CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Balcirakova, Katarina |
|---|---|
| Title | Separatio vel reconciliatio: The Diversity of Christian Rituals of Excommunication and Penance in Tenth and Eleventh Centuries |
| Summary | This thesis reexamines the excommunication rites found in tenth and eleventh-century liturgical manuscripts to show them to be far more diverse than has been recognized in scholarship to date. It takes as its starting point a detailed analysis of four eleventh-century German pontificals, a part of the Pontificale Romano-germanique, which have been generally neglected by modern scholars. By demonstrating the active interest scribes devoted to compiling and adjusting the influential excommunication formulas of Regino of Prum, the thesis shows that the period of tenth and eleventh centuries was critical for the ritual of excommunication. This argument proceeds in three stages. The first addresses the overlooked excommunication formulas in the German pontificals. By analysing the variety of structure, vocabulary, rubrication, and positioning of these rites within each manuscript, I demonstrate that characterization of the PRG excommunication rites as static is simply untenable. The second places the locally confined case studies into their wider context of both liturgical sources and political developments. I link the proliferation of excommunication formulas to the disintegration of the Frankish Empire. The final chapter offers an analysis of real-world cases of punitive rites being performed, examining both penance and excommunication.. The underlying argument throughout the whole thesis is that the subject of excommunication should be viewed in unison with penance, due to their intertwined relationship in the eyes of the contemporaries. Ultimately this thesis proves that excommunication rites were far more dynamic and varied than most scholars believe, and that this is reflected in both text and action. |
| Supervisor | Klaniczay, Gábor; György, Geréby |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/balcirakova_katarina.pdf |
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