Sacred Authority and Temporal Power in the Writings of Bernard of Clairvaux
By (author) Alice Chapman
This book examines the relationship between ecclesiastical authority and secular power in the writings of the twelfth-century figure St Bernard of Clairvaux.
The aftermath of the Investiture Controversy left the relationship between the Church and imperial power in ruins. In reaction to these developments, the Concordat of Worms in 1122 sought a compromise to restore the association between the two sides. The Concordat was only the beginning, and a spirit of cooperation between the Church and temporal powers began to emerge. This collaborative relationship is exemplified in the writings of Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153). Bernard of Clairvaux was both a Cistercian abbot and a major political figure in the twelfth century. He inherited the Latin vocabulary of earlier Christian writers, but needed a more nuanced language to express the complex political relationship between church and state during the settlement of episcopal investiture. In his writings Bernard distinguished between the authority (auctoritas) of the Church and the power (potestas) of temporal rulers. The language of separation was designed to delineate spheres of influence rather than to reflect opposition – a vocabulary that ultimately presents the relationship between the two powers as less of a fencing match and more of a dance. Sacred Authority and Temporal Power emphasises and enhances our understanding of the significance of Bernard’s writings for the mediation of power and authority in the twelfth century.
- By (author) Alice Chapman
Other Titles in this Series
Perspectives for an Architecture of Solitude
Essays on Cistercians, Art and Architecture in Honour of Peter Fergusson
Volume 11
Devotional Culture in Late Medieval England and Europe
Diverse Imaginations of Christ's Life
Volume 31
The Power of Words in Late Medieval Devotional and Mystical Writing
Essays in Honour of Denis Renevey
Volume 46
Crusading in Frankish Greece
A Study of Byzantine-Western Relations and Attitudes, 1204-1282
Volume 22
‘God Wants It!’
The Ideology of Martyrdom in the Hebrew Crusade Chronicles and its Jewish and Christian Background
Volume 6
The Middle English Life of Christ
Academic Discourse, Translation, and Vernacular Theology
Volume 30
Inwardness, Individualization, and Religious Agency in the Late Medieval Low Countries
Studies in The 'Devotio Moderna' and its Contexts
Volume 43
Religious Controversy in Europe, 1378-1536
Textual Transmission and Networks of Readership
Volume 27
Similar Books
«Solazoxa festa, stradolze e stracomplia»
Festschrift für Raymund Wilhelm zum 65. Geburtstag mit Beiträgen zu Diskurstraditionen und mittelalterlicher Philologie
Volume 249
A Collaborative Tapestry in Honour of Shirley Ann Brown / Une fresque brodée en l’honneur de Shirley Ann Brown
The Bayeux Tapestry Seen by her Colleagues and Friends / La Tapisserie de Bayeux vue par ses collègues et amis
A Companion to Christianity and Sport in Europe and North America (19th-21st centuries)
Volume 1: Western and Eastern Europe
A Connecting Polemic in the Medieval Mediterranean
The Correspondence of Leo III and ʿUmar II
Volume 6
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Behind the Scenes of Medieval Roofs
An Overview of the Roofing Systems of Italian Churches
Volume 90
Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes – Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies
Volume 51
Creating the Woman in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 16th Melammu Workshop, Innsbruck, 2–3 June 2022
Volume 13
Cultic Kisses
Fruitful Encounters Between Deities and Humans. Festschrift for Angelika Berlejung on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday
De/colonizing Theologies
Glocal Histories, Contemporary Challenges, Theoretical Reflections
Volume 4
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
