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| Preface | |
| Abbreviations | |
| Portraits of the Pastor | p. 1 |
| Pope Gregory the Great on the pastor's art (590) | p. 5 |
| Thomas of Chobham's rules for priests (c. 1216) | p. 6 |
| Pastors and theologians: Thomas Aquinas' quodlibets on pastoral care (1269-70) | p. 10 |
| Bishop Robert Grosseteste on career choices (1235) | p. 13 |
| The dignity of the priesthood (late fourteenth or early fifteenth century) | p. 14 |
| John Wyclif, "On the Pastoral Office" (c. 1378) | p. 17 |
| The rule of celibacy (1123) | p. 20 |
| Forbidden professions and hobbies | p. 21 |
| Clerical deportment (1215) | p. 21 |
| Clergy bearing arms (1268) | p. 21 |
| Clerical attire described in Archbishop John Stratford's constitutions (1342) | p. 22 |
| William Lyndwood's summary of clerical privileges (c. 1417-32) | p. 23 |
| Chaucer's "Poure Persoun" (1386) | p. 24 |
| Parson Sloth in William Langland's Piers the Plowman (c. 1377-79) | p. 25 |
| A poem on the priesthood (fourteenth century) | p. 28 |
| The dignity of the priesthood, from Everyman (c. 1509-19) | p. 30 |
| Education | p. 33 |
| Books necessary for priests to know | p. 38 |
| Teachers at cathedral schools (1179) | p. 39 |
| Education and the cura animarum (1215) | p. 39 |
| Preparing boys for clerical careers (1262-65) | p. 40 |
| A grammar school curriculum (1356) | p. 40 |
| Apprenticeship and the cleric: the parish holy water bearer (aquabajulus) and education (1287) | p. 41 |
| Canon lawyers discuss standards of clerical literacy (mid-fourteenth and early fifteenth century) | p. 42 |
| English bishops complain of papal measures that discourage education (1279) | p. 43 |
| The constitution Cum ex eo (1298) | p. 45 |
| A typical Cum ex eo study license and letter dimissory (1325) | p. 46 |
| Bishop Hamo Hethe's pastoral reference library (1346) | p. 47 |
| The illiterate Bishop of Durham (1316) | p. 48 |
| Ordination and Admission to a Cure | p. 49 |
| The seasons for ordination | p. 55 |
| Canon law on clerical examinations | p. 55 |
| Archbishop Walter Reynolds' rules governing ordination (1322) | p. 56 |
| Procedures for clerical examinations (1384) | p. 57 |
| A bishop announces an ordination (1286) | p. 60 |
| Examinations of the Sonning clergy (1222) | p. 61 |
| Dispensations for ordination (1411, 1332) | p. 63 |
| Ordination and material support (1179) | p. 63 |
| A testimonial letter (1297) | p. 63 |
| A bishop's instructions at ordination (thirteenth century) | p. 64 |
| Admission to a cure: the constitution Licet canon (1274) | p. 70 |
| Collation and presentation to a benefice (1286, 1290) | p. 71 |
| The presentation, institution, and induction of a cleric to a benefice (1335) | p. 72 |
| Decrees against pluralism (1179, 1215) | p. 73 |
| An infamous pluralist, Bogo de Clare (1291) | p. 75 |
| A pluralist defends himself (1366) | p. 76 |
| An unsuitable candidate: the underage Walter Paston (1479) | p. 76 |
| The Clerical Community | p. 79 |
| The life and character of a bishop (1179) | p. 84 |
| Episcopal authority in matters pertaining to the cura animarum and the bestowal of benefices (1123) | p. 85 |
| The bishop's authority over benefices and their disposition (1123) | p. 86 |
| The duties of suffragan bishops (1408) | p. 86 |
| Episcopal statutes of Bishop Robert Grosseteste for the diocese of Lincoln (c. 1239) | p. 87 |
| The pastoral duties of the bishop's vicar general (1408) | p. 94 |
| The archdeacon's duties | p. 95 |
| To a negligent archdeacon from Bishop Simon de Gandavo (1301) | p. 95 |
| A rural dean is appointed (1523) | p. 96 |
| Admonitions to rectors, vicars, and curates (1287) | p. 96 |
| A parishioner remembers the curates of Braughing, Hertfordshire (1514) | p. 98 |
| Appropriation of a parish to a monastic house (1318) | p. 100 |
| Ordination of a vicarage (1304) | p. 101 |
| Parish chaplains and their duties (1373) | p. 104 |
| The founding of a chantry (1407) | p. 107 |
| The settlement of a dispute between two chantry chaplains (1450) | p. 108 |
| A coadjutor is appointed for a blind rector (1298) | p. 109 |
| The parish clerk and the sexton (c. 1442-83 and 1540s) | p. 109 |
| Papal regulations on the rights of the secular clergy and the friars (1311) | p. 112 |
| Bishop John Gynwell of Lincoln commissions an Austin friar to hear confessions (1347) | p. 115 |
| Carmelite friars licensed to preach (1293) | p. 116 |
| Bishop Hamo Hethe of Rochester presents a credentialed Franciscan friar to his clergy (1326) | p. 116 |
| Dominican friars deprive a parish priest of his burial dues (1402) | p. 117 |
| A concord between a parish rector and Carmelite friars (1301) | p. 117 |
| The Curate's Spiritual Duties | p. 121 |
| Archbishop Pecham's Ignorantia sacerdotum (1281) | p. 127 |
| A pastoral vade mecum: Quinque verba (fourteenth century?) | p. 132 |
| A pastoral compendium: an excerpt from William of Pagula's Oculus sacerdotis (c. 1320-23) | p. 138 |
| Quicumque vult: the Athanasian Creed from the Sarum Breviary | p. 151 |
| The priest in his cure: excerpts from "A York Priest's Notebook" (late 1470s) | p. 152 |
| Excerpts from the Sarum rite of baptism (fourteenth century) | p. 162 |
| The Canon and Order of the Mass according to the York Use | p. 165 |
| Annual confession: Omnis utriusque sexus (1215) | p. 169 |
| A popular manual of confession from the diocese of Exeter (1240 and 1287) | p. 170 |
| The penitential canons from the Summa of Hostiensis (1253) | p. 185 |
| The rite of marriage from the Sarum Manual (fourteenth century) | p. 190 |
| "Seven Questions to Be Asked of a Dying Man" (c. 1400) | p. 195 |
| Miscellaneous blessings (fourteenth century) | p. 196 |
| The "Great Cursing": articles of excommunication from York (late fourteenth century) | p. 198 |
| Pope Innocent III on preaching | p. 201 |
| A selection of late fourteenth-century sermons: for Easter, a wedding, and a burial | p. 202 |
| Management of the Cure | p. 213 |
| Duties of rectors and parishioners for the care of the church (c. 1295-1313) | p. 219 |
| Tithes and oblations (c. 1249-69) | p. 220 |
| The jus parochiale: customs of the diocese of Salisbury (c. 1228-56) | p. 222 |
| A parish church's contents (c. 1368) | p. 226 |
| Churchwardens' accounts: St. Mary at Hill, London (1493-94) | p. 228 |
| A parish budget: the accounts of the parish clergy of Hornsea (1483-84) | p. 232 |
| Daily expenses of a small clerical household (1456-57) | p. 237 |
| Prime real estate: the Paston's parsonage at Oxnead parish (1478) | p. 243 |
| A country parson's goods: inventory of the movable property of a deceased priest (1439) | p. 245 |
| Priests' last wills (1370-82) | p. 246 |
| The annual wage for vicars (1222) | p. 252 |
| A bishop augments a vicar's meager holdings (1357) | p. 252 |
| Charity for a poor priest (1290) | p. 253 |
| Exorbitant charges of chaplains: Effrenata (1350) | p. 253 |
| Archbishop Simon Sudbury raises chaplains' wages (1378) | p. 255 |
| The clergy summoned to Parliament (1295) | p. 256 |
| Royal protection for the clergy: the writ Circumspecte agatis (1286) | p. 257 |
| Life and Manners | p. 259 |
| Three priests in The Book of Margery Kempe (1430s) | p. 263 |
| A vicar's good behavior praised (1346) | p. 267 |
| Episcopal prisons (1262) | p. 268 |
| Complaint of the parishioners of Burmington against their chaplain (1484) | p. 268 |
| Lawsuits (fifteenth century) | p. 271 |
| A citation to unchaste clerks (1423) | p. 278 |
| A priest confesses to Lollardy (1429) | p. 278 |
| A sower of rebellion: the priest John Ball during the Peasants' Revolt (1381) | p. 281 |
| A petition for special ordinations and dispensations during the Black Death (1349) | p. 283 |
| A bishop's pastoral counsel during the Black Death (1349) | p. 284 |
| Archbishop William Courtenay requests prayers for the general welfare of the realm (1382) | p. 285 |
| Clerics in the breach: a muster of the clergy (1415) | p. 287 |
| Bishop Robert Grosseteste describes his diocesan visitations (1250) | p. 287 |
| Questions posed at visitations (1253) | p. 288 |
| Visitations of parishes in Hereford (1397) | p. 291 |
| Visitations of parishes in Exeter (1301, 1330) | p. 300 |
| Glossary of Ecclesiastical Terms | p. 307 |
| Bibliography | p. 325 |
| Acknowledgment of Sources in Copyright | p. 329 |
| About the Editors | p. 333 |
| Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved. |
