GERHOCH OF REICHERSBERG: LETTER TO POPE HADRIAN ABOUT THE NOVELTIES OF THE DAY

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS). Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1974. Hardcover. 0888440243 . Book has minor shelfwear and rubbing. Light bump to top of front board. ; Studies and Texts (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) , 24; 125 pages; With the Liber de novitatibus huius temporis (epistola ad Adrianum Papam) , Master Gerhoch (1093–1169) , provost of Reichersberg in Bavaria, attempted in 1155–1156 to inform Pope Hadrian IV (1154–1159) of the doctrinal novelties of his time – the notorious abuses of both secular and ecclesiastical authorities, and the scandalous laxity among clergy and religious – and to point out the remedies legislated by councils convoked by Innocent II(1130–1143) and Eugene III (1145–1153). The principal doctrinal innovators denounced by Gerhoch were Peter Abelard (d. 1141) and Gilbert, bishop of Poitiers (d. 1154). As early as 1126 Gerhoch debated with disciples of Abelard at the Roman curia; and, beginning in the fifties, Master Peter of Vienna, a disciple of Bishop Gilbert, antagonized Gerhoch a great deal. Gerhoch also tells Hadrian that clerical authorities not only keep armies but also abuse them by waging disorderly wars. Secular powers, on the other hand, recklessly usurp the goods of the Church for their own ends and fail to pay tithes imposed by Gregory I. In both France and Germany, the pope is told, the low moral conduct of the clergy calls for more stringent reform. Gerhoch advises the pope also to restrain loud-mouthed jurists in both secular and ecclesiastical courts since they often make their cases so convoluted that it becomes impossible to solve them. This edition of the Latin text is supplemented with a detailed introduction to the issues discussed, an extensive bibliography concerning Gerhoch, as well as indexes and a glossary .