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Never before had France had a church council so large: almost 1000 churchmen assembled at Bourges on 29 November 1225 to authorize a tax on their incomes in support of the Second Albigensian Crusade. About one third were representatives sent by corporate bodies, in accordance with a new provision of canon law that insisted, for the first time ever, that there should be no taxation without representation. Basing himself on the rich surviving records, Professor Kay paints a skilful portrait of the politics of the council and the clashes between the papal legate and local bishops. The book also draws out the importance and implications of what took place, highlighting the council's place at the fountainhead of European representative democracy, the impact of the decisions made on the course of the Albigensian Crusade, the reform of monasticism, and the funding of the papal government which was left to rely on stop-gap expedients, such as the sale of indulgences. In addition, the author suggests that the corpus of texts, newly edited from the original manuscripts and with English translation, could be seen as a model for the revision of the conciliar corpus, most of which still remains based on 18th-century scholarship.
List of contents
Contents: Foreword; The second Albigensian Crusade before 1225; Cardinal Romanus' legation to France, 1225; Organization of the council; Granting the Albigensian tenth; Collecting the Albigensian tenth; A proposal for financing papal government; The rejection of fiscal reform; Monastic reform and repentant masters; Afterword; Documents; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Richard Kay is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History, University of Kansas. His recent publications include two major works on Dante: Dante's Christian Astrology (1994), and Dante's Monarchia, translated with a commentary (1998); together with a volume of essays, Councils and Clerical Culture in the Medieval West (1997), which collects a set of studies preliminary to the present volume.
Summary
This text examines the Council of Bourges which took place in medieval France in order to form a representative government. In the 21st century, government by elected representatives is commonplace and taken for granted; but in 1225 it was a novelty with an uncertain future.
