Bishops, Authority and Community in Northwestern Europe, c.1050-1150

This important study of episcopal office and clerical identity in a socially and culturally dynamic region of medieval Europe examines the construction and representation of episcopal power and authority in the archdiocese of Reims during the sometimes turbulent century between 1050 and 1150. Drawing on a wide range of diplomatic, hagiographical, epistolary and other narrative sources, John S. Ott considers how bishops conceived of, and projected, their authority collectively and individually. In examining episcopal professional identities and notions of office, he explores how prelates used textual production and their physical landscapes to craft historical narratives and consolidate local and regional memories around ideals that established themselves as not only religious authorities but also cultural arbiters. This study reveals that, far from being reactive and hostile to cultural and religious change, bishops regularly grappled with and sought to affect, positively and to their advantage, new and emerging cultural and religious norms.

About the Author

John S. Ott is Professor of Medieval European History at Portland State University. He is the founder and current President of the international scholarly society Episcopus: Society for the Study of Bishops and Secular Clergy in the Middle Ages (episcopus.org). He is the editor of The Bishop Reformed: Studies of Episcopal Power and Culture in the Central Middle Ages (with Anna Trumbore Jones, 2007) and Saintly Bishops and Bishops' Saints (with Trpimir Vedriš, 2012). He was the recipient in 2002 of the Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize, awarded by the Medieval Academy of America, for Outstanding First Article in Medieval Studies. He holds a Licentiate in Mediaeval Studies from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, St Michael's College, Toronto, Ontario, and has been the recipient of multiple fellowships from the National Endowment of the Humanities.