On Sun, 25 May 1997, Monastery Library wrote:
> !
>
> >On Sat, 24 May 1997, CA. Muessig wrote:
> >
> >> Today, 25 May, is the feast of ...
> >>
> >>
> >> * Gregory VII, pope (1085) - although the Reform of the late eleventh and
> >> early twelfth centuries takes its name from him, in the realm of canon law
> >> it has been argued that he had almost no effect whatsoever (Do you
> >> agree?)
> >>
> >
> >No!
> >
> >Mike
> >
>
> Please don't stop there...
>
> a.c.
>
> Anselm Cramer OSB
> Ampleforth Abbey, York
> GB - YO6 4EN
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
I have a feeling we've been down this road before, but here goes. As Prof.
Brundage pointed out-- and I accept his conclusion here-- G VII had little
impact on marriage law (though I can't think why one would have expected
him to have had much of an impact?). In any case, as Brundage pointed out
in his post, the locus classicus for the view of the ineffectual Gregory
is Gilchrist's series of articles in ZRG-KA. Now I have 2 problems w/
Gilchrist's articles. First, he missed a lot-- at least among the
collections in and around Poitou which I have had the luxury of examining
in detail and will offer a corrective to in the near-future. Second, I
have a real problem methodologically w/what Gilchrist did-- i.e. toting up
citations w/o regard to consideration of where they fit relatively
speaking in the canonists calculus of authority (i.e. how do you compare
an authority who is cited infrequently but accorded great weight with one
who is cited frequently but with much less weight, etc ?). Even more
troubling, Gilchrist really doesn't offer us any comparisons that might
make his numbers meaningful-- I can conceive, for example, of writing
Gilchrist's article (even leaving aside the above) and concluding that G
VII was very influential on canon law. His study was too prelimiuary and
not well enough controlled to draw any firm or reliable conclusions.
Please, before I get a huge response from the legion of Gilchrist's
students and admirers out there, I too have enormous respect for him and
take the ZRG articles as first steps designed to promote research and
questioning rather than as definitive conclusions.
Michael F. Hynes
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