Twelfth-Century English Archidiaconal and Vice-Archidiaconal Acta: v.92 (Canterbury & York Society) - Tapa dura

Cette precieuse publication montre bien tout le parti que les historiens de l'Eglise et les diplomatistes tireraient de l'etude des actes archidiaconaux. BIBLIOTHEQUE DE L'ECOLE DES CHARTES Important collection... one of the principal interests of the collection is the insight it gives into certain ecclesiastical careers at the microcosmic level. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW

Archdeacons were the most senior officers in the secular church after the archbishops and bishops, and played a crucial role in diocesan administration. This book brings together for the first time the 285 surviving acts of English archdeacons in the twelfth century, representing forty-five of the fifty-one medieval archdeaconries of the English church; also included are twenty-one acts of vice-archdeacons, the main deputies of archdeacons at this time. These documents reveal archdeacons at work in various aspects of their responsibilities, such as presiding in archdeacons' synods or rural chapters, settling disputes, holding inquiries, and dealing with appointments to parish churches; they shed new light on the business and diplomatic of archdeacons' acts, the personnel of their households and staff, and the part archdeacons and their deputies played in the ecclesiastical and temporal affairs of the twelfth century. The texts are printed in the original Latin, with full editorial apparatus and notes. Braian Kemp is Professor of Medieval History, University of Reading.