Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Scholasticism

The volume explores therelationship of individuals and institutions in medieval scholasticism betweenthe twelfth and fifteenth centuries, and is intended as an important referencepoint for future debates on these topics, principally for medieval historianswhile also raising questions relevant to those working on individualisation andinstitutionalisation in other periods and disciplines.

The volume revolves aroundtwo questions, which provide the structure for the table of contents below: (1)what was the relationship between particular intellectuals and their widernetworks (including but not limited to 'schools') and; (2) how didintellectuals shape their institutions and how were their institutions shapedby them?

Beyond this volume, there is currently very little close exploratoryscholarship on the fundamental relationship between scholastic thought, theindividuals who produced it, the institutional contexts in which they producedit, and the relationships between these phenomena (these points are explainedfurther in the detailed proposal and introduction).

In addressing thesequestions, we deliberately integrate contributions from both major, establishedscholars and early career scholars.

The volume is a theoretically sophisticatedcollection which uses a range of European methodological approaches to addressour theme across a variety of genres (commentaries, quodlibetal questions,polemics, epic poetry and inquisition records), and across a range of subjectmatter (history, practical ethics, medicine, theology, philosophy, theconstitution of religious orders, the practice of confession, and theinstitution of cults).