A sacred city
Consecrating churches and reforming society in eleventh-century Italy
By (author) Louis Hamilton
Publication date:
01 July 2010Length of book:
288 pagesPublisher
Manchester University PressDimensions:
216x138mmISBN-13: 9780719080265
The so-called Investiture Conflict was a watershed moment in the political life of the Latin West and the history of the papacy. Occurring at a time of rapid social change and political expansion, the eleventh-century reform movement became a debate centered on a ritual: the investment of bishops with the signs of their sacred and secular authority. The consecration of bishops, however, was only one of several contemporaneous conflicts over the significance of consecrations. Less well known is that which occurred over the dedication of churches. This book provides an examination of the consecration, placing the fundamental questions of the Gregorian Reform and Investiture Conflict back into their original liturgical framework. This context allows us to consider the symbolic richness of the liturgy that attracted large numbers of people.
This is an important work for any number of reasons: it is an extremely well-researched book that takes into account a wide range of sources and specialised literature on medieval liturgy, socio-religious history, commentary, canon law and the so-called Gregorian reform. It will fill a gap in the existing historiography of reform.
Kathleen Cushing, English Historical Review, cxxvii. 528 (Oct. 2012)
'a fresh perspective on a stale historiographical, tradition, a vivid portrait that evokes the true power of consecrations in, reforming Italian society in the late-eleventh and early-twelfth centuries'
Kriston Rennie, Catholic Historical Review