Episcopal emotions: tears in the life of the medieval bishop

Abstract

This article explores the significance of weeping in the lives of late medieval English bishops (c.1100−c.1400). It considers the lachrymose devotions of saintly bishops alongside tears of grief, friendship and self-pity, and asks how such displays of emotion were understood by contemporary onlookers. It is argued that a bishop's tears were key to perceptions of his masculinity, sexuality and physical body, which in turn had significant implications for his reputation both as a prelate and as a potential saint. Johann Huizinga's classic history of medieval Europe, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, begins with a chapter entitled 'The passionate intensity of life'. 'Modern man', he claimed 'has no idea of the unrestrained extravagance of the medieval heart'.1 This picture of the middle ages as an era of emotional incontinence has been substantially revised -perhaps even overturned -in recent decades, not least by the work of Barbara Rosenwein.2 Nevertheless, the novice reader of many medieval texts (perhaps especially of chronicles, saints' lives and canonization proceedings) could be forgiven for thinking that there is a good deal of truth in Huizinga's interpretation, for it is undeniable that they include far more accounts of powerful individuals engaging in public displays of emotion than the modern reader expects. One of the most common forms of emotional behaviour found in medieval texts is weeping, especially by religious men and women. This article explores the significance of the tears of one particular sub-section of this group: the bishops of late medieval England. Between the twelfth and early fourteenth centuries, England produced an unusually large number of saintly bishops.3 Several of them became officially canonized saints, and even more became the subject of detailed contemporary biographies. Without exception, each of these men is depicted weeping, usually with great frequency and incredible volume. Vauchez also provides a useful overview of the characteristics of the saint-bishop, at pp. 292-310.4 After the early 14th century there is a sharp decline in the number of references to episcopal weeping in English sources, which might be taken as further evidence for Piroska Nagy's theory that the importance of religious weeping was in decline by the 14th century (see P. Nagy, Le Don des larmes au moyen âge: un instrument spirituel en quête d'institution (Ve-XIIIe siécle) (Paris, 2000), pp. 363-412). On the other hand, this may well reflect changes in the nature of episcopacy, leading to the decline of both the saintly bishop and the episcopal vita.

A religiosidade medieval como campo de trabalho historiográfico: perspetivas recentes

“…Entre muitos outros olhares possíveis, destacaríamos o de Miri Rubin, aliando emoção à devoção ), e assim reconsiderando aspetos que uma historiografia tradicional, masculina e austera, considerou, no século XIX, sinal de desequilíbrio e/ou de excessiva feminilização (autónoma) da devoção. Mas afinal, mostram outros estudos que «os clérigos também choravam», até mesmos os bispos, e que tal era marcante na sua apresentação pública (Harvey 2012). E Piroska Nagy, cujo estudo sobre as lágrimas já constituíra um trabalho pioneiro, mesmo se não sob o signo da história das emoções (Nagy 2000), enveredou recentemente por esta área, falando de uma «Christian anthropology», «[…] built on the centrality of emotions, especially love and suffering: out of His great love, God came down and suffered in order to save humankind.…”

Episcopal Virginity in Medieval England

“…Devotion to the mass, and to the real presence, was a key feature of many episcopal hagiographies of this period; saintly bishops were noted for their regular celebration of, and intense emotional responses to, this sacrament. For example, John of Salisbury wrote of Thomas Becket that ‘when celebrating mass alone, he used to be drenched in tears to a wondrous degree, and he so conducted himself in the office of the altar as if he saw the Lord’s Passion carried out in actual presence in his flesh.’83…”