In 1226, Pope Honorius III resolved a conflict between the Duke of Silesia, Henry I the Bearded, & Bishop Lawrence of Wroclaw, the see of that duchy. Henry alleged that the bishop had subjected the inhabitants of his duchy to unowed exactions levied as tithes. Henry alleged a devastating impact of Lawrence's demands on settlement in his duchy, on his authority over its inhabitants, and implicitly on the entire social, economic, and political order over which he presided.

In 1226, Pope Honorius III resolved a conflict between the Duke of Silesia, Henry I the Bearded, & Bishop Lawrence of Wroclaw, the see of that duchy. Henry alleged that the bishop had subjected the inhabitants of his duchy to ¿unowed exactions levied as tithes.¿ Henry alleged a devastating impact of Lawrence¿s demands on settlement in his duchy, on his authority over its inhabitants, & implicitly on the entire social, economic, & political order over which he presided. This is a study of the period in which parish churches & tithe revenues are documented. Identifies those features of local churches & tithing that were routine, innovative, & controversial. Assesses directions of change during the period of documentation. Illustrations.

The Slippery Memory of Men analyzes how during the early fourteenth century a discourse of eternal enmity was created between the Teutonic Knights and the rulers of Poland as these former allies contended over the disputed region of Pomerania.

In 1944, the Nazis razed Warsaw’s historic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. “They knew that the strength of the Polish nation was rooted in the Cross, Christ’s Passion, the spirit of the Gospels, and the invincible Church,” argued Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in a letter celebrating the building’s subsequent reconstruction. “To weaken and destroy the nation, they knew they must first deprive it of its Christian spirit.” Wyszynski insisted that Catholicism was an integral component of Polish history, culture, and national identity. The faithfulness of the Polish people fortified them during times of trial and inspired much that was noble and good in their endeavors. Filling a sizable gap in the literature, White Eagle, Black Madonna is a systematic study of the Catholic Church in Poland and among the Polish diaspora. Polish Catholicism has not been particularly well understood outside of Poland, and certainly not in the Anglophone world, until now. Demonstrating an unparalleled mastery of the topic, Robert E. Alvis offers an illuminating vantage point on the dynamic tension between centralization and diversity that long has characterized the Catholic Church’s history. Written in clear, concise, accessible language, the book sheds light on the relevance of the Polish Catholic tradition for the global Catholic Church, a phenomenon that has been greatly enhanced by Pope John Paul II, whose theology, ecclesiology, and piety were shaped profoundly by his experiences in Poland, and those experiences in turn shaped the course of his long and influential pontificate. Offering a new resource for understanding the historical development of Polish Catholicism, White Eagle, Black Madonna emphasizes the people, places, events, and ritual actions that have animated the tradition and that still resonate among Polish Catholics today. From the baptism of Duke Mieszko in 966 to the controversial burial of President Lech Kaczyński in 2010, the Church has accompanied the Polish people during their long and often tumultuous history. While often controversial, Catholicism’s influence over Poland’s political, social, and cultural life has been indisputably profound.

Twenty-four papers deal with various aspects of the economies, politics, religion, art, and culture of Britain and Poland-Lithuania from the Middle Ages down to the Third Partition, illustrating unexpected similarities and long-standing ties between the two regions.

This book investigates how minorities contributed to medieval society, comparing these contributions to majority society’s perceptions of the minority. In this volume the contributors define ‘minority’ status as based on a group’s relative position in power relations, that is, a group with less power than the dominant group(s). The chapters cover both what modern historians call ‘religious’ and ‘ethnic’ minorities (including, for example, Muslims in Latin Europe, German-speakers in Central Europe, Dutch in England, Jews and Christians in Egypt), but also address contemporary medieval definitions; medieval writers distinguished between ‘believers’ and ‘infidels’, between groups speaking different languages and between those with different legal statuses. The contributors reflect on patterns of influence in terms of what majority societies borrowed from minorities, the ways in which minorities contributed to society, the mechanisms in majority society that triggered positive or negative perceptions, and the function of such perceptions in the dynamics of power. The book highlights structural and situational similarities as well as historical contingency in the shaping of minority influence and majority perceptions. The chapters in this book were originally published as special issue of the Journal of Medieval History.