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At the Edge of Reformation springs from Peter Linehan's continuing interest in the history of Spain and Portugal, on this occasion in the first half of the fourteenth century between the recovery of each kingdom from widespread anarchy and civil war and the onset of the Black Death. Focussing on ecclesiastical aspects of the period in that region (Galicia in particular) and secular attitudes to the privatisation of the church, it raises inter alios the question why developments there did not lead to a permanent sundering of the relationship with Rome (or Avignon) two centuries ahead of that outcome elsewhere in the West.
In addressing such issues, as well as of neglected archival material in Spanish and Portuguese archives, Linehan makes use of the also unpublished so-called 'secret' registers of the popes of the period. The issues this volume raises ought to be of interest not only to students of Spanish and Portuguese society but also to those interested in the developing relationship further afield of the components of the eternal quadrilateral (pope, king, episcopate, and secular nobility) in late medieval Europe as well as of the activity in that period of the secular-minded sapientes. In this context, attention is given to the hitherto neglected attempt of Afonso IV of Portugal to appropriate the privileges of the primatial church of his kingdom and to the glorification of his Castilian son-in-law as God's vice-gerent in his.
List of contents
- 1: Early fourteenth-century Iberia: anarchy in two kingdoms
- 2: Portuguese lineages and the privatisation of the Portuguese Church
- 3: Nobility and naturaleza
- 4: 1332 continued
- 5: The Archbishop's chapel
- 6: After Salado
- 7: Alfonso XI: 'A king entire'
- 8: By Way of Conclusion
About the author
Peter Linehan has been a fellow of St John's College Cambridge since 1966, and was senior proctor at the University of Cambridge in 1976 and 1977. He has been a corresponding member of the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid since 1996 and a Fellow of the British Academy since 2002. He edited the
Journal of Ecclesiastical History from 1979 to 1991. Linehan is married, with three children.
Summary
In the early fourteenth century, Castile and Portugal were seeing the recovery of royal government after a period of near anarchy in both kingdoms. However, this coincided with, and was complicated by, developments towards secularisation within the peninsular Church, a growing mistrust of the papacy, and concerns raised by the onset of Black Death.
Additional text
It is worth reading twice.
Report
Linehan has had a splendid career. This contribution to the history of the church on the Iberian peninsula will only enhance his reputation. Ken Pennington, Zeitschrift der Savigny-Gesellschaft für Rechtsgeschichte
