VAE MUNDO A SCANDALIS

353 Pages·1999·24.77 MB·English

"VAE MUNDO A SCANDALIS":
THE SIN OF SCANDAL IN MEDEVAL ENGLAND
Lindsay Bryan
A Thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Department of History
University of Toronto
copyright by Lindsay Bryan, 1998
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' ' Vàe mun& a scandalis': The Sin of Scandai in Medieval England'
A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1998
by Lindsay Bryan,
Graduate Department of History, University of Toronto.
The word "scandat" has always carried multiple meanlligs, including
"shocking behaviour" and "disgrace". in medievai theology, scanda1 was defined as
the act of committing a sin in front of another, causing that person to sin because of
the bad example provided. This definition (which, articulated by Thomas Aquinas,
remains part of Roman Catholic theology) was a refinernent of the Old Tesuiment
definition of scanda1 as a mare or a stumbling block New Testament references to
scandal emphasized the responsibility of Christians for each others' spirituai wetfare.
Patristic and early medieval wrîters did not ignore scandal, but it was with the
Paris master Peter the Chanter (d. 1197), his circle, and their successors, that the
theology of scandal undenvent detailed, nuanced treatment. Peter was the first to
pronounce that the triple tmth of life, justice, and doctrine rnight not be abandoned
on account of avoiding scandai; those who came after him expaded on this doctrine.
By the end of the fourteenth cenhiry, though, as reputation and good name ôecame
increasingly important, discussions of scandai begao to emphasize other aspects of its
meaning, such as "shame", "dispcel', and "gossip".
-
The multiple meanings of scandai are evident in bishops' registers the
records of bishops' working Iives - and in Literary sources. Both kinds of sources
are dealt with here. Bishops knew the theological meaning and o f h s poke of
transgressions as "a scandai to many and a pemicious exampIe", but they tended to
find Most scandalous those sins which might damage the reptation and prestige of
the church and its institutions. Because of their unique position as bridges between
the ecclesiasticd establishment and the lay comrnunity, bishops were the locus for
the meeting of all meaniflgs of scandai h m t he theological àefrnition to those
generated in the lay world
Literary sources reinforce and mflect this range of meiuiings, also illustrating
the shift in emphasis towards reputation.
iii
Many people have had a hand in this project. The most obvious debt is to
the members of my thesis cornmittee and I thank PK,fessors Jane Abray and
Barbara Todd, for reading drafts. making encouraging and helpfd comments, and
particularly for asking provocative questions. 1 am especially grateftd to Professor
Joseph Goering not ody for his careful and scholarly attention to the work, but
&O for his patience, generosity, and good humour in mding countless drafts,
helping with translations and pdeography, and generalIy urging me on. Great
thanlcs are also due to Professor Nan Arthur of %rockU niversity, for making the
study of the Middle Ages so irresistible in the first place.
The staff of sevecal libraries and archives have been helpful: Cambridge
University Library, the Lincolnshire County Arcâives, Lambeth Palace Lïbrary,
and Canterbury Cathedral Library. I aclmowledge here especially the staff of the
invaluable Robarts Library and the Library of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies.
1 acknowledge tm the financial assistance of the University of Toronto in
providing me with scholarship fun&, as well as the Govemment of Canada for
granting me a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
scholarship. The Department of History and the School of Graduate Studies also
gave me travel fun&.
I wodd not even have begun this work without the support of fnends and
family. 1 would iike particdarly to thank rny three best frienùs, Joan McCurdy-
Myers, Jane McMichaeI, and Fiona McMurran, for their confidence and
encouragement fkom the beginning. My parents, Bert and Alice, who fostered my
iove of reading and of history, and my sister Maufeen, who gave me the fust
book of Arthurian stories, did not live to see the fniits of those labours, but 1 am
grateN to them, as 1 am to my mother-in-law, Hope, who sustained that love of
books through some dark years of n d ,c ar-less isolatioa, by sharing her library.
I thank my daughters, Caitlin and Karma, who were never embarrassed by the fact
thaf for a while, we were ali students at the same the.
M y greatest debt, an incalculable one which I cannot begin to repay, is to
my husband, Peter, for his unfailing confidence in me, his unflagging support, and
his constant love. Without h this work would not have ken fraished.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCITON: "Scande is Haued Sunne". .............................1
CHAPTER ONE: The Theology of Scandai
to the End of the Twelfth Century .................. 4
CHAETER 'IWO: Scandal h m P eîer the Cbantet
to Thomas Aquinas and Beyond ...................3 7
..............
CHAPTER THREE: Scanda1 and the Bishops 1: Religious Houses 139
CHAPTER FOUR: Scandal and the Bishops II: The Outside World ........... 194
CHAPTER FIVE: Scanda1 in Literature. .............................. 249
CHAPTER SIX: Patterns ....................................... -284
CONCLUSION: Scanciai: At the Intersection of the Spiritual and the Temporal . . -309
................................
APPENDlX A: Canons and Statutes 311
APPENDIX B: Important Twelfth- and ThirteenthCentury
Writers on Scandai ........................... 315
APPENDIX C:
APPENDIX D: Bishops' Registers ................................. 319
APPENDIX E: Periculoso (Boniface VIII) .......................... 321
...............................................
BIBUOGRAPHY: 325
"VAE MUPJDO A SCANDALIS":
THE SIN OF SCANDAL IN MEDJEVAt E N G W
INTRODUcïTON: "SCANDLE IS HEAUED SUNNE"
Thus the author of the early thirteenth-century Ancrene Wme describes
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scandai anytbing done or said so as to incite others to sin as a capitai fault.
His conternporary Thomas of Chobham concludes his Summa Confessorzun with a
section on the sin of scandai - a great sin, he says, which few confess. As an
example of the gravity of scandd, he uses a hypothetical fornicating priest, who sins
twice: once in the act and again in scandalizing his parishioners, who might be
tempted to follow his example.
-
This study will examine the question of scandd as a sin its meaning and
interpretation as well as its function. It will look at theological concepts of scandai,
references in penitential manuals and other sources, and it will draw upon evidence
from several English bishops' registers to see the way in which scandal, real or
threatened, was used by clencal and other authonties to exercise contml over bodi
lay and religious communities. The theological sources used here are not dl
English, but dl had important influence in Engld
1 hop to show that the theology of scanda1 attained its highest development
in the thirteenth century, and that by the end of the fourteenth century it had shifted
its focus h m i ts e d y concern with the responsibility of each individual Christian
for the spintuai welfare of others to a concentration upon personal reputation,
although the former value was not lost. References to scandal in the down-toearth
records of workuig bishops and their officiais often appear formulait, but nonetheless
they reflect the values both of the theologians and, 1 argue, the lay communities.
Rather than focussing on a n m w r ange of sources, the intention of this
çtudy is to cast the net as widely as possible, since it is an examuiation not only of a
theological concept, but of what that concept meant in real Iife, as far as this is
possible to determine. To do sq 1 have sought out discussions of scandai, both
explicit and implicit, in a range of sources, and then sought to analyze and
contextualize what 1 found, drawing also on ideas related to scandd. To deai in
deraii with associated subjects, such as defamation and infamy, is, however, beyond
the scope of this study.
This thesis grew out of an interest in the intetaction between priests and
parishioners in the sacnunent of penance. My cwiosity was piqued when 1
discovered the section on scanda1 appended after the seven deadly sins in Thomas of
Chobham's Summa. It increased as 1 learned that many thirteenthcentury writers
üeated scanda1 as a grievous sin, and as 1 began noticing the word sprinkied überally
through bishops' registers. When 1 searched the library, 1 could find nothing beyond
a small body of work on scanda1 in the Bible. WhiIe this was interesting, and helped
me undemd how early theologiaris understood ~catldal,i t told me nothing about
the medieval period.
Many questions presented themselves: what were the implications of this
theology of scandal for the îives of ordinary peuple? How did bishops use the
theoretical concept in their practical pastoral work? Why did the language about
scandd becurne formulait in their registers, and what did this mean? What were the
values which prevailed? Were there changes over the? Did scandal figure in any
mechanian of social contml? And was it possible to examine any or al1 of these
things in ternis of gender analysis?
CLAPTER ONE: THE THEOLOGY OF SCANDAL
to the
]END OF THE TwELFm C E r n Y
1. SIN
Let us begin by looking generally at sin itself, so as to fit scanda1 into its
context. First, a simple definition: "sin is a cuipable act of disobedience to God's
law."' The Book of Genesis, a compendium of ~totiesd rawn from different periods
of ancient hiaory; places a sin at the beginning of human history, and the conflict
of good and evil, sanctity and sin, is what the Bible is al1 about Onginal Sin
confirm the view of humankind as king in a state of sin, capable of salvation only
by the redemption of Chna The idea of sin, says Bloomfield, "was a late one in
human history."' "Late" is relative, of course: the Old Testament, with its ancienf
stories, has a clear sense of sin. But the Hebrews were not the only influence upon
early Chnstianity. They themselves were affected by eastem cultures, especidly that
Paui Maux, TnE S~cranzenfo f Femme (New York, 1%2), p. 24.
John Romer, Tcnnmmr. me Bible and Hrstory (New York, 1988, p. 55. Romer says that
the writings which formed the books of Moses went through "processes of adaptioa and preservation
which took place at the time of the Baby10nia.n Ede and during the Persian period of the return to
Jerualem," @p. 11 1-112)
Morton W. BIoomfield, The S m nD edy Sinr (Michigan, 1952, repr. 1%7), p. 8. Exccpt
as noted, most of the history of the seven M y sins below is hmh m B loomfield, pusim.
if Abraham lived, for example, it was çometime in the xnillmniirm before 1207 B.CE
John Romer, Testament, p. 26.