Ditchburn Chpt - Scotland & Europe, 1st estate Flashcards
To which Pope was the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath addressed?
Pope John XXII
Which document invited the Pope “to admonish and exhort the king of England to leave in peace us Scots who live in this poor little Scotland beyond which there is no dwelling place at all”
The Declaration of Arbroath
What was the commonly held view about Scotland at the time?
That is was isolated, uncivilised and poor. Contemporary maps showed Scotland near the periphery of the known world.
Some continental writers thought it a suitable place for cannibals and the Devil.
What did visiting French knights in 1385 think?
Scotland’s landscape was inhospitable
Was this true?
No. Scotland was distant from centre of a world focused on Jerusalem but was within the known world with a firmly European identity.
Who had taken an interest in Scotland’s wars of independence?
Pope John XXII and predecessors Clement V and Boniface VIII
What was papal position on Scotland’s struggle to retain independence?
Initial encouragement of Scots, later censure.
What did Declaration represent?
A “manifesto of the elite”
Who wrote & signed it?
Author unknown but probably a leading clergyman.
Signed by secular aristocrats.
Likely instigated by the king, Robert I
Society was hierarchical. Hierarchy seen as natural & God-given
Society also organised into 3 functions; those who a) prayed b) fought and c) worked. These cut across hierarchies & contributed to contrasting views of Europe
The 1st Estate: The clergy & the Church
Medieval Europe was intensely religious. Not a personal choice so much as a state of mind. Clergy’s role was therefore particularly important.
What was the role of the clergy (p104)
Job was to pray for the living and the dead. Approx 3 - 4,000 clergy in medieval Scotland. All owed obedience to pope (aka bishop of Rome) who was acknowledged as the final arbiter of religious doctrine & law.
Where did pope’s authority come from?
Derived from association with St Peter, Christ’s foremost apostle & 1st bishop of Rome
Doctrinal issues
Usually discussed by leading clergymen in general councils summoned periodically by pope. Decisions of these councils had to be ratified by pope
Scotland’s participation in Church general councils?
1163 - Bishop Gregory of Dunkeld attended council at Tours. After that, most councils attended by at least some of Scotland’s leading clergymen.
Church law
Pope’s written rulings were binding on whole Church and were basis of canon law.
How was canon law disseminated & applied?
Systematised from C12th. Disseminated by papal reps (including legates who visited Scotland requently in C12th & C13th). Also through manuscripts.
Applied in church courts established in every diocese but most authoritative at the papacy
Difference between papal legate & delegate?
Legates have diplomatic status and represent the pope in dealings with foreign governements. Delegates represent pope in Church matters only.
What did church courts deal with?
All matters to do with the clergy. Also marital & testamentary issues, morality & belief (eg illigitimacy, blasphemy & heresy) & some commercial matters eg usury so lay men & women could appear before church courts too.
Other aspects of Church?
Offices of Chancery (archive records), Datary (investigating merit of recipients of benefices) & Penitentiary (administrion of penance) were at the papacy & used by both clergy & lay people. These offices could absolve sins & exempt people from canon law stipulations.
Scotland’s interaction?
Offices were regularly used by Scottish clerics, proportionately more than other ‘peripheral’ clergy eg from Scandinavia.
Illigitimacy most frequent reason for petition to penitentiary; occasionally bodily defects as disabled and the illigitimate couldn’t become priests
How else Christian states bound to papacy?
Money. Clerical income tax brought in to finance crusades. Levied several times in Scotland in C13th. Then mostly abandoned in favour of taxes on individual clerics appointed by pope & wasincentive to increase powers to appoint.
Papal appointments (p105)
Before C13th, few Scottish clerics appointed by pope. By end C14th, approx 13 per year. No need for personal mtg. Clerics cld be appointed via letters or reps at papal court (procurators). But in person visits to papcy were not uncommon.
Who affected by papal authority?
Directly: clergy men & women
Indirectly: lay people
