In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

BOOK REVIEWS761 cil over a pope, Almain argued that the Church is a collective body and the pope a delegated authority; the Church retains the right to defend herself, even if the danger comes from her own minister. The editors continue with Cajetan's answer and then add a coda to Almain's position drawn from John Mair's 1518 commentary on Matthew's gospel. The three authors pursue their central points by revisiting familiar questions: To whom did Christ bestow his authority ? What is the relationship between pope and general council, especially in the case study of an heretical pontiff? What is the nature of rninisterial power? How should the Church and council be understood as a body or community with respect to its head? Who cannot fail: pope or council? The collection is very helpful because the juxtaposition of opposing viewpoints highlights their differences. The editors successfully walk a fine line between plodding and florid prose, a task that is especially difficult since the authors wrote in a very programmatic style. They allow the reader to hear the passion behind the debate, as when Almain with relish described Cajetan as "a man of learning—if only he had not marred his learning with the stain of flattery and striven to defame and revile with his insolent words the most holy Councils of Constance and Basel" (p. 134). The volume also fits comfortably in the series "Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought," because apart from the topic of council and pope, at issue more broadly is the matter of whether civil government is a viable model with which to pattern or even discuss ecclesiastical government. For Cajetan, the answer is no;forAlmain and his mentor Mair, yes. This collection should find a home on the shelves of historians , theologians, political scientists, and their graduate students interested in late medieval ecclesiology, particularly since this battle was joined just as the issues of ecclesiastical polity and authority were about to be re-evaluated in Luther's challenge and Rome's response. Christopher M. Belutto St.Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie Yonkers, New York "Muèrent les moignes!" La révolte de Páyeme (1420). By Matthias Wirz. [Cahiers Lausannois d'histoire médiévale, Vol. 19] (Lausanne: Section d'histoire, Faculté des Lettres, Université de Lausanne. 1997. Pp. 336.) On a Sunday in May, 1420, the cry,"Death to the monks!" was proclaimed by the burghers and others of the city of Payerne as they invaded the Cluniac priory with whom they shared space in the city and to the authority of whose prior they were subject. "Crows, crows! Caw, caw!" was shouted one evening in the church, as the monks in their black habits chanted (or croaked) the divine office. For those of us who wear the habit ofthe monachi nigri and sing the divine praises daily in our abbey churches, an uprising such as that of the Payernois is to be fervently avoided! Quod absit\ 762BOOK REVIEWS This fine book by Matthias Wirz has as its stated aim not only to present the history of the insurrection which lasted almost the whole of 1421 and to identify the main players in the revolt but also to uncover its causes, surely multiple, and its significance. The primary source for Wirz's investigation is the procès verbale of the inquest launched at Payerne soon after the troubles by commissioners of the duke of Savoy,Amadeus VIII. One-hundred forty-eight witnesses were questioned by the three commissioners within a few weeks of the final acts of insurrection; while their responses may vary according to the intelligence or degrees of participation in the revolt, the strength of their feelings is evident throughout the testimony. Unfortunately, none of the priory's monks was called as witness, and so we have only one side of the story. The first half of the book divides itself into three sections. The first investigates the relations between the city and the priory and prior; the second describes the organization of the inquest made by the duke's commissioners, providing both a list ofwitnesses called and the questions they were asked. The third section discusses the...

pdf

Share