Pastoral Works
Priests, Books, and Compilatory Practices in the Carolingian Period
by Bastiaan Waagmeester
A study of the compilation and usage of the previously unexplored material that is the Carolingian priest’s book.
Much of the Christian empire established by the Carolingians in the eighth century was not only built through royal initiative, but also through the work of local priests. Living among the laity, these clerics provided pastoral care and religious instruction. Yet despite their vital contribution to the development of Christianity in Western Europe, these clergymen and the communities they served remain understudied. This book investigates the manuscripts they used, offering a glimpse into everyday life around the local church. Far from being poor and illiterate, priests had access to texts specifically adapted to their needs. By examining how these materials were compiled, this study reveals what mattered most in the early medieval countryside. Drawing on excerpts from collections of liturgy, canon law, and patristic expositions – often preserved in the great monastic and court libraries – it uncovers the diversity of local religious practice. These texts reflect how the efforts instigated by Carolingians to foster ‘good Christianity’ were interpreted and implemented outside the centres of power. In exploring these seemingly modest manuscripts, this study opens new pathways into the world of the Carolingian local church and the people who inhabited it.
- By (author) Bastiaan Waagmeester
Other Titles in this Series
Reading Images and Texts
Medieval Images and Texts as Forms of Communication. Papers from the Third Utrecht Symposium on Medieval Literacy, Utrecht, 7-9 December 2000
Volume 8
Accounts and Accountability in Late Medieval Europe
Records, Procedures, and Socio-Political Impact
Volume 50
Cultures of Religious Reading in the Late Middle Ages
Instructing the Soul, Feeding the Spirit, and Awakening the Passion
Volume 25
Digital Philology and Quantitative Criticism of Medieval Literature
Unconventional Approaches to Medieval Latin Literature II
Volume 49
Spoken and Written Language
Relations between Latin and the Vernacular Languages in the Earlier Middle Ages
Volume 24
The Politics of Memory and Identity in Carolingian Royal Diplomas
The West Frankish Kingdom (840-987)
Volume 19
Transforming the Medieval World
Uses of Pragmatic Literacy in the Middle Ages (A CD-ROM and Book)
Volume 6
Ruling the Script in the Middle Ages
Formal Aspects of Written Communication (Books, Charters, and Inscriptions)
Volume 35
Diplomatics in the Netherlands
The Use, Editing, and Study of Charters by Dutch Historians from the Middle Ages to the Present
Volume 63
Epigraphic Literacy and Christian Identity
Modes of Written Discourse in the Newly Christian European North
Volume 4
Sins of the Tongue in the Medieval West
Sinful, Unethical, and Criminal Words in Middle Dutch (1300-1550)
Volume 36
Strategies of Writing
Studies on Text and Trust in the Middle Ages: Papers from Trust in Writing in the Middle Ages (Utrecht, 28-29 November 2002)
Volume 13
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