The lengthy period of the Avignon papacy in the fourteenth century created circumstances in which the burgeoning bureaucracy of the papal curia could flourish. Papal involvement in the everyday business of the church at local level reached its fullest extent in the years before the Great Schism. This book examines the impact of that involvement in Scotland and northern England, and analyses the practical effect of theories of papal sovereignty at a time when there was still widespread acceptance of the role of the Holy See. The nature and importance of political opposition, from both crown and parliament, is investigated from the standpoint of the validity of the complaints as indicated by local evidence, and a new interpretation is offered of the various statutory measures taken in England in Edward III's reign to control alleged abuses of papal power. Points of similarity and difference between Scotland and England are also given due emphasis. This is the first work to attempt to analyse the full breadth of papal involvement in late medieval Britain by utilising the rich local sources in association with material from the Vatican archives.

Uniquely in the kingdoms of western Christendom, the Scottish bishops obtained authority, in 1225, to hold inter-diocesan meetings without a supervisory archbishop, and continued to meet in this way for nearly 250 years. Donald Watt provides an authoritative study of these church councils from the Latin and English records based on original sources.In addition to creating an original work of considerable historical interest, Professor Watt brings discussion of the councils and their significance into the broader context of Scotland's political, legal, ecclesiastical and social situation over a long period.An important contribution to Scottish church history and to its influence on contemporary affairs.

When the British thought of themselves as a Protestant nation their natural enemy was the pope and they adapted their view of history accordingly. In contrast, Rome's perspective was always considerably wider and its view of Britain was almost invariably positive, especially in comparison to medieval emperors, who made and unmade popes, and post-medieval Frenchmen, who treated popes with contempt. As the twenty-first-century papacy looks ever more firmly beyond Europe, this new history examines political, diplomatic and cultural relations between the popes and Britain from their vague origins, through papal overlordship of England, the Reformation and the process of repairing that breach.

Typical accounts of Anglo-Scottish relations during the 14th century tends to present a sustained period of bitter enmity. However, this book shows that the situation was far more complex. Drawing together new perspectives from leading researchers, the essays investigate the great complexity of the Anglo-Scottish tensions.

"England of the Plantagenet kings was a turbulent place. In politics it saw Simon de Montfort's challenge to the crown in Henry III's reign and it witnessed the deposition of Edward II. By contrast, and as relief, it also experienced the highly successful rules of Edward I and his grandson, Edward III. Political institutions were transformed with the development of parliament, and war, the stimulus for some of that change, was never far away. Wales was conquered and the Scottish Wars of Independence started in Edward I's reign, while Crecy and Poitiers were English triumphs under Edward III." "Beyond politics, the structure of English society was developing, from the great magnates at the top to the peasantry at the bottom. Economic changes were also significant, from the expansionary period of the thirteenth century to years of difficulty in the fourteenth, culminating in the greatest demographic disaster of historical times, the Black Death." "Embracing politics and government, kingship, the structure of society, France, Scotland, and Wales, as well as areas such as the environment, the management of the land, crime and punishment, Michael Prestwich's survey casts the Plantagenet past in a new and revealing light."--BOOK JACKET.

This is the first full scholarly study of state formation and the exercise of state power in Scotland. It sets the Scottish state in a British and European context, revealing that Scotland — like larger and better-known states — developed a more integrated governmental system in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This study provides an invaluable new contribution to the history of Scotland. Julian Goodare shows how the magnates ceased to exercise autonomous local power, and instead managed the new administrative structure through client networks. The state no longer drew its main revenues from land, but developed new taxes; its fighting forces were modernized and detached from landed power. With the Reformation, powerful church institutions were created, and were gradually integrated into the state. The states territorial integrity increased, giving it a closer and more troubled relationship with the Highlands. Scotland remained a sovereign state even after the union of crowns in 1603, but it was finally absorbed by England in 1707, and Dr Goodare examines the long-term context of this development.

In 1214, King John issued a charter granting freedom of election to the English Church; henceforth, cathedral chapters were, theoretically, to be allowed to elect their own bishops, with minimal intervention by the crown. Innocent III confirmed this charter and, in the following year, the right to electoral freedom was restated at the Fourth Lateran Council. In consequence, under Henry III and Edward I the English Church enjoyed something of a golden age of electoral freedom, during which the king might influence elections, but ultimately could not control them. Then, during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III, papal control over appointments was increasingly asserted and from 1344 onwards all English bishops were provided by the pope. This book considers the theory and practice of free canonical election in its heyday under Henry III and Edward I, and the nature of and reasons for the subsequent transition to papal provision. An analysis of the theoretical evidence for this subject (including canon law, royal pronouncements and Lawrence of Somercote’s remarkable 1254 tract on episcopal elections) is combined with a consideration of the means by which bishops were created during the reigns of Henry III and the three Edwards. The changing roles of the various participants in the appointment process (including, but not limited to, the cathedral chapter, the king, the papacy, the archbishop and the candidate) are given particular emphasis. In addition, the English situation is placed within a European context, through a comparison of English episcopal appointments with those made in France, Scotland and Italy. Bishops were central figures in medieval society and the circumstances of their appointments are of great historical importance. As episcopal appointments were also touchstones of secular-ecclesiastical relations, this book therefore has significant implications for our understanding of church-state interactions during the thirteenth and fourteenth centu

Iain MacDonald examines how the medieval Church in Gaelic Scotland, often regarded as isolated and irrelevant, continued to function in the face of poverty, periodic warfare, and the formidable powers of the clan chiefs.

This nine-essay volume provides the first full-length, detailed exploration of the kingdom of Scotland during the reign of Alexander II (1214-49), and the most extensive analysis of this key state-builder and his policies.

This study examines the political ambitions and influences of the Balliol dynasty in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in Scotland, England and France. The generally accepted opinion in previous historiography was that John (II), king of Scots from 1292 to 1296, and Edward Balliol (d. 1364) were politically weak men and unsuccessful kings. In a reassessment of the patriarch of the family, John (I) (d.1268), the Balliols are revealed as committed English lords and loyal servants of the kings of England, underlining how the family has been unfairly judged for centuries by both chroniclers and historians, who have assessed them as Scottish kings rather than as English lords. Despite the forfeiture of the Balliol estates in England and Scotland in 1926, John (II) and Edward retained close relationships with the successive English kings and used these connections to fuel their political ambitions. Their kingships illustrate their desires to recover some influence in English politics which the family had enjoyed in the mid-thirteenth century. This re-evaluation of the Balliols highlights their relationship with the English crown.