Episcopal and Papal Influences on Monasteries of Western Europe

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Ancient Abbeys of Brittany Project

Organizer Name

Claude L. Evans

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of Toronto-Mississauga

Presider Name

Kenneth Paul Evans

Presider Affiliation

York Univ.

Paper Title 1

Popes and Abbots: Westminster Abbey in the Late Middle Ages

Presenter 1 Name

Ralf Lützelschwab

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Freie Univ. Berlin

Paper Title 2

Popes, Bishops, and the White Canons of Beauport Abbey in the Thirteenth Century

Presenter 2 Name

Claude L. Evans

Start Date

10-5-2019 10:00 AM

Session Location

Schneider 1145

Description

This session will focus on the relationships between bishops and abbots and between abbots and popes in England and Brittany in the Middle Ages. Cistercians, Premonstratensians and Carthusians as well as major monasteries such as Westminster and Saint-Denis were exempted from episcopal jurisdiction and supervision. However this did not stop local bishops from trying to regain control over these monasteries. In the resulting conflicts abbots frequently appealed to the Pope to assist them in reclaiming their rights. They would also sometimes ask the Curia to arbitrate the disputes arising between them and other ecclesiastics. Some abbots were frequent visitors to the Papal Curia to attempt to obtain papal decisions in their favor. By studying examples based on new or little-studied archival material, papers will explore specific disputes and their resolutions. Claude L. Evans