Order and Disorder in Late Medieval Europe

Textbook Readings: Lindberg, 2; McGrath, chapter 2. For reference, also consult the Primer: Reforming the Holy Roman Empire; and the Primer: The Institutional Structure of the Holy Roman Empire
Read and prepare for discussion in class:

• Tuesday: Anon., Reformatio Sigismundi (c. 1438) (Blackboard)
• Thursday: Eamon Duffy “The Mass” (Blackboard)

I. Religion & Reform in Fifteenth-Century Europe
A. A Priest of One's Own: Communal Endowments in Fifteenth-Century Europe
B. Embracing Christianity
1) Mass Pilgrimage
2) Parochial Appointment  

Map: The pilgrimages of Margery Kempe 
Image: Pilgrim Badge, Canterbury, 12th C.

II. Discussion: The Reformatio Sigismundi (c. 1438)

III. Body Politics: Reforming the Church 
A. Reforming Bishops
B. Reforming Institutions: The Great Western Schism and the Conciliar Movement
C. Observantine Orders 

IV. A Crisis of “Secondary Responsibilities”?
A. Economic Strains on the Church
1. Church Incomes—Spiritual and Temporal
2. Structural Contradictions
3. The Abuse of Priestly Status
B. The Burdens of “Bureaucratic Inflation”

Map: The Great Schism (1378-1417/1437). Image right: A procession of clergymen attending the Council of Constance (1414-1417), from the Chronicle of the Council of Constance by Ulrich von Riechental (UNESCO).

V. Popular Religiosity on the Eve of Reformation
A. The “Social Miracle”
B. A Case in Point: Confession and Penance

VI . Interpretions: Narratives of “Spiritual Decay”
A. “Symbolic Inflation”
B. Entanglement of Sacred with the Profane
C. A Case in Point: Indulgences

Image: Hieronymus Bosch, The Seven Deadly Sins (c.1485), Prado, Madrid. The Seven Deadly Sins is a painted rectangle with a central image of the eye of God, with Christ watching the world. The Seven Deadly Sins -- pride, envy, anger, avarice, gluttony, sloth, and lechery -- are depicted through scenes of worldly transgression, arranged around the circular shape. The circular layout represents God's omniscience: no sin goes unnoticed. In the corners of the image appear the "Four Last Things" mentioned in late medieval spiritual handbooks: Deathbed, the Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Source: ibiblio.org.

VII. Corpus Christi: An Example “Christocentric” Religiosity  

Image: Carl Emil Döpler, Fronleichnamsprozession (1824)

Image left: Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470-1528), Isenheim Altarpiece (c. 1512-1516). The Isenheim Altarpiece was executed for the hospital chapel of Saint Anthony's Monastery in Isenheim in Alsace and is now at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, a nearby town. It is a carved shrine with two sets of folding wings and three views. The first, with the wings closed, is a Crucifixion showing a harrowingly detailed, twisted, and bloody figure of Christ on the cross in the center flanked, on the left, by the mourning Madonna being comforted by John the Apostle, and Mary Magdelene kneeling with hands clasped in prayer, and, on the right, by a standing John the Baptist pointing to the dying Savior. At the feet of the Baptist is a lamb holding a cross, symbol of the "Lamb of God" slaughtered for man's sins. The drama of the scene, symbolizing the divine and human natures of Christ, is heightened by the stark contrast between the vibrantly lit foreground and the dark sky and bleak landscape of low mountains in the background. Image source: CGFA.

Identifications:

Examples of Christ-centered devotion:
Mass of Saint Gregory (Gregormesse)
Corpus Christi Processions
Bleeding Host Shrines (e.g. Wilsnack in Saxony, 1383)