John Shinners and William Dohar have edited a very useful collection of original sources on the medieval English clergy with the cure of souls. Their goal in doing this is twofold: to challenge the cliches about the medieval clergy and to make available some of the new scholarship and new translations that pertain to clerical life. From feminists to institutional historians, scholars of all stripes have shown renewed interest in medieval religious life. Concerns over the quality and nature of late medieval religious life have generated a great deal of exciting and innovative scholarship. Despite this wealth of research, the idea that the medieval clergy were at best ineffectual and at worst "barely literate, barely celibate, barely sober bumpkin(s), more at home in a tavern or in flagrante delicto than at an altar prie-dieu still persists." (p. xiii) The editors write "Our own impatience with this durable stereotype and our regard for decades of still under valued historical research inspired this sourcebook." (p. xiii-xiv) Without appearing to be either too partisan or naive, their collection of sources goes a long way towards achieving both goals. Although some might quibble with specific documents chosen for this work, Shinners' and Dohar's collection explains the concerns that the institutional Church had for pastoral care and how the clergy, particularly the parish clergy, put these concerns into practice. The result is a fine collection of translated original sources that makes available, often for the first time, a range of original sources detailing many aspects of the life of the medieval English clergy.
The focus of the collection is the period between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. Although the editors readily admit that there is much that could be done with continental material, they have chosen to focus on England because of the range and diversity of sources available about all levels of pastoral care. By way of demonstrating this variety, the editors have included literary pieces such as Chaucer's description of a poor parson, Langland's Parson Sloth from Piers the Plowman, synodial and conciliar legislation, clerical wills, parish visitations and churchwardens accounts, administrative documents, court records, sermons, and several selections from different pastoral care manuals. Each of the seven chapters starts with an introduction that situates the reader in the broader scholarly and theological issues. The first chapter, "Portraits of the Pastor" is divided into three sections which address in turn the theological, legal, and literary image of the priest. This chapter helps set the parameters for the book, and lays out bishops' often-ignored concern for the quality of their priests. The second chapter "Education," looks at the kind of education available for priests, standards of education and literacy, and attempts by the medieval ecclesiastical hierarchy to make education more readily available. Until the Council of Trent (1545-1563), clerical education was often hit or miss. Without a system of vocational education, priests, like other professionals in the middle ages, usually learned their profession through an apprenticeship. They received their training by attending local grammar schools and serving in the lower orders of the clergy. What is perhaps most striking for those who have been reared on a diet of stories about the inadequacy of the medieval priesthood, is the bishops' nuanced understanding of literacy and the many opportunities they implemented to try and ensure the literacy and education of their clergy. Even after ordination, there were still opportunities for further learning. The records do not show universal success, but this section demonstrates that the episcopacy was concerned about the quality of their clergy, a message that reformers worked hard to deny. The third chapter, "Ordination and Admission to a Cure," presents a variety of documents from the process of ordination. Ordination to the priesthood was the final step in a longer process. Young men first proceeded through the lower orders of porter, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, and deacon before ordination to the priesthood. Often they went through the first four orders in one day. By the end of the whole process, however, candidates were ideally knowledgeable about what was necessary for administering the cure of souls. This chapter also addresses the problems of absenteeism and pluralism. There is even a pluralist's defense of his situation.
With the fourth chapter "The Clerical Community," the editors move to documents that more specifically address the parish. This chapter presents sources that detail the place of the parish in the diocesan administration, the various levels of clerical oversight, and the array of lower clerics, such as chantry priests, and parish clerks, that served the parish. It is also in this chapter that the editors address conflicts between the parish clergy and the mendicants. In the fourteenth century, the mendicants' popularity began to encroach on the pastoral duties of the parish clergy. Chapter five "The Curate's Spiritual Duties" includes a number of selections from instructional manuals such as Pecham's Ignorantia sacerdotum and Pagula's Oculus sacerdotis, along with portions from the Sarum Manual and some vernacular sermons. The documents in this chapter served to highlight how the legislation from the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) changed the job of the priest. This was largely because of the new mandates for annual confession. The priest now had to be more attentive to the person behind the sin. He could no longer rely on the old system of assessing penance based on the sin, instead he had to figure out the best way to achieve contrition and penitence by concentrating on the sinner and his or her needs. Although penitentials remained popular, the development of confessional manuals shows how the process of confession had changed.
The final two chapters look at the clergy's experiences in their parishes. In chapter five, "Management of the Cure" the editors present documents that show both the economic and spiritual aspects of working in a parish. Through records such as the account book of one cleric, churchwardens' accounts, wills, and episcopal discussions of priests wages, the editors challenge the image of greedy and luxury loving priests. To be sure, some were well off, but others were not. Nevertheless, even the most pious priest needed to support himself. Finally, in the last chapter, "Life and Manners," the editors look at the experiences of some particular parish clergy. We read of the three priests who had to deal with Margery Kempe, as well as some priests brought to court by their parishioners. There is also the confession of a priest who turned to Lollardy and clerical attempts to cope with the crisis of the plague. The final documents are visitation reports, which pull together the behavior of good and bad priests. These records show parishes that were content with their clergy and parishes neglected by them or worse. At the end, the editors have also included a useful glossary of ecclesiastical terms and a selected bibliography for further reading.
Shinners' and Dohar's collection is part of the growing literature on the late medieval English parish that questions the inevitability of the English Reformation and lay dissatisfaction with their religion. Their collection fits in well with the tenor of discussion outlined by Eamon Duffy's Stripping of the Altars. [1] Although scholars still debate the level of commitment to the parish, those who study it are generally struck by the intensity of the laity's collective involvement with their parishes. It is tempting to interpret this interest exclusively in terms of lay empowerment and growing collective autonomy. Shinners' and Dohar's collection of sources, however, reminds us that the clergy were also a part of parish life. Furthermore, pastoral care was a developed concept and not one invented by sixteenth-century reformers.
My only substantive criticism of this collection is that the documents show the clergy as dealing with the laity as a relatively homogeneous group. There is no discussion of how status or sex influenced the involvement between parishioner and cleric. Although Shinners and Dohar do not gloss over the failures and problems of the late medieval clergy, they also do not show how the inequities of medieval life, such as those brought on by class and gender differences, were a part of local religious life. Instructional manuals, such as Mirk's Instructions for Parish Priests [2] warn clergy to be wary of women and to deal with them differently during confession than men. Status and gender were inscribed into many aspect of the liturgy and shaped clerical interactions with the laity; I think that the editors could have done more with this issue. Nonetheless, the range of sources that this collection brings together shows the rich diversity of clerical experiences. Some clergy did live up to the stereotype of illiterate bumbler, but many more were involved in their parishes earnestly trying to fill their role as pastoral-care provider. This collection presents a rich portrait of the late medieval English clergy, making it harder to fall back on old stereotypes.
NOTES
[1] Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).
[2] John Mirk, Instructions for Parish Priests, ed. Edward Peacock, EETS 31a (London: Truebner and Co., 1902), 3, 27.