medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 02/12/13, Christopher Crockett wrote:
"i've never come across this term/office "dean of the province" in France. i assume that it was a peculiarly Western Fringe phenomenon? was this "dean" --who apparently also happened to be a bishop himself-- some
kind of "vice-archbishop" for the province? what were his duties? when was this odd practice established? and, why for? all information about these or any other of the Bizarre Idiosyncrasies of the
Western Fringe is always welcome to the Unenlightened."
Not entirely a "peculiarly Western Fringe phenomenon", unless by "Western Fringe" brother Crockett refers not only -- as is his wont -- to the British Isles but also to western portions of the German-ruled Imperium Romanum. Traditionally, the bishop of Toul was dean of the ecclesiastical province of Trier. See (e.g.) this in the _Journal de la Société d'archéologie et du comité du Musée lorrain_, 11 (1862), at pp. 237-38 (a Google Books digitization):
http://tinyurl.com/bfxpcm6
Here the dignity of dean of the ecclesiastical province seems to have been largely honorary, giving the incumbent the duties of consecrating archbishops of Trier and of consecrating other bishops of the province when the archbishop was unable to do so.
Best,
John Dillon
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