The Dominican Order and Convocation: A Study of the Growth of Representation in the Church During the Thirteenth Century (Classic Reprint)

PREFACE THIS brief study would not have been written had it not been for M. Bemont) the Editor of the Revue H£stor£qztc, and Honorary Doctor of Letters in the University of Oxford. He is u~conscious of his influence: it is none the less real. He has done so much to illuminate the English history of the thirteenth century, that he must not be surprised if others try to use the light he has shed to explore new paths. lowe a large· debt of gratitude to myoId pupil, Father Bede ] arrett, of the Order of Preachers. When we were once discussing together the development of representation, and' I was urging the point I have urged here, that the Church supplied both the idea of representation and its rules of procedure, he suggested to me that the influence of his own Order must have been considerable within the Church, and he gave me ~y first knowledge of the organization of his Order. He has increased my debt of late by sending me some references which he had collected. I

Table of Contents

CONTENTS; PART I; THE DOMINICAN ORDER; 1 The Dominicans and the Franciscans; II The Dominicans and the Praemonstratensians ; III The early constitutions of the Dominicans; Election of officers ; Representative assemblies; Characteristics of the Order; PAGE; 9-10 -; II-12; 13-I 4; 14; 15-16; 17-I8 -; IV· Possible ecclesiastical sources of Dominican organization; :-; (a) The Hospitallers ; (b) The Templars; (c) The Franciscans ; "Tendencies ofreligious Orders in the thirteenth century; 19-20; 20-21; 2(-24; 24-25 -; V Possible secular sources of Dominican organization :(; a) Spain 26; 27; 27-28; 28-29; 30; (b) Southern France ; The representative idea; VJ Vogue of the Dominicans in England; Contribution to English -learning; PART II; THE ENGLISH CONVOCATION; I Early history of provincial synods; Their revival in the thirteenth century; II (a) German synods in this century ; (b) French synod at Bourges (I225) •; Representation of cha