This thesis seeks to contribute to the current revision of regular observance in England, principally between the Black Death and Thomas Arundel's Constitutions of c.1409, by arguing for a more nuanced understanding of the channels of devotional exchange between regulars and lay devout in the period. This thesis is intended to complement recent research which has demonstrated a complex and diverse picture of affiliations between Carthusians, Bridgettines, mendicants and secular worshippers by examining how English Benedictines and regular canons also participated in the making of lay piety. The core of this thesis consists of three case studies investigating the transition and reception of three monastic, devotional practices and motifs: meditation on death in preparation for penance; spiritual communion; and the Gregorian motif of the pastor bonus instructing in word and deed. The afterlives of a selection of twelfth- and thirteenth-century texts that encapsulate these practices are considered and their manuscript transmission examined. Finally, each case study investigates the textual remnants of pre-Reformation lay piety, the vernacular and Latin religious writings that shaped popular devotional practice, including sermons, prayer books, 'Mass librettos', tomb inscriptions and verse. It is argued that they resonate with these earlier monastic traditions - evidence of a devotional exchange between the cloister and the world. The religious orders served as pious exemplar in the late medieval Church - emulous models who translated their texts and practices for the laity and secular clergy, helping to promote a new orthodoxy in an age typified by dissent.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:595820 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Harry, David |
| Publisher | University of Bristol |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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