dear eric
i'm unsure of the specific application of the terms you use, but I have
been recently reading Mary Mansfield's *The Humiliation of Sinners:
public penance in thirteenth century france* which deals with public and
private sins. In theory, there was a distinction: "public" sins,
which were sins "against" the community, received "public penance",
which was harsh; "private" sins received private penance. Mansfield
shows that the distinction was, in fact, confused - the framework of
"private sin" was extremely difficult to implement in practice, and left
unanswered various questions about the nature of specific sins, and
contingent circumstances; she also points out that various "private"
penances might well have been fairly public in practice.
As a footnote to this, one can note that some sins or crimes are
specifically marked as "public" - one being heresy, which had its own
specific area of public penance [which Mansfield does not address, since
she was concerned mainly with Northern France].
hope this is of some use
cheers
john arnold
Centre for Medieval Studies
Kings Manor
Exhibition Square
York YO1 2EP
ENGLAND
(01904) 433948
On Wed, 19 Jun 1996, Eric Marzo-Wilhelm wrote:
> Dear listmembers,
> perhaps you could give me a little help with this:
>
> I remember having heard about a distinction made in canon law (or
> penitential- reglements) between a so called scandalum apertum and a
> scandalum occultum, the first one being much heavier sanctioned than
> the second one.
>
> If a scandalum (sexual relations between clerics and women, in this case) had become
> known in public, the punishment was heavier - could this be seen as an example for
> the importance of "publicness" for the fields of law and "honour"? Would a public
> demonstration of disobediance be regarded as a worse offense than a
> secret (or not come to public eyes or ears) one? Could we assume that
> this was also true for the laic part of medieval society?
> How far would you think can one stress such an interpretation of the
> importance of "publicnes" for law, religion honopur, representation
> etc.?
> Where could I find more info about the distinction public-nonpublic?
>
> I would be thankful for any helpful comments on this,
>
> Eric Marzo-Wilhelm
>
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