Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century [Paperback]

First published in 1945, this is still an important explanation of the role of the Church in medieval English society.The Church had immense influence on all aspects of medieval daily life. In this 1945 work, which gained him a doctorate from Cambridge University, Moorman examines what it meant to be a churchman in thirteenth-century England. He examines the training, organisation and work of the clergy and monastic orders.The Church had immense influence on all aspects of medieval daily life. In this 1945 work, which gained him a doctorate from Cambridge University, Moorman examines what it meant to be a churchman in thirteenth-century England. He examines the training, organisation and work of the clergy and monastic orders.J. R. H. Moorman was one of the foremost Anglican scholars of the English church in the middle ages, and especially of the Franciscan order. First published in 1945, Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century provides a social history of the medieval English church. Two per cent of the population were then in religious orders of some kind, and church authority was at least as powerful as that of the state for the rest of the population. In the first part of the book, Moorman uses original sources to give a picture of the life of the secular clergy, their organisation, finances, training, and the different roles they filled with regard to the laity. The second part concentrates on the monastic orders, arguing that, with the exception of the friars, the great days of the monasteries were over, and that they had entered a period of consolidation and inevitable decline.Preface; Bibliography; Part 1: 1. The parishes of England; 2. Chapels, chantries and collegiate churches; 3. Rectors; 4. Vicars; 5. Assistant clergy; 6. The parsonage and its occupants; 7. The church and its services; 8. The education of the clergy; 9. Clerical incomes: (a) from the land; 10. Clerical incomes: (b) the offerings of the people; 11. Priest and people; 12. Prefermel*