Long before his election as pope in 1334, Jacques Fournier (c. 12851342) had been one of the key figures of the Avignon papal court. Not only was he renowned for rooting out heretics in Languedoc, but he also distinguished himself as a refined theologian, advising John XXII on sensitive doctrinal matters. Once elected, Pope Benedict XII faced some of the most significant and animated religious and political challenges of the time of the Avignon Church: theological quarrels, divisions and schisms within the Church, conflicts between European sovereigns, and the growth of Turkish power in...

Reflecting the focus but also range of their honorand's work in medieval canon law in the era before Gratian, the essays in this volume explore the creation and transmission of canonical texts and the motives of their compilers but also address the issues of how the law was interpreted and used by diverse audiences in the earlier middle ages, with especial focus on the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. These issues have lain at the heart of Linda Fowler-Magerl's distinguished body of scholarly work on judicial ordines and procedural literature, on the transmission of canonical texts and...