a reform movement who emerged in reaction to a degenerate clergy in a church under secular influence. It discusses what was intended by the designation céli Dé and proffers the opinion that the céli Dé were instead concerned with advancing all aspects of the duties and responsibilities of the church. Particular developments in ecclesiastical organisation during the period under study are discussed and the extent of the role of individual céli Dé in these are examined, but will conclude that it should not be assumed that these developments, or concern for their introduction, was wholly restricted to the céli Dé. There was a change in the basis of the source of royal authority from popular to divine sanction, during the course of the eighth century, and the political repercussions of this more abstract concept of kingship would ultimately culminate in the emergence of Irish national identity. The potential extent of céli Dé involvement in the promulgation of ecclesiastical law, a contributory factor in establishing centralised ecclesiastical authority, is discussed and an examination of attempts by kings of Tara to control the appointment of the abbots of Armagh is provided in an effort to indicate how they sought to establish a centralised secular authority on the basis of the acknowledged authority of Armagh.

This thesis examines the form and function of the miraculous as it appears in Latin narrative histories of the crusades of 1095-1204. It addresses an important scholarly lacuna by approaching crusading through the lens of the miraculous, a theme of critical importance to many historical representations of the crusades. Three core lines of analysis are pursued: how the miraculous, as the ultimate epistemological tool for the discernment of divine will, was employed by the authors of crusade narratives as a component in their rhetorical strategies; how representations of the miraculous can reflect changing contemporary attitudes towards the crusading movement; and whether the miraculous of crusade texts can mirror parallel changes to the intellectual landscape of western Europe. The importance of supernatural themes to the narrativisation of the crusades is revealed through the exploration of three thematic dichotomies: miracles and marvels; visions and dreams; and signs and augury. It will be shown that the miraculous represents a previously undervalued source for understanding how the crusades were conceptualised, represented, and memorialised in this period. Further, the findings of the thesis exemplify how crusade narratives represent rich and hitherto largely overlooked sources for the study of medieval western European intellectual culture more broadly.

This thesis reassesses the evidence for the English woman of spirit, Christina of Markyate, as a case-study for transitions in sanctity and spirituality during the twelfth century. It highlights the lack of appropriate vocabulary and models available in the 1130s and 1140s to make sense of the new manifestations of holiness that Christina embodies. By using three distinct but overlapping discourses to structure the study – social networks in religious life, sanctity and spirituality – it reflects on how the stakeholders in Christina’s texts negotiated their positions in relation to these discourses and throws light on a context of rapid discourse shift. The first section, ‘The Lady Christina: Texts and Contexts’, locates Christina, her texts, and her religious foundation at Markyate in their immediate and extended social networks. It shows that she had regional fame during her lifetime but that this was not sustained after her death. Her story is intimately tied up with the Abbey of St Albans, whose interest in their own domestic saints caused its revival in the later middle ages. Although charismatic in her own right, Christina was principally a successful institution builder and prioress, whose main concerns were domestic, rather than carving out a new kind of role for religious women in England. The second section, ‘Saint Christina: Sanctity and Learning’ addresses whether it is possible to consider Christina a saint, and what sanctity might involve when the traditional trappings of cult are missing. Christina fell between older and newer ideas about holiness, which resulted in the disrupted use of models to shape her story. Her saintly credentials were her virginity and visions, and in seeking to have these recorded Christina strategically performed and recast her external behaviour within recognisable modes of holiness. It is also possible to identify ways that Christina moved beyond existing constructions of identity and found a feminine voice in the performances of her ‘sartorial body’. The third section, ‘Ancilla Christi: Visions and Community’ looks in detail at Christina’s spirituality, using her visions to critique the separation of elite and popular modes of numinous encounter by taking her out of her primary social networks and identifying a comparative framework in contemporary trends in Western visionary culture. Visions flourish within particular domestic contexts and disciplines, and Christina enables us to glimpse a sub-culture of visionary experience in twelfth-century England, which rarely shows up in sources and is given little authority in the dominant narratives. The question of what ‘success’ might mean in these three discourses, forms a background theme to the investigation. It is used as a route into what was valued, what was normative, and what was recognisable, in the contemporary fields where Christina enjoyed networks and status, rather than as an objective measurement tool. A variety of sources and theoretical approaches are used to contextualise the fourteenth-century redactions of her vita in order to yield twelfth-century meanings. The main redaction, found in John of Tynemouth’s legendary of British saints, is a disrupted text full of hagiographic elements that can be opened up to multiple readings because of its historical situation and competing agendas. Overall this thesis concludes that Christina and many of the people with whom she came into contact recognised her visions as a mark of divine favour, and that in a climate where the primary category for receiving such distinction was sainthood, Christina was cast, not especially successfully, as a saint.

In the last years of the pontificate of Paul II and for the whole of the pontificate of Sixtus IV, nearly six hundred Scottish clerics supplicated to the pope for a variety of reasons, although the majority concerned their holding of benefices. The clerics ranged from those who were unbeneficed to those who were of prelatial rank and also included a small group who were familiars of the pope and of cardinals. Their supplications are contained within the Registra Supplicationum, a Vatican Archive source, which has long been regarded as an important source for the study of the late medieval Scottish Church in light of the paucity of native ecclesiastical source material. In order to analyse almost 1,200 supplications (for the period January 1470 to August 1484) to the best effect, the study has employed the use of a relational database. Methodological issues such as record linkage are therefore discussed in detail, in addition to results of analysis. In essence the research has been conducted as much to determine what issues can, and should be addressed as to provide definitive conclusions. Nevertheless, use of such methodology has imparted greater clarity to results of analysis than has hitherto been possible. The study reveals, for example, that a disproportionate number of supplications were made by, or on behalf of a distinct group of papal or cardinal familiars. Furthermore, in terms of relations to the papacy, a marked variation from diocese to diocese can be noted. The dioceses of St Andrews, Glasgow, and, to a lesser degree, Aberdeen were not only the most popular dioceses in which aspiring clerics sought benefices, but clergy from these dioceses were more likely to seek favour from the pope.

The subject of Scottish lay religious faith in the eighty years prior to the Reformation of 1559-60 is one in which a variety of concepts and concerns emerge. The choice which has been made reflects the constraints of time and space. Some attempt has also been made to address those areas which have been overlooked by historians, or rarely discussed, such as the role of Mary in lay religious faith. It was necessary to explain lay images of the afterlife in order to understand the path which laypeople chose to attain salvation, so chapters on the Day of Judgement, heaven, hell and purgatory should be seen as the context for understanding the chapters on God, Mary and Jesus. The first chapters discusses the Day of Judgement, an event which must be understood in order to interpret all lay religious attitudes and actions. The basic assumption of the Scots was that all people would be judged at the Day of Judgement, so decisions were made on earth in terms of their understanding of God's expectations on this final day. There were, in effect, two "Days of Judgement", a particular and a general one. An understanding of the nature of these two Days of Judgement illuminates understanding of the laity's conception of the function of purgatory, in particular, and also the importance to salvation of church rituals such as the Eucharist, as well as saintly and human intercession after death. Part of the thesis discusses heaven, hell and purgatory, those states of being which were the laity's future after death.

Traditionally, the bishops who held office during the civil war which dominated King Stephen's reign (1135-1154) have been considered weak and ineffective, able neither to bring peace between the two sides or among warring local barons nor to protect their flocks or even themselves from the so-called 'Anarchy'. The explanation for this has been found in the bishops' lack of spiritual calibre. Bishops have also been seen as withdrawing their support from the king and ending their involvement in royal government, partly because of increasing general ecclesiastical desire for separation between Church and State and partly because of specific disputes with Stephen. As a consequence of all this, bishops are allowed little importance in modern histories of Stephen's reign. This thesis shows that modern historiographical consensus is based in flawed interpretive frameworks which have led to misinterpretation of the nature of the episcopate and its importance in Stephen's reign. It offers more valid alternatives and then re-examines, the royal, ecclesiastical and, especially, the local evidence in light of them to show that, in fact, the bishops were crucially important figures in regional politics, religion and society during the civil war. It proves as well, that they could possess considerable spiritual authority and continued to be committed to the king and active in the government of the kingdom throughout the period. Additionally, each of these also has consequences for how the episcopacy and Anglo-Norman history in general are understood. This is, therefore, a reassessment of the bishops of King Stephen's reign.

The early Christian cults of saints and relics as well as the act and process of pilgrimage were central themes in the religious practice of the Middle Ages. The veneration of saints and relics, the belief in miracles, and the act of pilgrimage were aspects of Christianity rapidly adopted by the converted population of the North Atlantic. This thesis focuses on St Magnus, Earl of Orkney († c. 1116), the cult and pilgrimage process which emerged about a century after the conversion of the Northern Isles. The physical monuments and primary sources, are seen as defining the cult, the pilgrimage process, as well as outlining a trace of the route. St Magnus cult and pilgrimage are also discussed within a comparative context; of the Norse cultural sphere, and of the medieval Universal Church.

The traditional view of historians is that Scottish female religious establishments were not worthy of study due to the ?scanty? sources available for these women, by these women or their convents. This study will challenge this preconceived notion that Scottish female religious were unimportant to the overall study of monasticism in Scotland. It demonstrates that by using a wide range of sources, Scottish female religious in Scotland were successful both economically and locally and had varying connections to the outside world.The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between Scottish convents, their inhabitants and Scottish families, kin-groups and locality. Firstly, will be a discussion of how the outside world and their connections to convents began by looking at the grants and further patronage of these religious communities. Further contacts between the two were varied ranging from the foundation and granting of gifts to these religious communities, the challenging of conventual rights and privileges, external conflict like warfare or the suppression of a convent. Secondly, an assessment has been carried out of the origins of Scottish nuns and the identifying of female religious: the outcome of this has been the construction of a database of all known Scottish female religious. Prosopographical analysis has been applied to show their links to local families, former patrons or founders and their relations to one another. The next part of this study discusses the organization and governance of Scottish convents by examining the role of Scottish prioresses in their religious and secular communities. The office of the prioress has yet to be fully evaluated as an important role in the monastery or in her local community and this section will highlight her many-faceted roles. In addition, how prioresses succeeded to office prioress and monastic elections will be discussed further.