The Medieval Clergy, 800–1250

A Sourcebook

Ott, John S. (ed.)
Jones, Anna Trumbore (ed.)

The Medieval Clergy gives voice to the so-called secular clergy in the Central Middle Ages – a group that included priests, bishops, deacons, and canons, whose primary responsibilities included ministering to laypeople. These clerics administered the sacraments, and their churches sheltered the poor, housed the relics of the saints, and offered places of protection and community. The documents collected here, most appearing for the first time in English, allow readers to explore the richness of the lives of these clergy: the ideals they strove to emulate, the complexity of their lived experiences, and the multifaceted roles they played – pastoral, sacramental, familial, social, educational, liturgical, memorial, military, economic, legal, and civic.