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[German Version] The Carmelite Order goes back to a community of occidental hermits on Mount Carmel, who were granted a rule by the patriarch of Jerusalem in 1210. It obligated them to a strict contemplative life. The spirituality of the community, led by a prior, was marked by anachoretic traditions, the example of the prophet Elijah, and veneration of the Virgin Mary. In 1240, the Carmelites fled before the growing threat of the Saracens into their European homelands, where …

[German Version] 1. Giovanni (Feb 24, 1463, Mirandola near Modena – Nov 17, 1494, Florence), son of the count of Mirandola. From 1477, he studied canon law, artes liberales, philosophy, and literature, especially in Bologna, Ferrara, Padua, Paris, and Perugia. In addition to Greek, he learned Hebrew and Arabic. He paid several visits to Florence, where he made friends with Lorenzo de’ Medici and his circle, especially with M. Ficino, Angelo Poliziano (1454–1494), and Girolamo Benivieni (1453–1542). …

[German Version] In the 12th century, a scholarly work briefly summarizing the totality of important knowledge in a particular field (Robert of Melun: singulorum brevis comprehensio) came to be called a Summa (later also Summula). Various disciplines were represented: Summa grammaticae/grammaticalis; Summa super Priscianum; Summa dictaminis/artis notariae; Summa logicae ( Summulae dialectices/logicales/logicae); Summa de modis significandi; Summa philosophiae; Summula philosophiae naturalis; Summa de anima, etc. Compendia of civil and canon law were also called Summae…

[German Version] (of Milan; died 1278/1281, Milan). The only source for her life is the record of the trial of Wilhelmina and her followers conducted posthumously in 1300 by the Inquisition; it indicates that ¶ she was from Bohemia and was of noble birth. We know nothing of her life before her arrival in Milan between 1260 and 1270, but she is said to have had a son. In that period, numerous religious dissidents were living in Milan, which was shaken not only by conflicts with other cities of northern Italy and internal partisan …

[German Version] A first, widely disseminated collection of the Reformer's Latin works was published in Basel in 1518 by Johannes Froben; a first edition of his German works was published in Basel in 1520 by Andreas Cratander. Luther's literary productivity persuaded Cratander and then Adam Petri to publish two more Latin editions – each expanded – in March and again in July of 1520. The first complete edition of Luther's works, the Wittenberg edition, was published between 1539 and 1559 in two series of folio volumes, 12 in German and seven in Latin; the ed…

[German Version] I. Terminology Today we limit the term Reformation (from Lat. reformatio) exclusively to the events set in motion by M. Luther, ¶ U. Zwingli, and other Reformers, which led in the course of the 16th century to a cleavage within Western Christendom that has lasted to this day. Until well into the 19th century, however, the term still had its original, broader sense of reform (Reform, Idea of), under which the event we call the Reformation was subsumed. It was the appearance of the French word réforme in the 17th century, borrowed into German in the course of the 19t…

[German Version] (Mar 11, 1485, Cles – Jul 30, 1539, Brixen). After studies in Verona and Bologna, he received the Dr. utriusque iuris in 1511; he became canon of the Cathedral in Trent in 1512, and bishop there in 1514/15. From 1514, as adviser to Maximilian I, he mediated between the emperor and the regime in Innsbruck and upper Italy. After collaborating in the election of Charles V in 1519, he became an adviser to Ferdinand I, in 1522 his chancellor and repre…

[German Version] (1090/1091, Fontaines-lès-Dijon – Aug 20, 1153, Clairvaux). I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence I. Life Bernard, son of the Burgundian nobleman Tescelin le Saur and of Aleth of Montbard, was educated by the secular canons of St. Vorles in Châtillon. In 1113, along with 30 young noblemen, he entered the abbey of Cîteaux, whose abbot was Stephan Harding. In 1115, he was commissioned to fou…

[German Version] the most important and widespread typological work of the late Middle Ages, combining texts and pictures. It borrowed the structure of the Biblia pauperum (Bible of the Poor), organized around salvation history, and expanded it thematically, in particular by including scenes from the life of Mary and the passion of Jesus; it also divided the text into tractates. The title and year of composition (1324) of the nova compilatio appear already in early 14th-century manuscripts. Whether it was compiled by German Dominicans (possibly associated with Lud…

[German Version] The Augustinian Canons Regular institution founded c. 1077 in the Danube valley, which was never of transregional significance, was secularized in 1802 along with its 17th/18th century monastery and church (dedicated 1738) and promised to the principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1850, Prussian). Re-established as a Benedictine priory in 1863 under Prior Maurus Wolter, it was elevated in 1868 to an abbey and, during the exile of the monastery (1875–1887) forcibly elevated by the Kulturkampf , to archabbey. Linked from t…

[German Version] Mar 19, 1227 – Aug 21 or 22, 1241 (Hugo [Ugolino] Count of Segni; b. shortly before 1170, Anagni, Italy). After studying theology and law (Paris; Bologne?), he became cardinal deacon in 1198 and cardinal bishop of Ostia (dean of the college of cardinals) in 1206 under Innocent III. He was repeatedly the papal legate in Germany (1207 struggle for the throne) and central and upper Italy (1217–1219 preparing for the crusade ratified by the Fourth Lateran Council). In 1220, Gregory an…

[German Version] I. Early History – II. Character – III. Growth – IV. Development and Influence in the Middle Ages – V. The 15th Century and Afterwards I. Early History The first religious order in the history of Christian monasticism (III, 3) came into being when the Benedictine (Benedictines) abbey Novum Monasterium (from 1119: Cistercium, Fr. Cîteaux, hence the self-designation Cistercienses) in Burgundy established four daughter houses in the space of a few years (“primary abbeys”: La Ferté, 1113; Pontigny, 1114; Clairvaux and Mori…

[German Version] (after 990, near Ravenna – 1078, Fécamp). In 1017, John was sent from St. Bénigne in Dijon to be prior (from 1028 onward, abbot) in the La Trinité monastery in Fécamp and there became the most important proponent of Norman reform monasticism in the 11th century. His major works were Confessio theologica, Confessio fidei, Libellus de scripturis et verbis patrum collectus. Although John drew broadly on the tradition (esp. Augustine of Hippo and Gregory the Great) and did not yet make scholastic arguments, his markedly meditative theology had…

[German Version] (June 13, 1884, Paris – Sep 19, 1978, Auxerre), philosopher. In 1913, he became professor at Lille, in 1919 at Strasbourg, from 1921 to 1932 he was ¶ professor at the Sorbonne, and from 1932 at the Collège de France. In 1929, he co-founded the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto, and in 1947 became a member of the Académie Française. Gilson was also a systematic philosopher (e.g. Matières et formes, 1964; ET: Forms and Substances in the Arts, 2001), although the focal point of his work lay in the history of what he called “Christian philosoph…

[German Version] (Guilelmus Parvus; c. 1136, Bridlington, Yorkshire – 1198, Newburgh, Yorkshire). While a canon in the Augustinian canonry at Newburgh (Canons Regular of St. Augustine), in addition to sermons William wrote a mariological exposition of the Song of Songs ( Explanatio sacri epithalamii in matrem sponsi, ed. J.C. Gorman, 1960) and a history of England ( Historia rerum anglicarum, ed. R.Howlett, 2 vols., 1884–1885), a sober, precise, and balanced account of the period from 1066 to 1198 (i.e. the reigns of Henry II and Richard I of England). Ulrich Köpf Bibliography R. Jahnc…

[German Version] Mendicants Dispute, term for the controversies at the University of Paris about the status of the mendicants (Mendicant orders), who from 1217 (Dominicans) and 1219 (Franciscans) lived in Paris as students, preachers, and pastors, and who since the university strike from 1229 to 1231 also held chairs in the theological faculty (1229 Roland of Cremona OP, 1231 John of St. Giles OP, 1236 Alexander of Hales OFM). The growing competition with the mendicants, who were favored by the po…

[German Version] (Hospitallers), a lay brotherhood founded at the end of the 11th century in connection with the church of La-Motte-aux-Bois (since the 14th cent.: St.-Antoine-en-Viennois), which possessed the relics of the desert father Antonius. They cared for those ill with St. Anthony's fire (holy fire, ergot). The Antonites spread rapidly and were transformed in …

[German Version] Pallium, a circular stole worn on the shoulders over the mass robe, made of white wool decorated with black silk crosses, with a short strip with a black end hanging over the chest and the back (Vestments, Liturgical). It presumably developed from the sash worn by Roman officials in late imperial times, and from the early 6th century the pope has been entitled to wear this liturgical vestment. From the 9th century he bestowed it on archbishops, who, however, were allowed to wear i…

[German Version] (c. 1214/1220, England – c. 1292). After studying arts in Oxford and perhaps in Paris (M.A. c. 1236/1240), Bacon taught in the Paris faculty of arts until about 1247. It is uncertain whether he then returned to England, and where he entered the Franciscan order (probably before 1256). After theological studies (in Oxford?) he was again in Paris around 1257. ¶ Here, c. 1263, he found a patron in Cardinal Gui Foucois (Guy Foulques the Fat), later Pope Clement IV (1265–1268), to whom he sent several works on request (including the Opus maius, the Opus minus, and perhaps the Opus t…

[German Version] (1095/1100, near Novara, Lombardy – Jul 21/22, 1160, Paris). After studying in northern Italy and Reims, Peter came to Paris c. 1135 as an outsider; by 1145 he was already one of the most important teachers in the cathedral school. On Jul 28, 1159, he was consecrated bishop of Paris, but he was unable to distinguish himself in that office. In his years of teaching, he produced glosses (Glossa ordinaria) on the Psalms (PL 191, 55–1296) and the Pauline Epistles, also called the magna (or maior) glossatura (PL 191, 1297–1696; 192, 9–520), as well as four books of Sententiae (crit…

[German Version] I. Middle Ages Waldenses (Valdesi), supporters of the townsman Waldo from Lyon, made their first historical appearance in 1179 at the Third Lateran Council, where they vainly requested permission to preach freely. In 1180, Waldo and his companions ( fratres) committed themselves to an orthodox creed at a synod in Lyon and pledged to lead a life according to the counsels of perfection. By doing so, the community of the “Poor of Lyon” attained public visibility. In analogy to other religious movements of the 12th century…

[German Version] (teachers of the church) is an honorific term first used by Bishop Licinianus of Cartagena toward the end of the 6th century (Gregory the Great, Ep. 1.41a). The canonization of theological authorities in Late Antiquity formed a circle of three liturgically venerated Doctores ecclesiae in the Eastern Church (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom) and of four in the West (first around 800: Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, Gregory I the Great). Boniface VIII first officially established ¶ the names of the four Latin egregii Doctores ecclesi…

[German Version] is a form of Christian devotion centered on the passion and crucifixion of Jesus (Passion/Passion traditions). Commemoration of the end of Jesus’ life was always a living presence in the Christian community – despite the criticism of his manner of death by Jews and pagans (1 Cor 1:23), which in turn fostered the Christian interpretation of the cross (Cross/Crucifixion) as a trophy while also discouraging iconographic representation of the crucifixion until the early 5th century. E…

[German Version] ( conversi) are, in the narrower sense, members of a religious community who are not ordained. In the course of history, however, the name fratres laici or conversi has designated various groups of persons. In the early medieval period, conversi were monks who, in contrast to ( pueri) oblati (Oblates: I) who were consigned to a monastery already as children, entered the monastery only as adults. In addition to this so-called “older institution of conversi,” a “younger institution of conversi” arose in the 11th century. It included members of the monastic familia who wer…

[German Version] The suburbicarian dioceses are those in the region adjacent ( suburbium) to Rome. Most have had a checkered history: Albano, Frascati (replacing Tusculum, which replaced Labicum and was de facto an episcopal see from 1058 to 1197, recognized nominally until 1537), Ostia, Palestrina, Porto (united the Santa Rufina [Silva Candida] by Callistus II), Sabina (the result of incorporating the see of Nomentum into the see of Forum Novum; united ¶ with Poggio Mirteto in 1925), Velletri (united with Ostia in 1150, separated once more in 1914, and united with …

[German Version] (died 1115, Antwerp), itinerant ascetic preacher, probably a layman, for some time a member of the circle of Count Robert II of Flanders. In 1112 he is ¶ said to have been in Rome trying to have the islands at the mouth of the Scheldt (Zeeland) removed from the bishopric of Utrecht and placed under the bishopric of Thérouanne (under the archbishopric of Reims). On his return journey, he was imprisoned by the archbishop of Cologne and charged with heresy by the Utrecht cathedral clergy. The stereotyped accusa…

[German Version] village in Latium, in the valley of the Aniene east of Rome. Here Benedict of Nursia is said to have lived in a cave (Sacro Speco) as a hermit and to have later joined with companions to form a monastic settlement in rooms of a former villa of the emperor Nero (monastery of San Clemente). In the years that followed, he is said to have founded ten additional monasteries before going to Monte Cassino in 529. Two of them are still standing today: San Benedetto (Sacro Speco) and, low…

[German Version] I. The term observantia denoted in classical Latin the due veneration of other human beings, especially those who surpass us in age, wisdom, and worth (Cic. De inventione 2.66, 161). In Latin of the imperial period it also came to mean respect for customs and laws (on the relationship with religio, cf. 2 Macc 6:11, Vulgate). From the early Middle Ages, the term was especially applied to religious behavior understood as compliance with divine commands: on the one hand, with regard to keeping church rules in general, especially tho…

[German Version] was the most important translator north of the Alps in the 12th century; he was active for some time in Poitiers. Supported by John of Salisbury and the Abbey St. Denis in Paris, he translated the works and letters of Pseudo- Dionysius Areopagita from Greek into Latin, while avoiding grecisms. The preparation for this work was a commentary on the Hierarchia caelestis. His translations were widely used, especially in the 13th century. Ulrich Köpf Bibliography M. Grabmann, Mittelalterliches Geistesleben, vol. I, 1926, 454–460 W. Berschin, Griechisch-lateinisches Mit…

[German Version] I. Early Research At the dawn of the 21st century, a history of piety is more a desideratum than a reality, especially in Protestantism. In the 19th century, the notion of piety as defined in its modern sense by Pietism, J.W. v. Goethe, and Romanticism and grounded theologically by F.D.E. Schleiermacher did not lead to academic study of the history of piety. To this day, religious scholarship avoids the term; there is no lemma Frömmigkeit in HRWG II, 1990. Not until the end of the 19th century did church history deal with the history of piety, primarily …

[German Version] (c. 1045, Arbrissel near Rennes – Feb 25, 1116, Priory of Orsan-en-Berry), son of a hereditary priest of Arbrissel. After studies in Paris, Robert entered the service of Bishop Silvester of Rennes as a clerk. After further studies in Angers (from 1078) he experienced a conversion to ascetic life, and withdrew as a hermit to the Forest of Craon (Anjou), where he founded a collegiate establishment in 1095, leaving it in order to travel through the countryside preaching repentance (f…

[German Version] An anonymous treatise from the late 14th century, preserved in eight medieval manuscripts. Luther arranged the first printing in 1516, based on a fragment subsequently lost (WA 1, 152f.: “a noble little spiritual book”) and the second in 1518, based on a complete manuscript (likewise lost; WA 1, 375–379: “Eyn deutsch Theologia”). After the Augsburg reprint in 1518 (“Theologia Teütsch”), the title Theologia deutsch became established. The first modern printing appeared in 1843, based on a manuscript formerly in Bronnbach, whose prologue identi…

[German Version] Latin patrocinium denotes a proprietary relationship, usually established by consecration, and the consequent protective function of a patron (usually a saint) with respect to a church or altar, a country, a city or bishopric, a group (social class, noble family, profession, guild, confraternity, university, monastery, religious congregation, or the like), or an individual. In return for protection, the patron is honored by the faithful in a wide variety of liturgical and paraliturgical forms. ¶ The ancient Roman term patronus first appears as a term for a …

[German Version] From the late 14th century, reforming groups or tendencies within monasticism (III, 4.b), especially in the mendicant orders and most especially among the Franciscans, were called observants ( observantes, fratres de observantia etc.). In internal debates ¶ about the right way of life, they opposed easing of the rule and other kinds of adaptation that had crept in (Conventuals), and advocated strict following of the rules as rigorously interpreted, together with other prescriptions ( observantia regularis etc., Observance). In this, restoration of the vita commu…

[German Version] (Jun 21, 1792, Schmiden, near Stuttgart – Dec 1, 1860, Tübingen). I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence I. Life The eldest son of a Württemberg pastor, Baur studied theology at Tübingen (1809–1814) and served briefly as a curate and Repetent (tutor). In 1817, he became professor at the Minor Seminary in Blaubeuren, where he taught ancient languages, laying the groundwork for his general erudition. Here, in 1821, he married Emilie Becher (18…

[German Version] is an Umbrian city on the western foothills of Monte Subasio. It was a Roman municipium and the home of the poet Propertius. Since the early 4th century it has been the seat of a bishopric (city patron: the martyred bishop Rufinus). In the early Middle Ages it belonged to the Lombard Duchy of Spoleto, was under Hohenstaufen dominion from 1172/…

[German Version] (Discalceates). The term for religious people who, as an expression of penitence and in reference to Jesus' missionary instructions, wear no shoes or only sandals: in the Middle Ages, these were at first the Camaldolese and especially the Franciscans, who came to be known as Barefoot Friars in Germany; in the modern period, especially the Passionists. Going barefoot is also characteristic for reform movements in some of the older orders since the 16th century (Carmelites Augustinian Hermits, Trinitarians, Mercedarians). Ulrich Köpf Bibliography E. Pacho, “Scalz…

[German Version] I. History The notion of a history of theology is a product of the modern era, but the roots of a historical perspective can be traced back to the Early Church. One is the doxography of heresy (the earliest extant being Irenaeus’s Adversus haereses), which was a foundation for the history of dogma (Dogma, History of); another was literary history (Literature, History of: V, 2.a), beginning with Jerome’s De viris illustribus (392). But it was not until the age of Protestant orthodoxy (II, 2) that scholars began to reflect on writing a history of theo…

[German Version] (483 – 577 or 583) founded several Irish monasteries and was abbot of Clonfert (County Galway). He is known to us from the legendary account of a seven-year voyage of Brendan and his companions to a paradisal island in the Atlantic ( Navigatio S. Brendani), written between the 7th and 10th centuries. The work relates more closely to the lives of the desert fathers and Old Irish seafaring literature than to Irish hagiography. It draws on classical …

[German Version] I. University 1. The University of Tübingen was founded in 1477 by count Eberhard the Bearded, during what is known as the “second foundation wave” of German universities. It was the university of the southern part of Württemberg, at that time divided into two. It received the papal privilege in 1476, and imperial confirmation in 1484. For the material support of the professorial chairs, the count devoted eight of the ten regular canonries, and two-thirds of the income of the Sindel…

[German Version] In German, especially in Protestantism, this term (from Lat. devotio) is still used today only in connection with the Roman ritual of devotio and the late medieval devotio moderna movement. In pre-Christian usage, devotio referred to the dedication of the will to the gods, humans, and laws. In Christian usage, its meaning was restricted to the dedication to God associated with obedience and humility. Thomas Aquinas treated devotion along with prayer as interior actus religionis, from which external actions proceed ( Summa Theologiae 2–2 q. 82). In modern usage,…

[German Version] (Giovanni Fidanza; c. 1217, Bagno-regio [south of Orvieto] – Jul 15, 1274, Lyon) I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence I. Life Most of the dates for Bonaventura's life prior to 1257 are uncertain. After studying in the Paris faculty of arts, the son of Giovanni and Ritella Fidanza joined the Franciscans around 1243, who gave him the name Bonaventura. He began studying under Alexander of Hales, earning his Baccalaureus biblicus in 1248 and lecturing on the Sentences in 1250–52. In 1253 he received the licentiate and began teachi…

[German Version] The German term Mentalität has been used since the 1970s in the scientific language of German historians. It is formed from the French mentalité, adopted in the 18th century from the English “mentality,” which was derived in 17th-century philosophical language from the adjective “mental.” In France, mentalité entered common language during the 19th century. It became popular around 1900 in political language (Dreyfus affair) and in the school of the sociologist E. Durkheim. Through the historians Lucien Febvre (1878–1956) and…

[German Version] The word legend (from Middle Lat. legenda [ sc. vita or acta]) originally denoted a text to be read during worship or within a monastic community, especially at mealtime, in walkways set aside for reading, or in the chapter house. The subject matter was the life and deeds of one or more saints (Saints/Veneration ¶ of the saints: II). For the most part, the legend was regularly read in whole or in part on the festival of the particular saint. In conjunction with the functionalization of the cult of the saints, which had already begun i…

[German Version] One of the central demands of the Wittenberg and Swiss Reformation was thorough theological education of all future clergy. In Lutheran territories, Reformed theological faculties in ¶ the existing universities served this function, but initially in Reformed territories such institutions were largely lacking. Only three existing comprehensive universities intermittently offered Reformed instruction: Heidelberg from 1559 to 1578 and from 1583 to 1662, Marburg between 1605 and 1624 and again after 1653, Frank…

[German Version] I. The Term – II. Assessment and Study – III. Definition – IV. Characteristics – V. Early, High, and Late Middle Ages I. The Term French moyen âge has been used for a historical period since 1572, English Middle Age(s) since 1611 and Middle Time(s) since 1612. The German word Mittelalter had already been used by the Swiss historian Aegidius Tschudi ( mittel alters) in 1538, but it did not reappear in this sense (in contrast to “middle age”) until 1786; at the beginning of the 19th century, it finally prevailed over the more common 18th-century expressions mittlere Zeit(e…

[German Version] (c. 1185, Hales, England – Aug 21, 1245, Paris). After studying the arts and theology, Alexander taught in the Parisian theological faculty from the early 1220s, but maintained close relations with home. In 1229, he moved with the striking Parisian professors and students to Angers and brought forward their demands to the Roman Curia in 1230/1231. When …

[German Version] (Valdez; died c. 1205/1218). The scanty tradition concerning Waldo permits only a few safe statements about him. A baptismal name ( Petrus) is first mentioned in the second half of the 14th century. A prosperous citizen of Lyon, around 1176/1177 he appears to have been converted to an apostolic life by the legend of Alexius or biblical texts translated into the vernacular. Whether he was attracted primarily by the ideal of poverty or a desire to preach is disputed. After making provision for his wife …

[German Version] Academic degrees came into existence in the context of medieval education. Even before universities were established, teachers were generally given the title Magister; while the usual title in the stronghold of legal studies at Bologna was Doctor, which also was often applied to the teachers of the Early Church ( Doctores ecclesiae ). At the universities, which arose c. 1200, the master's degree was the highest degree granted by all the faculties, with a distinction between someone who was merely qualified to teach and a Magister actu regens (a professor engaged in …

[German Version] The mendicant orders are religious communities in the West in which not only do the individual members live without personal possessions, but the community itself also forgoes ownership of property and regular income (Poverty). They sustain themselves on what they get from simple work, contributions, and begging. The mendicant orders originated in the early 13th century in conjunction with the religious poverty movement: the Dominicans, a clerical order of priests engaged in preac…