The Landscape of Pastoral Care in 13th-Century England

Examines how thirteenth-century clergymen used pastoral care - preaching, sacraments and confession - to increase their parishioners' religious knowledge, devotion and expectations.

William H. Campbell (Author)

9781316510384, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 December 2017

308 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.58 kg

'… paints a vivid, detailed picture of pastoral care in 13th century England. The book offers a nuanced view which furthers our understanding of a major aspect of the medieval Church.' Justin S. Kirkland, Reading Religion

The thirteenth century was a crucial period of reform in the English church, during which the church's renewal initiatives transformed the laity. The vibrant lay religious culture of late-medieval England cannot be understood without considering the re-invigorated pastoral care that developed between 1200 and 1300. Even before Innocent III called the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, reform-minded bishops and scholars were focusing attention on the local church, emphasising better preaching and more frequent confession. This study examines the processes by which these clerical reforms moulded the lay religiosity of the thirteenth century, integrating the different aspects of church life, so often studied separately, and combining a broad investigation of the subject with a series of comparative case studies. William H. Campbell also demonstrates how differences abounded from diocese to diocese, town to country and parish to parish, shaping the landscape of pastoral care as a complex mosaic of lived religion.

Acknowledgements
List of maps
Abbreviations
Introduction. Pastoral care in the thirteenth century
Part I. Pastors and People: 1. Growth, crisis, and recovery: the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries
2. Parish clergy
3. The coming of the friars
4. Monks and canons regular
Part II. The Processes of Pastoral Care: 5. Preaching and catechesis
6. Sacramental and liturgical pastoral care
7. Confession and penance
Part III. The Landscape of Pastoral Care: 8. Towards a geography of pastoral care
9. Provincial government from Canterbury and York
10. The diocese of Lincoln
11. The diocese of Exeter
12. The diocese of Carlisle
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2], Christian Churches & denominations [HRCC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]