The Passion of Christ in Episcopal and Archidiaconal Sermons, c.1090-c.1210

This study explores how the passion of Christ was represented in the sermonising of bishops and archdeacons between c.1090-c.1210. At the core of this study are the Latin sermons of six individuals: the bishops Ivo of Chartres (d.1116), Herbert Losinga (d.1119), Geoffrey Babion (d.1158) and Bartholomew of Exeter (d.1184), along with the archdeacons Thomas Agnellus (d.1197) and Peter of Blois (d.1212). Whilst it is a subject of continuous debate, this period witnessed a profound development in the way that medieval Christians conceptualised Christ’s passion in literature and art, the key features of which were increased meditation upon, and representation of, his human sufferings and death in what has been termed an ‘affective shift’. This period also witnessed the increased production and delivery of sermons, with bishops and archdeacons having written many of the surviving texts. These sermons have, however, been largely overlooked, with the way they conceptualised the passion within them little studied. This thesis positions itself at the juncture between the study of ‘episcopal’ and ‘archidiaconal’ sermonising and the devotional ‘shift’ of the age, by exploring how the passion was represented in these texts and the influences that worked to shape that imagery . In doing so, it highlights the engagement of these sermonisers with the devotional currents of the period in their work, argues for the prominent role of the ‘local’ in twelfth-century sermonising, and blurs some of the boundaries historians have commonly drawn between various groups and traditions of thought in the twelfth century. In making these arguments this study also identifies, for the first time, the sources upon which several of these preachers drew, and illustrates the use of these sources more fully in a separate appendix.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Cowley, Patrick

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Watkins, carl
• Munns, John

• archdeacons
• bishops
• Christ
• Christianity
• cross
• crucifixion
• manuscript
• medieval
• religion
• sermon
• sermonising

Licence

• https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/cde84ad4-3b55-4272-8e21-51f1728b63de/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.122112

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/390559