A Contrite Heart: Prosecution and Redemption in the Carolingian EmpireBetween the middle of the eighth century and the late ninth century in western Europe, the course of legal history was shaped by interaction with religious ideas, especially with regard to the meaning of confession, suffering, and the balance of protections for an accused individual and the welfare of the community. This book traces those themes through a selection of Carolingian texts, such as archbishop Hincmar's legal analysis of a royal divorce, the decrees of church councils, the biography of a Saxon holy woman, anti-Judaic treatises, and Hrotswitha's dramatisation of the legend of Thaïs, in order to make audible the lively debates over the boundaries of clerical and lay authority, the nature and extent of permissible intervention in the spiritual condition of the empire's inhabitants, and distinctions between the private and public domains. This work thus reveals the profound relation between law and penitential ideologies promoted by the Carolingian imperial court. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Secrets and Silence | 9 |
Pollution and Purgation | 61 |
Chapter Three Authority and Piety | 111 |
Chapter Four Empire and Education | 159 |
Chapter Five Contestation Cooperation Coercion and Resistance | 209 |
Appendix A Penitential Canons Pertaining to Dietary Pollution | 235 |
Bibliography | 247 |
Indices | 277 |
Other editions - View all
A Contrite Heart: Prosecution and Redemption in the Carolingian Empire ... Abigail Firey Limited preview - 2009 |
A Contrite Heart: Prosecution and Redemption in the Carolingian Empire Abigail Firey No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
9th century accused Adversus Iudaeos Agobard Alcuin Amulo autem authority bishop of Lyons bishops Boniface Boniface's Brepols Briefe Bußordnungen canon law Carolingian Empire century chapter Charlemagne Christian Church clergy clerics Collectio cols conciliar confession and penance confessor Corpus Christianorum Council court crime discourse divortio Early Middle Ages ecclesiastical edited eius episcopal Francia Frankish Greg Gregory Hahnsche Buchhandlung Hincmar Hrabanus Maurus imperial Jews judge judgement judicial juridical jurists justice laity Leobae Letters Liutberga Liutbirg Lord Lothar manuscripts MGH Conc Mittelalter Monumenta Germaniae Historica ordeal Pafnutius Paphnutius Paris pastoral penance penitent penitential poenitentia political pollution Pope priests prosecution Ps.-Egbert Wasserschleben public penance purgation quae quam quia quod religious ritual Roman law Rome royal account Rudolf of Fulda Salzburg Scripture secular siècle sins social soul spiritual Studies sunt Susannah synod texts Thaïs Theod Theutberga tion traditions Turnhout University Press vices vita written Zacharias