Lords and Pastors - (Manchester Medieval Sources) by Jonathan R Lyon & Simon MacLean (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book presents six medieval biographies of bishops from the German Empire, translated into English for the first time. The texts span the tenth to thirteenth centuries, and offer fascinating windows onto politics and society in the central Middle Ages.

Book Synopsis

This book presents biographies of six bishops from the medieval German empire, translated into English for the first time. The bishop was a ubiquitous figure across medieval Europe, providing leadership to the community of Christians within dioceses and linking day-to-day life to centres of political power and ecclesiastical authority. They were particularly prominent in the kingdom of Germany, where the most powerful churchmen led armies and advised kings. The texts collected here, originating in the tenth to thirteenth centuries, offer readers a lively entrée to medieval social, religious and political conditions, as well as fascinating biographical details and information about law, architecture, warfare and government. They have been chosen to illustrate changes in the role of bishop over time; and the individuality, in character and activity, of each figure.

From the Back Cover

Bishops were key figures in medieval European society, providing leadership to the communities under their supervision and linking day-to-day life to distant centres of political power and ecclesiastical authority.

From the tenth to thirteenth centuries, dozens of bishops in the German Empire became the subjects of biographies, often written by people who had known them personally. Some of these bishops were leaders of armies and advisers to kings, and their biographies provide fascinating insights into medieval society and politics. They illuminate how great controversies like the Investiture Controversy and the Crusades impacted on and were understood in local communities, and offer a kaleidoscope of local detail not found in other source types.

This book presents six such biographies, translated into English for the first time, each providing its own fascinating window onto local societies and their leaders. They show us how political conflict in its many forms - including law, family, warfare and murder - played a crucial role in this formative period of European history.

About the Author

Jonathan Lyon is Professor of History of the High and Late Middle Ages at the University of Vienna, Austria
Simon MacLean is Professor in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews, Scotland