CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Stasiuk, Olha |
|---|---|
| Title | Per Vim et Metum: Coercion to Marriage and Monasticism in Registers of the Apostolic Penitentiary for Central Europe (1431-1503) |
| Summary | The Apostolic Penitentiary was a special tribunal in the Catholic Church and one of the key papal offices in the Late Middle Ages. The institution granted absolutions from the most severe sins (as violence against clergy) and declarations, which let the petitioners avoid certain Canon Law restrictions and punishments. Since 1983, the Registers of the Penitentiary were open to scholars, and many historians used it to study violence, marital relationships, ecclesiastical institutions, etc. The thesis aims to analyse these cases of forced monasticism and marriages in the Registers of the Apostolic Penitentiary for Central Europe between 1431 (Pope Eugene IV) and 1503 (Pope Alexander VI) to show the tendencies of coercion in medieval society and possible strategies to protest against it using Canon Law and the Penitentiary. The research reveals the patterns of coercion in the identities of the victims and oppressors, means of force, ways to protest, and gender issues. Comparing the Canon Law, medieval social practices, and the Registers, the research shows that the proclaimed consensuality of marital and monastic vows was widely violated by family members, religious and secular authorities, and it took many years and efforts for petitioners to escape and free themselves using the Penitentiary. But the narrative strategies of the petitioners were based on the Canon Law regulations, and telling the case in a particular way in the supplication was the main instrument against the coercion. |
| Supervisor | Jaritz, Gerhard; Klaniczay, Gábor |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/stasiuk_olha.pdf |
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