The thesis is dealing with the ideals of the primitive Church throughout the history of the Church up to the 13th century. It seeks to identify and reconstruct the ideals of the primitive Church, their development in the following centuries, and the partial forms of relevant ideals that became more generally established. Beyond the general ideal of 'following Christ', it identifies three specific forms of primitive Church ideals: the missionary ideal, the martyr ideal and the ideal of the Church servant. It also attempts to explain the causes and patterns of the development of these ideals. It confirms the understanding of the history of ancient and medieval Christianity as a process in which developments are determined not only by the current spiritual, political, social or economic context, but also by the constant engagement with earlier concepts. In doing so, it seeks to determine to what extent and in what ways later ideals were shaped by the model of the early church and whether the early church period can indeed be considered formative for later Christian ideals. It assesses how faithful the proclaimed returns to this model were, and how the persons shaping later forms of these ideals 'dealt' with this model.

1 Summary The medieval period characterized by tough struggle between the secular and ecclesiastical powers. Both may be trying to get as many resources to control the medieval community. Although they were constantly in dispute, they also collaborate together. We see that, for example, in connection with the Inquisition. In order to be executed ecclesiastical judgment must be convicted passed secular power. Only that could have done the maximum penalty, execution. In the High Middle Ages, there was a decline of the Church. That's why there was a new wave of heresy. It was more organized than in the past. The new movement, especially the Cathars, got the high-quality background facilities in the south of France, Languedoc. Here they had the support of the local nobility and burgess. It was a beneficial cooperation on both sides. Church did not like this cooperation. And soon this place of resistance was attacked the Church and the government of the country. The rebellion was suppressed. The Inquisition worked in this area after that. Must add that was very successful work. Soon Inquisition completely wiped out local heretic. Single human had in the Middle Ages difficult position. He had unconditionally belong to the Church and had to live according to its dogma. This meant that he had to renounce pleasures...

Mis en valeur dans de nombreuses études durant le XXe siècle, les liens entre l’Église et la mort sont étudiés ici dans le contexte des 22 diocèses provençaux des XIIe, XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Grâce à une documentation abondante et variée émanant essentiellement des chapitres cathédraux, il est possible d’envisager la mort comme un cadre aux relations entre les clercs des cathédrales et les sociétés urbaines. Perspective commune à tous, la mort permet aux clercs de construire des discours participant de l’encadrement chrétien des sociétés, exprimés de diverses manières, dans des modèles de bonne mort ou la liturgie funéraire. La mort est aussi l’occasion d’établir des relations spirituelles et matérielles avec une large communauté laïque et ecclésiastique, en particulier dans le cadre de la pratique des anniversaires. Elle est un événement propice à l’insertion des prélats, des chanoines et des clercs séculiers dans le paysage politique et économique des comtés de Provence et de Forcalquier. Elle est, enfin, une clé de lecture permettant à l’historien de comprendre comment s’organise l’Ecclesia provençale durant trois siècles marqués par d’importantes évolutions géopolitiques et économiques. Cette étude propose une lecture thanatologique de l’histoire des cathédrales provençales dans le but d’en élargir les perspectives et de poser un nouveau regard sur les clercs qui les desservent. / Relations between death and the medieval church have been explored by European historians since the beginning of the 20th century. They are here analysed within the 22 dioceses of « Provence » during the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. Using a large and varied documentation, essentially produced by cathedral chapters, we propose to study death as a framework for the relations between the cathedral clergy and urban medieval societies. As a prospect common to everyone, death could be used by clerics in order to build discourses promoting a tighter control of the Church over society, for instance through the liturgy of the Dead or the concept of the « Good Christian Death ». Especially through anniversaries, Death also provided them with an opportunity to establish spiritual and material relationships with an enlarged community of laymen and ecclesiastics and was therefore instrumental in involving bischops, canons and secular clerics into the political and economic life of the counties of Provence and Forcalquier. Finally, Death gives historians of the Middle Ages a unique insight into the life and organisation of the Provençale Ecclesia over three centuries of intense economic and political evolutions. This study aims to use thanatology in order to broaden our historical perspectives regarding Provençal cathedrals and clerics in the Middle-Ages.

Cette thèse de doctorat porte sur le chapitre cathédral de Barcelone et ses membres à la fin du XVe siècle. L'étude d'un tel établissement permet d'observer un acteur urbain majeur : le haut clergé séculier d’une cité tardo-médiévale. Au-delà de leurs attributions religieuses, évêques et chanoines se révèlent étroitement impliqués dans la destinée de la cité. Leurs fonctions leur octroient des terres, ce qui fait d'eux d'importants seigneurs fonciers dans la ville et ses abords. Le canonicat leur donne accès au « bras ecclésiastique » des institutions politiques de la Couronne d’Aragon telles que la Diputació del General et les Corts. Enfin, leurs origines sociales les insèrent dans les réseaux de relations personnelles qui structurent l'oligarchie urbaine : ils font pleinement partie de l'élite dirigeante barcelonaise tout en y occupant une place bien spécifique, du fait de leur appartenance à l’Église. Cette situation particulière les place à la jonction de réseaux de pouvoir, quelquefois antagonistes et quelquefois alliés : ceux de l’Église, ceux de l’élite politique municipale, ceux des groupes familiaux constituant l’oligarchie. Au sortir de la guerre civile catalane de 1462-1472, Barcelone, principale ville de Catalogne, connaît de profondes transformations socio-politiques, avec la formalisation du patriciat par l’établissement d’une « matricule », l’accès de la noblesse au gouvernement municipal et les opérations de redressement économique de la cité après les difficultés de la guerre. L’étude montre que le chapitre cathédral, pleinement intégré à l’élite dirigeante de la ville, est amené à jouer un rôle réel dans la vie publique de la cité en pleine mutation. / This PhD thesis analyses the cathedral chapter of Barcelona and its members at the end of the 15th century. This institution proves to be a major urban actor. Beyond their religious powers, bishops and canons proved to be closely involved in the history of Barcelona. Their functions grant them lands, which turn them into important landlords in the city and its surroundings. The canonicate gives them access to the "ecclesiastical arm" of the Crown of Aragon’s political institutions such as the Diputació del General de Catalunya and the Corts. Their social origins integrate them into the networks of personal relations that structure the urban oligarchy: they are fully part of the ruling elite of Barcelona and they occupy a very specific place there, because of their belonging to the Church. This situation places them at the junction of power networks, sometimes antagonistic and sometimes allied: those of the Church, those of the municipal political elite, and those of the family groups constituting the oligarchy. At the end of the Catalan Civil War of 1462-1472, Barcelona, main city of Catalonia, undergoes profound socio-political transformations: an official list of the patricians is established, the municipal government opens to the nobility and undertakes several economic recovery measures after the disturbances caused by the war. The study shows that the cathedral chapter, fully integrated with the ruling elite of the city, has to play a real role in the public life of the city during this period.

(anglicky) The main question of this thesis is whether the Christian church used stories containing monster beings with the aim of converting the Anglo-Saxon society to the new faith. This question is looked at through interpretative and content analysis of several Old English texts from the Nowell Codex. These are: the heroic-elegiac poem Béowulf, the travelogue The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, the hagiographic text The Passion of St Christopher and the bestiary Liber Monstrorum, which is the only afore mentioned text not included in the Nowell Codex. The first chapter of this thesis provides a basic summary of the perception of monster beings from the prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. The next chapter analyses the role of the hero, nature and the distance of the British Isles from the centre of the World as perceived at the time. This chapter ends with the analysis of the pagan elements in the poem Béowulf. The last chapter focuses on the interpretations of monster beings in Christian settings and analyses the chosen Old English texts on a Christian interpretative level. The thesis arrives at the conclusion that the Church of the 6th to 10th century didn't use the motifs of various monsters on purpose. On the contrary, it seems that Germanic and Christian elements freely converged, and...

Fifteenth-century diplomatic protocol required the city of Florence to send diplomats to congratulate both new and militarily victorious rulers. Diplomats on such missions poured praise on their triumphant allies and new rulers at friendly locations. However, political realities also meant that these diplomats would sometimes have to praise rulers whose accession or victory opposed Florentine interests. Moreover, different allies and enemies required different levels of praise. Jealous rulers compared the gifts, status, and oratory that they received from Florence to the Florentine entourages sent to their neighbors. Sending diplomats with too little or too much social status and eloquence could spell diplomatic disaster. Diplomats met these challenges by varying the style, structure, and content of their speeches. Far from formulaic pronouncements of goodwill, diplomatic orations varied from one speech to the next in order to meet the demands of the complex diplomatic world into which they fit. Contextualizing these orations reveals the subtle reservations of diplomats praising a hostile ruler, the insertion of specific citations to flatter specific audiences, and the changing intellectual and stylistic interests of humanists throughout the fifteenth century. This essay will examine the different shades of flattery practiced by Florentine diplomats and the contexts that explain these variations.

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.