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Within the period 1860-1890 changes took place in the public worship of the Church of Scotland. These changes were so revolutionary that many who could recall the Church's form of public worship before 1860 confessed their astonishment at the changes which they had seen. These changes were rapid and extensive, partly because external factors facilitated change. Like most ecclesiastical reforms or revivals, the revival of Church worship in the second half of last century in the Church of Scotland was no sudden growth. There had been much preparing of the soil for a time before the growth began. The initial preparation was done by three Scottish thinkers who wrote primarily on theological, rather than liturgical questions. Yet had they not put forward their teaching, it is difficult to see how the revival of Church worship would have begun when it did, or have developed as it did. These three thinkers were Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, John McLeod Campbell and Edward Irving.

The Beginnings of Premonstratensian Order in Bohemia. This thesis deals with the beginnings of Premonstratensian Order and their coming to Bohemia. At first, attention is devoted to the history which is briefly characterized by political, economic, and religious conditions in Bohemia in the first half of the twelfth century. The next chapter will take us through the life of St. Norbert, his conversion to Christianity, as well as the foundation and circumstances of the Premonstratensian Order. In this chapter, the Order's form of organisation, characteristics, and daily habits are also discussed. The subject of the fourth chapter is the establishment of the Premonstratensian Order in Bohemia. There are also discussed the persons who had the main credit for coming the Premonstratensian Order to Bohemia. It was their greatest admirer Jindrich Zdik, as well as the bishop Daniel and the provost of Steinfeld named Eberwin. The next section is dedicated to the description of the consequential creation of the first male and female monasteries in Bohemia such as Strahov, Doksany, Litomysl, Zeliv and Lounovice. There are also mentioned the first abbots and priors of these monasteries. In conclusion, there is a brief summary and evaluation of the contribution of the Premonstratensian Order.

This dissertation studies a local manifestation of ecclesiastical reform in the medieval county of Savoy: the twelfth-century transformation of secular canons into Augustinian regular canons at the church of Sts. Peter and Ursus in the alpine town of Aosta (now Italy). I argue that textual sources, material culture, and the practice of place together express how the newly reformed canons established their identity, shaped their material environment, and managed their relationship with the unreformed secular canons at the cathedral. The pattern of regularization in Aosta—instigated by a new bishop influenced by ideas of canonical reform—is only one among several models for implementing reform in medieval Savoy. This study asserts the importance of this medieval county as a center for reforming efforts among a regional network of churchmen, laymen, and noblemen, including the count of Savoy, Amadeus III (d. 1148). After a prologue and introduction, chapter 1 draws on traditional textual evidence to recount the history of reform in medieval Savoy. Chapters 2 through 4 focus on the twelfth-century sculpted capitals in the cloister built to accommodate the common life of the new regular canons. Several of the historiated capitals portray the biblical siblings, Martha and Mary, and Leah and Rachel, as material metaphors that reflect and reinforce the active and contemplative lives of the Augustinian canons. Other capitals represent the regular canons’ assertion of their precedence over the cathedral canons and suggest tensions between the two communities. The final chapter examines thirteenth-century conflicts over bell-ringing and ecclesiastical processions in the urban topography of Aosta to illustrate how the regular and secular canons continued to negotiate their relationship. Appendices include an English translation of a vita of St. Ursus (BHL 8453). The dissertation as a whole reconstructs the places and material culture of medieval Aosta to convey the complexities of religious and institutional life during a time of reform and beyond. / text

This study considers Thomas Hoccleve’s role, throughout his works, as a “religious” writer: as an individual who engages seriously with the dynamics of heresy and ecclesiastical reform, who contributes to traditions of vernacular devotional writing, and who raises the question of how Christianity manifests on personal as well as political levels – and in environments that are at once London-based, national, and international. The chapters focus, respectively, on the role of reading and moralization in the Series; the language of “vice and virtue” in the Epistle of Cupid; the moral version of Chaucer introduced in the Regiment of Princes; the construction of the Hoccleve persona in the Regiment; and the representation of the Eucharist throughout Hoccleve’s works. One main focus of the study is Hoccleve’s mediating influence in presenting a moral version of Chaucer in his Regiment. This study argues that Hoccleve’s Chaucer is not a pre-established artifact, but rather a Hocclevian invention, and it indicates the transnational literary, political, and religious contexts that align in Hoccleve’s presentation of his poetic predecessor. Rather than posit the Hoccleve-Chaucer relationship as one of Oedipal anxiety, as other critics have done, this study indicates the way in which Hoccleve’s Chaucer evolves in response to poetic anxiety not towards Chaucer himself, but rather towards an increasingly restrictive intellectual and ecclesiastical climate. This thesis contributes to the recently revitalized critical dialogue surrounding the role and function of fifteenth-century English literature, and the effect on poetry of heresy, the church’s response to heresy, and ecclesiastical reform both in England and in Europe. It also advances critical narratives regarding Hoccleve’s response to contemporary French poetry; the role of confession, sacramental discourse, and devotional images in Hoccleve’s work; and Hoccleve’s impact on literary tradition.