Clerics in the Early Middle Ages: Hierarchy and Image / Edition 1

by Roger E. Reynolds

Overview

This volume covers two closely related themes. Essays in the first section deal with the varieties of clerics and their hierarchical arrangements in the churches of western Europe in the early Middle Ages, the formative period in which the ordering of clerics in the Western Church evolved. The number and numbering of clerics was debated and then established, as was their status as minor and sacred orders. In one of several hitherto unpublished pieces in this collection the significance of the elevation of the subdeacon to a sacred order in the later 11th century is examined, together with its effect on the status of the highest grades of priest and bishop, often seen to be one in order but distinct in office. In the second section, visual depictions of clerics in early medieval manuscripts are shown to have reflected their hierarchical ordering, especially in their ordinations, in the vestments and symbols assigned them, and in their functioning at conciliar gatherings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780860788089
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/23/1999
Series:	Variorum Collected Studies
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface; Clerics in the Early Middle Ages: hierarchies and functions; Christ as cleric: the ordinals of Christ; ’At sixes and sevens’ - and eights and nines: the sacred mathematics of sacred orders in the early Middle Ages; The subdiaconate as a sacred and superior order; Patristic ’Presbyterianism’ in the early medieval theology of sacred orders; Clerical liturgical vestments and liturgical colors in the Middle Ages; The portrait of the ecclesiastical officers in the Raganaldus Sacramentary and its liturgico-canonical significance; Image and text: the liturgy of clerical ordination in early medieval art; Rites and signs of conciliar decisions in the early middle ages; Addenda and corrigenda; General Index; Index of Manuscripts.

Editorial Reviews

In this sampling of his work since 1971, medievalist Reynolds (affiliation cryptic) arranges nine essays around two themes building on earlier work examining shifts in the theology of sacred orders from later patristic antiquity through the 12th century: the hierarchical ordering of the clerical grades, and the visual depiction of the clerics in early medieval manuscripts. The first chapter on Clerics in the Early Middle Ages: Hierarchies and Functions is the original version of an overly edited chapter in the . Two other new publications are those on Christ as Cleric: The Ordinals of Christ, and The Subdiaconate as a Sacred and Superior Order. Other studies appeared in , , , and . Features illustrations of medieval manuscripts. Indexed by manuscript as well as subject. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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