In the mid-seventeenth century, clergyman John Gregory made a surprise discovery in Salisbury Cathedral that began to reveal the truth of the Boy Bishops. The Boy Bishops of the Middle Ages, following widespread and popular custom, supplanted the true bishops in their cathedrals for a period of time during the Christmas season.This strange and largely forgotten tradition, stretching from the early Middle Ages to the present day, gives a fascinating insight into the medieval world and its legacy. Elected by their fellows, these Boy Bishops exercised their power in cathedrals, churches and beyond, right across Europe. They controlled services, directed the clergy, enjoyed lavish entertainment, went on visitations to great noble and religious houses and received huge sums of money. However, the topsy-turvy reign of a Boy Bishop was often accompanied by bitter eclesiastical arguments, violence, civil unrest and even murder. It is a little-known fact that the Boy Bishop tradition is still alive today.The Medieval Boy Bishops will appeal to those interested in religious history, the peculiarities of the medieval world and the place of children in society. Author Neil was inspired to write the book by his passion for English literature and history. “I was fascinated by the idea of Boy Bishops,” says Neil. “I’m trying to bring back to life a largely forgotten corner of medieval history.” This book will revive interest in a fascinating but neglected area of medieval history in the same way as books such as A Very English Deceit, Longitude and The Mechanical Turk have done for more recent history.

1321. Simon and Baldwin are rewarded for their services in a previous investigation by a summons to Exeter over the Christmas period to receive prestigious gloves of honour from the Boy-Bishop. However, they learn that Ralph, the glovemaker, has been robbed and murdered. Soon after, a Secondary named Peter is poisoned at the cathedral. Suspicion falls on him, with many assuming that he killed Ralph and then committed suicide, but Simon and Baldwin are unconvinced. Their investigation unearths deception by the highest ranks of Exeter's leading citizens, and a ruthless murderer, poised to strike again...

In the fourth century, clerics began to distinguish themselves from members of the laity by virtue of their augmented claims to holiness. Because clerical celibacy was key to this distinction, religious authorities of all stripes—patristic authors, popes, theologians, canonists, monastic founders, and commentators—became progressively sensitive to sexual scandals that involved the clergy and developed sophisticated tactics for concealing or dispelling embarrassing lapses. According to Dyan Elliott, the fear of scandal dictated certain lines of action and inaction, the consequences of which are painfully apparent today. In The Corrupter of Boys, she demonstrates how, in conjunction with the requirement of clerical celibacy, scandal-averse policies at every conceivable level of the ecclesiastical hierarchy have enabled the widespread sexual abuse of boys and male adolescents within the Church. Elliott examines more than a millennium's worth of doctrine and practice to uncover the origins of a culture of secrecy and concealment of sin. She charts the continuities and changes, from late antiquity into the high Middle Ages, in the use of boys as sexual objects before focusing on four specific milieus in which boys and adolescents would have been especially at risk in the high and later Middle Ages: the monastery, the choir, the schools, and the episcopal court. The Corrupter of Boys is a work of stunning breadth and discomforting resonance, as Elliott concludes that the same clerical prerogatives and privileges that were formulated in late antiquity and the medieval era—and the same strategies to cover up the abuses they enable—remain very much in place.

Father Duncan MacAskill has spent most of his priesthood as the "Exorcist"—an enforcer employed by his bishop to discipline wayward priests and suppress potential scandal. He knows all of the devious ways that lonely priests persuade themselves that their needs trump their vows, but he's about to be sorely tested himself. While sequestered by his bishop in a small rural parish to avoid an impending public controversy, Duncan must confront the consequences of past cover–ups and the suppression of his own human needs. Pushed to the breaking point by loneliness, tragedy, and sudden self–knowledge, Duncan discovers how hidden obsessions and guilty secrets either find their way to the light of understanding or poison any chance we have for love and spiritual peace.

An exploration of how Æthelwold and those he influenced deployed the promotion of saints to implement religious reform.