medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Rosemary Hayes wrote:
>
> My own studies of English bishops (which includes noticing rather
> than concentrating on their suffragans) suggests that while it was
> quite common for them to give benefices to their suffragans, it was
> rare for these benefices to be as important and wealthy as the
> prebends and archdeaconries. I think this may be explained by
> sensitivity to the fact that most of the suffragans were friars and,
> therefore, should not be reaping rich rewards from spiritual duties
> but I suppose, if one took that argument to its logical conclusion,
> they should not have received any benefices.
I do wonder if it is an oversimplification to say that most suffragans were
friars (just as I thought that most suffragans held Irish sees). Certainly,
friars would be the cheapest (in theory!) to employ, but glancing at the
lists suggests that at least some of the obvious Religious were priors or
abbots. I do wonder if some people constructed "portfolio careers", and
becoming a bishop was just another aspect to it. Which raises at least one
question: how did one become consecrated to a see in partibus infidelium?
An even more basic question is, why? Why did you need to be a bishop of a
titular see to be a suffragan? Could you only be consecrated a bishop if
there was a "spare" see? If so, did you need to retain it in order to
"practise" as a bishop? What happened if you resigned your see - could you
still practise as a suffragan? (I suppose, this raises the whole question
of 'episcopi vagantes'...)
John Briggs
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