medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thanks for these clarifications; were I don't comment, I simply agree...
while noting that, pace Rev Plumb, neither of us have read the book: perhaps
the answers to some of these questions (the most trenchant perhaps being the
Decreta Lanfranci problem and the why-not-pre-Conquest problem) are in
there. Or perhaps they themselves put Remigius forward in a 'one likely
figure' kind of way, which would not be unreasonable.
>Lincolnshire was too independent, and that he wished to impose his
>authority upon it
This very much the kind of point I'd have made had I expanded further. The
'reach' of the A-S bishop of Dorchester's authority beyond Oxon, let alone
as far as Lincs, must remain an open question; R's energetic stamping of his
authority on Lindsey is surely a reaction to his institutional weakness in
the area: not only independent for historical reasons, but then being
claimed as part of the northern Province. Another exampe of this is his
building up of an expanded landed endowment: Dorchester did have property in
Lincs, I beleive, but the focus of the bishop's lands was around Oxon.
Indeed by comparison with the other cathedral relocations of the 1070s,
Remigius's is audaciously successful. One doesnt move a bishop's seat some
200 miles without remarkable energy and nous.
>So, we have the paradox that for two monastic cathedrals the procession
>spanned the whole city, whereas for two secular cathedrals (Salisbury and
>Lincoln) it may have been confined to the cathedral precincts!
What a fascinating point. I wonder if this pattern is replicated elsewhere.
Because it reflects something I've noticed: that the 'screen facade' west
fronts, richly equipped for church-focused Palm Sunday celebrations, are on
the secular cathedrals (eg Exeter, Wells, Salisbury, Lichfield; with
non-screen or quasi-screen but v elaborate w fronts at York, Hereford,
Lincoln) and that by comparison even the grandest monastic cathedrals (eg
Winchester, Canterbury, Worcester, Durham) - have extraordinarily
unremarkable west facades. Coventry was the only monastic cathedral with a
screen facade, it and Rochester and Ely the only ones were the west front
was 'made a meal of'. I wonder if there could be a liturgical distinction to
explain this...
Jon Cannon
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