Publication details
The Devil Beside the Priest : Clerical Concubinage in Prague Pre-Hussite Synodal Sermons
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Peer-reviewed scientific article |
| Magazine / Source | Church History and Religious Culture |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://brill.com/view/journals/chrc/106/1/article-p1_1.xml |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1163/18712428-bja10089 |
| Keywords | clerical concubinage; corrector cleri; Jan Hus; Milíč of Kroměříž; Prague archdiocese in the late Middle ages; pre-Hussite Bohemia; synodal sermons; synodal statutes |
| Description | This study examines the phenomenon of priestly concubinage in the Prague archdiocese in the pre-Hussite period (ca. 1360–1415). While the legal and administrative sources on this topic have already received scholarly attention, synodal sermons, which were delivered before the clergy of the diocese and shaped the discourse on how priests should view cohabitation with women, have been overlooked in this context. Therefore, the study aims to summarize the information about priests and their partners that can be gleaned from the administrative sources and to complement it with the image of these women and their cohabitation with priests as portrayed by synodal preachers. Based on the mentioned sources, it can be observed that proclaimed efforts to suppress concubinage intensified at the beginning of the 15th century, when reformist preacher Jan Hus and his similarly-minded contemporaries preached at synods, potentially being the initiators of this intensified effort to combat concubinage. |
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