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Parish Texts

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  • Blogs and short notes
  • Debates
  • Reviews
  • Periodicals
  • Books, Theses, Essays & Source editions
  • Parish Histories
 
Blogs and short notes
 
Debates

Pre-Reformation Churchwardens’ Accounts and Parish Government

Essay by Clive Burgess, in English Historical Review cxvii (2002), 306-32

Response by Beat Kümin, ibid. cxix (2004), 87-99

Rejoinder by Clive Burgess, ibid., 100-116

Contribution (specifically on seasonal festivity) by Ronald Hutton, ibid. cxx (2005), 66-79

 

The Church of England in the Eighteenth Century

Snape, Michael, The Church of England in Industrialising Society. The Lancashire Parish of Whalley in the Eighteenth Century (Boydell and Brewer, 2003).

[Review by Mark Smith in Reviews in History 1/4/05, with author's response]

 

The social costs of Baroque church building

Zückert, Hartmut, Die sozialen Grundlagen der Barockkultur in Süddeutschland (1988)

Hersche, Peter, 'Die soziale und materielle Basis des "gewöhnlichen" barocken Sakralbaus', in: Frühneuzeit-Info 6 (2/1995), 151-71

" , 'Barockes Bauen - Last oder Lust. Eine Duplik', in: Frühneuzeit-Info 9 (1/1998), 52-3

Roeck, Bernd, 'Nochmals zur Untertanenbelastung beim barocken Schloss- und Klosterbau', in: Frühneuzeit-Info 9 (1/1998), 54-5

 

Reviews


Valerie Hitchman and Andrew Foster (eds), Views from the Parish: Churchwardens’ Accounts c. 1500-1800Link opens in a new window (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015)

Reviewed by Ruth Barbour, University of Warwick (February 2017)

 
Periodicals


Ecclesiology TodayLink opens in a new window
(published by the Ecclesiological Society; online access to most issues)

Historical ChurchesLink opens in a new window (annual publication by ‘buildingconservation.com’)

 

Books, theses and essays

 

Andrew, Susan, ‘Late Medieval Roof Bosses in the Churches of DevonLink opens in a new window’ (PhD Plymouth University, 2011)

Barnwell, Paul, ‘The Use of the Church: Blisworth, Northamptonshire, on the Eve of the Reformation’, Ecclesiology Today 35 (2005), 43-62

” , ‘Low side windows: ventilating a 170-year old controversy’, Ecclesiology Today 36 (2006), 49-76

Bauwens, Michal, 'Conflict, Community and Catholic Restoration: The Parish of St James in Ghent between 1560 and 1600' (PhD University of Ghent, 2020)

Beyer, Jürgen, 'Ein Blick in die Küche des Pastors Jacob Stolterfoth (1650)', in: Zeitschrift für Lübeckische Geschichte 97 (2017), 133-60 [edition and commentary of a list of gifts to a Lutheran pastor]

Boscani Leoni, Simona, ‘Les images abîmées entre iconoclasme, pratiques religieuses et rituels magiques’, in: Images Re-vues 2 (2006)

Canobbio, Elisabetta, ‘Chiese, clero e fedeli nella Valtellina del Quattrocento’Link opens in a new window, in: idem et al. (eds), Per nos hodie consecrata: Incontri per i Cinquecento anni della consacrazione della chiesa della Beata Vergine Assunta di Morbegno (1506–2006) [Ad Fontes e-book, 2006]

Capp, Bernard, ‘Life, love and litigation: Sileby in the 1630s’Link opens in a new window, Past & Present 182 (2004), 55-83 [uses church court disputes as windows into the social dynamics of a Midlands parish]

Colombo, Emanuele Camillo, “Il Cristo degli altri”: Economie della rivendicazione nella Calabria greca di età moderna (New Digital Press, 2018) [on the construction of minority religious identities in early modern southern Italy]

Curzel, Emanuele, ‘L’organizzazione ecclesiastica nelle campagneLink opens in a new window‘, in: Rete Medievali (2010) [on ecclesiastical organization in the countryside; with information on sources, archives, resources]

Davidson Cragoe, Carol, ‘The Early Church: Towards Gothic Splendour’ (BBC History Trail, 2005) [on church architecture on the eve of the Reformation]

” , ‘Towards the Floodgates of Religious Reform’ (BBC History Trail, 2005) [on the impact of the English Reformation]

Davies, Michael, A Short History of the Roman Mass [chronological survey from the earliest times to after Trent]

Della Misericordia, Massimo, Figure di comunità: Documento notarile, forme della convivenza, riflessione locale sulla vita associata nella montagna lombarda e nella pianura comasca (secoli XIV–XVI) [Ad Fontes e-book, 2008]

” , ‘Le origini - La chiesa della comunità fra devozione e identità locale’ [essay on the communal foundation of a 'contrada' chapel, i.e. the Chiesa Santissima Trinità at Teregua, Valtellina/Italy, erected by the inhabitants of a hamlet subject to the parish of S. Nicolò/Valfurva and the Comune of Bormio in the 1520s and administered by local officials] (e-text, c. 2008)

" , ‘Pratiche e immagini di carità: Una lettura degli affreschi die Pendolasco (secoli XIV-XV)’, in BOLLETTINO DELLA SOCIETÀ STORICA VALTELLINESE 67 (2014), 29-58

" , ‘S. Fedele di Pendolasco tra storia locale e storia generale’, BOLLETTINO DELLA SOCIETÀ STORICA VALTELLINESE 67 (2014), 365-373

‘“Bona compagnia”. Le confraternite tra comunità e parrocchia in Valtellina tra il XV e il XVI secolo‘,in: Storia e Regione 24 (1/2015), 32-61 [ Abstract in GermanLink opens in a new window]

…, ‘Protagonisti sociali, vita religiosa, luoghi di culto nel basso medioevo’, in V. Mariotti (ed.), La Valtellina nei secoli. Studi e ricerche archeologiche (Mantova: SAP Società archeologica Padana, 2015), 81-194

… , ‘Altari dei morti. Spazio sacro, sepolture e celebrazione degli edificatori fra basso medioevo e prima età moderna (a partire da chiese alpine)’, in: L. Arcangeli, G. Chittolini, F. Del Tredici, & E. Rossetti (eds), Famiglie e spazi sacri nella Lombardia del Rinascimento (Milano: Scalpendi-Lombardia nel Rinascimento, 2015), 344-411

..., ‘Ritual Surveys. Conflict, Articulation, and Composition of Local Societies within the Sacred Sphere in the Lombardy Alps during the Late Middle Ages’, in: M. Bellabarba, H. Obermair, & H. Sato (eds), Communities and Conflicts in the Alps from the Late Middle Ages to Early Modernity (Bologna-Berlin: il Mulino - Duncker & Humblot, 2015), 127-150

“ , ‘Le croci astili rinascimentali della Valfurva. Uno sguardo storico’. in: BOLLETTINO STORICO ALTA VALTELLINA 21 (2018), 25-60

“ , ‘A proposito de La chiesa di San Martino di Cosio Valtellino: istituzioni ecclesiastiche, vita religiosa e committenza artistica nella complessità storica di un ambito territoriale’, in: BOLLETTINO DELLA SOCIETÀ STORICA VALTELLINESE 71 (2018), 265-273

“ , ‘Sotiantes crucem. Processioni e croci processionali nelle Alpi lombarde alla fine del Medioevo’, in: B. Figliuolo, R. Di Meglio & A. Ambrosio (eds), Ingenita curiositas. Studi sull’Italia medievale per Giovanni Vitolo (Battipaglia : Laveglia Carlone, 2018), 675-696

…, ‘Le decime dai signori alle comunità nella Lombardia settentrionale (XIV-XVI secolo)’, in: Andrea Gamberini & Fabrizio Pagnoni (eds), La signoria rurale nell’Italia del tardo medioevo, 1. Gli spazi economici (Milano/Torino: Pearson Italia, 2019), 129-154

…, ‘Prout alii de comuni. Aristocratici, comunità e la nuova consuetudine delle decime in diocesi di Como (secoli XIV-XVI)’, in: Studi di storia medioevale e di diplomatica N.S. III (2019), 81-108

" , 'Il prete del comune e l'ufficio della cura d'anime in diocesi di Como nel tardo medioevo [The priest of the commune and the cure of souls in the late medieval Diocese of Como]', in: F. Zuliani (ed.), Una nuova frontiera al centro dell’Europa: Le Alpi e la dorsale cattolica (sec. XV-XVII) (Milan: FrancoAngeli, 2020), 103-31

Hersche, Peter, 'Die soziale und materielle Basis des "gewöhnlichen" barocken Sakralbaus', in: Frühneuzeit-Info 6 (2/1995), 151-71

" , 'Barockes Bauen - Last oder Lust. Eine Duplik', in: Frühneuzeit-Info 9 (1/1998), 52-3

Hiljanen, Mikko, ‚Limits of power: Clerical appointment as part of domestic policy in Sweden after the Reformation 1560-1611‘, in: Perichoresis 13 (2/2015), 35-55

Hobbs, Stephen, Travel alms payments in the Hartland Church and Harton Borough Accounts 1612-1706 Link opens in a new window(research paper)

Julius, H., Landkirchen und Landklerus im Bistum Konstanz während des frühen und hohen Mittelalters. Eine begriffsgeschichtliche Untersuchung [Rural Churches and Rural Clergy in the Bishopric of Constance during the early and high Middle Ages. A terminological study] (Diss.phil. University of Constance, 2003)

Kuha, Miia, 'Popular religion in the periphery: Church attendance in 17th century Eastern FinlandLink opens in a new window', in: Perichoresis 13 (2/2015), 17-33

" , Pyhäpäivien vietto varhaismodernin ajan Savossa (noin vuoteen 1710)Link opens in a new window [The observance of holy days in early modern Savo (Eastern Finland)] (Jyväskylä, 2016) [English summaryLink opens in a new window]

Kümin, Beat, ‘The English parish in a European perspective‘, in: K. French, G. Gibbs and B. Kümin (eds), The Parish in English Life 1400-1600 (Manchester: UP, 1997), 15-32 [aspects of a comparative history of the European parish 1400-1600]

" , ‘The secular legacy of the late medieval English parishLink opens in a new window’, in: C. Burgess and E. Duffy (eds), The Parish in Late Medieval England, Harlaxton Medieval Studies XIV (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2006), 95-111 and pl. 1-4 [stresses the long-term social, political and cultural repercussions of late medieval parish life; link provides access to pre-print version]

" (ed.), Politische Freiheit und republikanische Kultur im Alten EuropaLink opens in a new window. Historische Essays zum Gedenkjahr “Gersau 2014″ [Political Freedom and Republican Culture in Old Europe. Historical Essays for the Bicentary of the Restoration of the Parish Republic of Gersau 1814-2014] (Vitznau: Bucher Druckmedien, 2015) [full text open accessLink opens in a new window]

" , ‘Parish churches’ (December 2022), The Digital Encyclopedia of British Sociability in the Long Eighteenth Century [online], ISSN 2803-2845 [Accessed on 14/12/2022]

Luxford, Julian, ‘The English Parish Church as an Object and Category of Study’, in: M. Bernstein (ed.), Towards an Art History of the Parish Church 1200-1399 (London: Courtauld, 2021), ch. 1 [a deliberate 'provocation' addressed to those who use the category of 'parish churches' without reflection and contextualization]

Markkola, Pirjo, ‘The long history of Lutheranism in Scandinavia: From state religion to the people’s churchLink opens in a new window’, in: Perichoresis 13 (2/2015), 3-15

Marshall, Peter, ‘Discord and Stability in an Elizabethan Parish: John Otes and Carnaby 1563-1600Link opens in a new window’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 71 (1999), 185-99 [on the problematic relationship between a clergyman and his parishioners; by kind permission of Yorkshire Archaeological Society]

Mercieca, Simon, 'Starting a Family in another Land: Spaniards in Malta 1580s to 1640s', in: Joan Abela et al (eds), Proceedings of History Week 2013 (Malta History Society, 2014), 41-62 [online versionLink opens in a new window]

" , 'Anatomies of Spanish settlers in Malta between 1580 and 1648 : their family stories', in: Symposia Melitensia 11 (2015), 145-170 [online versionLink opens in a new window]

Minnen, Bart, ‘“Den heyligen Sant al in Brabant”. The Church of St Martin in Wezemaal and the devotion to St Job 1000-2000 – Retrospective. The fluctuations of a devotionLink opens in a new window’ [= English summary of contribution to:] Den Heyligen Sant Al in Brabant: De Sint-Martinuskerk van Wezemaal en de cultus van Sint Job 1000-2000 (Averbode, 2011)

Mouthon, Fabrice, Circonscriptions religieuses, territoire et communautés dans les Alpes médiévalesLink opens in a new window (XIIe-XVe siècles): une spécificité montagnarde?, in: Reti medievali Rivista VII (2006)/2

Obermair, Hannes, ‘Kirche und Stadtentstehung. Die Pfarrkirche Bozen im Hochmittelalter (11.–13. Jahrhundert)‘ [Church and Town Origin: The Parish Church of Bolzano in the High Middle Ages], Der Schlern 69 (1995), 449-74

” , ‘Die soziale Bühne der Stadt. Vigil Raber und der Spielbetrieb in Bozen um 1500 – eine sozialhistorische Skizze‘, in: Gebhardt M.; Siller, M. (eds), Vigil Raber (+ 1552). Zur 450. Wiederkehr seines Todesjahres. Akten des 4. Symposiums der Sterzinger Osterspiele, Schlern-Schriften, 326 (Innsbruck, 2004), 147-159.

” , ‘The Social Stages of the City. Vigil Raber and Performance Direction in Bozen/Bolzano (Northern Italy) – a Socio-historical Outline’, Concilium medii aevi 7 (Göttingen 2004), 193-208 [on the sociology and cultural context of Tyrolean Easter plays]

Orlik, Susan, 'The Bridgwater Corporation Pew c. 1620', a guest blog for Middling Culture (3 September 2019)

‘The parish church: From their Saxon roots to today’ [survey of the parish's significance from the 'Icons of England' website commissioned by the Department of Culture]

Pierre-Louis, Jessica, 'Les Libres de couleur face au préjugé : franchir la barrière à la Martinique aux XVIIe-XVIIIe sièclesLink opens in a new window' (PhD, Antilles-Guyane, 2015) [thesis on free people of colour in early modern Martinique, based in part on parish registers; with English abstract]

Postles, Dave, 'Some ambiguities of late medieval religion in EnglandLink opens in a new window' (Institute of Historical Research: e-seminar in History, 1998)

Räihä, Antti, ‘Lutheran clergy in an Orthodox empire: The appointment of pastors in the Russo-Swedish borderland in the 18th centuryLink opens in a new window’, in: Perichoresis 13 (2/2015), 57-75

Rantanen, Arja, Pennförare i periferin: Österbottniska sockenskrivare 1721–1868Link opens in a new window [Transcribers in the periphery: Parish scribes in Ostrobothnia 1721–1868] (Turku, 2014) [English summaryLink opens in a new window]

Roberts, Penny, ‘The Languages of Peace during the French Religious WarsLink opens in a new window’, in: Cultural and Social History 4 (2007), 297-315 [explores the language and context of peace in a period of intense military conflict, illuminating the social and cultural dimensions for the contested nature of sixteenth-century politics especially in the urban parishes of France]

Roffey, Simon, 'Recording the parish church fabric: Objective and subjective approaches to structural analysis’ (Conference paper taken from the “Institute of Field Archaeologists”, 2005) [MS Word-version]

Saunders, Elaine, '"Men of good Character, strong, decent and active": Hertfordshire's Petty Constables' (PhD, Open University, 2017)

Scott, Jacob, ‘The Future of 3D in Churches and HeritageLink opens in a new window‘, National Churches Trust Blog (30 September 2016).[with video samples of photogrammetry, a process whereby a computer uses multiple two-dimensional photographs of an object taken from different angles to create a three-dimensional model]

Simpson, Paula, 'Pen, Ink, Paper [exploring the scribal activity involved in recording tithe payment in early modern Kent], a blog post for: Middling Culture (1 March 2021)

Untermann, Matthias, ‘Chorschranken und Lettner in südwestdeutschen Stadtkirchen – Beobachtungen zu einer Typologie mittelalterlicher PfarrkirchenLink opens in a new window‘, in: Architektur Geschichten: Festschrift für Günther Binding (Cologne, 1996), 73-90

Upton, Anthony Arthur, 'The Parochial Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Coventry c.1500-1600' (PhD Leicester, 2003)

Varanini, Gian Maria, 'Spunti per una discussione del rapporto fra ricerca medievistica recente e storia delle comunità di villagioLink opens in a new window‘ (conference paper, 2002) [a historiographical survey of the terms village-commune-parish for northern Italy]

Wadsworth, Sally, 'The Parish Churches, Cathedral and Corporation of Salisbury: Continuity and Change c. 1480-c. 1650' (PhD thesis University of Birmingham, 2021)

Willis, Jonathan, ‘Understanding Sources: Churchwardens’ AccountsLink opens in a new window‘ (blog post for the many-headed monster, 6 August 2016)

Wise, Ken, ‘The health of a villageLink opens in a new window‘ (2007) [essay on the pattern of illness in Drayton St Leonard, Oxon.]

 

Parish Histories

 

Benham, Stephen; Callaghan, Nigel, ‘Llangynfelyn: A Parish History‘ [parish in Mid-Wales with documents from the 17thC]

Davidson Cragoe, Carol, Kirtling Parish Church (BBC History Trail, 2002) [on discovering and interpreting local churches]

Geyer, Nobert et al., ‘St Johannes der Täufer, Schlüsselfeld: Pfarreigeschichte’ [History of the Parish of St John the Baptist (Bamberg Diocese)]

Grosjean, Alexia; Murdoch, Steve, Belhelvie – A Millenium of History (2001) [online history of a parish in North-East Scotland]

Guernsey Museums, ‘Guernsey Parish History’ [includes a timeline from the 11thC]

Whitwell Local History Group, ‘Whitwell – A Parish History’ [online history of a Derbyshire parish]

Gries CWA 1422

Churchwardens’ accounts of St Mary’s, Gries, a rural parish in South Tyrol (Northern Italy): Start of income items for 1422, kindly provided by Hannes Obermair of the Stadtarchiv Bozen / Archivio Storico Cittá di Bolzano.