I wish to thank Miss V. Bainbridge, Professor C.N.L. Brooke, Dr. J.S. Henderson and Dr. D.M. Owen for reading this paper and for offering their helpful comments.

¹ On confraternities see G. Le Bras, ‘Les confréries chrétiennes, Problèmes et propositions’ Revue historique de droit français et étranger 4 ser 19-20 (1940-1) pp. 310-63; on occupational gilds E. Coornaert, ‘Les ghildes médiévales (Ve-XlVe siècles)’ Revue historique 199 (1948) pp. 22-55, 208-43 and on the gild as a form of organisation in secular society see A. Black, Guilds and Civil Society in European Political Thought from the Twelfth Century to the Present Day (London 1984) pp. 1-75. On rural religious fraternities see C-M. de la Roncière, ‘La place des confréries dans le contado florentin; l’exemple de la Val d’Elsa’ Mélanges de l’Ecole français de Rome. Serie moyen-âge-temps modernes 85 (1973) pp. 31-77 and P. Adam, La vie paroissiale en France au XlVe siècle (Paris 1964) pp. 15-80; for the sixteenth century A.N. Galpern, The Religions of the People in Sixteenth Century Champagne (Cambridge Mass 1976) pp. 52-68. Most work on confraternities has centred on the abundant archives of the Italian towns and has produced such studies as R.F. Weissman, Ritual Brotherhood in Renaissance Florence (New York and London 1982), which explores the social and psychological functions of confraternities as well as the doctoral dissertations of R.C. Mackenney, ‘Trade Guilds and Devotional Confraternities in the State and Society of Venice to 1620’, (Cambridge Ph.D. thesis, 1982) and J.S. Henderson, ‘Piety and Charity in Late Medieval Florence’ (London, Ph.D. thesis, 1983). All Italian studies owe a great deal of their inspiration and methodology to the magisterial B. Pullan, Rich and Poor in Renaissance Venice. The Social Institutions of a Catholic State, to 1620 (Oxford 1971). An ambitious and useful attempt at the integration of religious confraternities into the study of medieval mentalities has been made in J. Chiffoleau, La comptabilité de l’au-delà. Les hommes, la mort et le religion dans la région d’Avignon à la fin du moyen-âge (vers 1320-vers 1480). Collection de l’Ecole français de Rome 47 (Rome 1980). English confraternities are crying for basic studies to add to the useful survey of gilds based mainly on the returns of 1389 and summarised in H.F. Westlake, The Parish Gilds of Medieval England (London 1919). The growing interest in the subject in the recurrence of references to voluntary associations in studies of medieval religion as in D.M. Owen, Church and Society in Medieval Lincolnshire (Lincoln 1971) pp. 127-31; J.J. Scarisbrick, The Reformation and the English People (Oxford 1984) pp. 19-39 and the intriguing J. Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (Oxford 1985). Publication of registers and accounts is still in its infancy, but developing interest is manifested in such publications as Parish Fraternity Register. Fraternity of the Holy Trinity and SS. Fabian and Sebastian in the Parish of St. Botolph without Aldersgate ed P. Basing, London Record Society 18 (London 1982).

² On popular devotion to the eucharist see E. Dumoutet, Le désir de voir l’hostie et les origines de la dévotion au saint-sacrement (Paris 1926). On forms and contents of preaching see D.L. D’Avray, The Preaching of the Friars. Sermons Diffused from Paris before 1300 (Oxford 1985).

³ On eucharistie theology in the early Middle Ages see J.M. Powers, Eucharistie Theology (New York 1967) pp. 11-21; and for a wide and thorough study of the Central Middle Ages G. Macy, Theologies of the Eucharist in the Scholastic Period (Oxford 1984).

⁴ On the world of the beguines see E.W. McDonnell, Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture (New Brunswick N.J. 1954) passim, esp pp. 281-361. On Cistercian mystics S. Roisin, L’hagiographie cistercienne dans le diocèse de Liège au XIIIe siècle (Louvain and Brussels 1947).

⁵ The ‘Historia Occidentalis’ of Jacques de Vitry. A Critical Edition ed F.J. Hinnebusch, Spicilegium friburgense 17 (Fribourg 1972) pp. 5-12, esp pp. 9-11 and McDonnell, Beguines and Beghards pp. 20-39. The dangers of heretical teachings on the eucharist were mentioned in the institution bulls of the feast. On the influence of heretical views on contents of theological discussion and teaching see A.E. Bernstein, ‘Theology between Heresy and Folklore: William of Auvergne on Punishment after Death’ Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 5 (1982) pp. 5-44.

⁶ Textus antiqui de festo Corporis Christi ed P. Browe, Opuscula et textus series liturgica 4 (Münster 1934) pp. 1-20. Acta Sanctorum I April (5 April) (Antwerp 1675) PP.437-77. On the background for the foundation of the feast see C. Hontoir, ‘St. Julienne et les cisterciens’, Collectanea ordinis cisterciensium reformatorum 8 (1946) pp. 109-16.

⁷ For the Bull Transiturus see E. Franceschini, ‘Origine e stile della bolla “Transiturus”’ Aevum 39 (1965) pp. 218-43; PP. 234-43. On the significance of this date see Bossy, Christianity in the West p. 71.

⁸ This distancing from the sacrificial aspect of the eucharist was stressed by all bulls and ordinances on the celebration of the feast, see Textus antiqui pp. 21-40.

⁹ Not before he commissioned the composition of the Roman liturgy for the feast. The attribution of the liturgy to St. Thomas has recently been argued in P. M. Gy ‘L’office du Corpus Christi et Saint-Thomas d’Aquin’ Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 64 (1980) pp. 491-507 and ‘L’office du Corpus Christi et la théologie des accidents eucharistiques’ Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 66 (1982) pp. 81-6. For the texts see C. Lambot, ‘L’office de la Fête-Dieu. Aperçus nouveaux sur ses origines’ Revue bénédictine 54 (1942) pp. 61-123. On the liturgy see also J.A. Weisheipl, Friar Thomas d’Aquino. His Life, Thought and Works (Oxford 1974) pp. 180-2.

¹⁰ Corpus iuris canonici II ed. E. Friedberg, (Leipzig 1881), Clem, lib III, tit XIV, cols. 1173-4. For some speculation on the connection of the repromulgation to the Council of Vienne see E. Müller, Das Komil von Vienne 1311-1312, seine Quellen und seine Geschichte, Vorreformationsgeschichtliche Forschungen 12 (Münster 1934) pp. 644-8. The feast did not take root even in the papal usage before the repromulgation, and is absent from late thirteenth century papal liturgical books such as, Le cérémonial papal de la fin du moyen-âge à la Renaissance. I. Le cérémonial de Grégoire X (1273) ed M. Dykmans (Brussels and Rome 1977). John XXII and Clement VI were the first to deal with problems posed by the feast’s place in the calendar, Le cérémonial papal de la fin du moyen-âge à la Renaissance. lll Les textes avignonais jusqu’à la fin du Grand Schisme ed M. Dykmans (Brussels and Rome 1983) pp. 254, 156-8.

¹¹ For some continental examples see Textus antiqui pp. 41-4.

¹² Historia monasterii Sancii Petri Gloucestriae I ed W.H. Hart RS (London 1863) p. 44. On 4 June 1318 the bishop of Bath and Wells published the feast in his diocese, Calendar of the Register of John de Drokensford, bishop of Bath and Wells a.d. 1309-1329, ed E. Hobhouse, Somerset Record Society 1 (1887) p. 13.

¹³ York, Borthwick Institute, Register Melton, fol 514 (3 June 1322). I am grateful to Professor Rosalind Hill for pointing out this reference to me and kindly sending me a full transcript of the document.

¹⁴ Chapters of the Augustinian Canons ed H.E. Salter, Oxford Historical Society Publications 74 (Oxford 1920) p. 12. By 1332 the feast was established among the major feasts in the list of archbishop Langham, Wilkins 2 p. 560.

¹⁵ For a description of such perambulations within a London parish and problems of regulation see Memorials of London and London Life ed H.T. Riley (London 1868) p. 509. For a similar custom of perambulation in the village confraternities of Champagne see Galpern, The Religions of the People pp. 72-3.

¹⁶ York, Borthwick Institute, Register Melton, fol 514.

¹⁷ Owst, G.R., Preaching in Medieval England (Cambridge 1926) p. 225. Documents Relating to the University and Colleges of Cambridge (London 1853) I p. 398 Google Scholar (Statuta antiqua e. 168). For examples of indulgences related to attendance at Corpus Christi sermons see Calendar of Papal Letters IV p. 165; and a Corpus Christi sermon in Speculum sacerdotale ed E.H. Weatherly, EETS 200 (London 193e) pp. 162-3.

¹⁸ On the urban context of the Corpus Christi celebrations see C. Phythian-Adams, ‘Ceremony and the Citizen: the Communal Year at Coventry’, Crisis and Order in English Towns, 1500-1700. Essays in Urban History eds P. Clark and P. Slack (London 1972) pp. 57-85; as well as M. James, ‘Ritual, Drama and Social Body in the Late Medieval Town’, PP 98 (1983) pp. 3-29; esp pp. 10, 13, 18, 24-6. On the development of the feast as a patriotic-civic occasion see E. Muir, Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice (Princeton N.J. 1981) pp. 223-30, esp 223-4, n 28.

¹⁹ The priests’ fraternity of Norwich which was founded in 1278 and known as the Corpus Christi gild, seems too early for a dedication to this feast and must have acquired the attribution some time in the fourteenth century. On this gild see N.P. Tanner, The Church in Late Medieval Norwich, 1370-1532 Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. Studies and Texts 66 (Toronto 1984) p. 77.

²⁰ On the background for the establishment of the enquiry in the Cambridge Parliament see J.A. Tuck, ‘The Cambridge Parliament, 1388’, EHR 84 (1969) pp. 225-43. See also Westlake, The Parish Gilds pp. 36-48 and Parish Fraternity Register pp. ix-x. The returns are in PRO, C41/38-46; they are geographically unrepresentative as the surviving returns originate for the greater part from the Eastern counties: Norfolk 164, Lincolnshire 123, Cambridgeshire 60, Suffolk 39 and most from urban gilds, Westlake, The Parish Gilds pp. 49-58. They obviously reflect norms rather than the reality of behaviour.

²¹ Foundations were clustered around the years of the Black Death 1349-1352.

²² In the Avignon area a later sequence occurred, with concentrated foundation in the last quarter of the century, Chiffoleau, La comptabilité de l’au-delà Annexe II pp. 448-53. Italian confraternities dedicated to Corpus Christi appear only very late in the fifteenth century P. Burke, Culture and Society in Renaissance Italy, 1420-1540 (London 1972) pp. 215-6.

²³ Scarisbrick, , The Reformation and the English People pp. 19–20 Google Scholar. On religious gilds as funerary societies see Chiffoleau, La comptabilité de l’au-delà, passim, esp pp. 267, 281-2; Monter, W., Ritual, Myth and Magic in Early Modern Europe (Brighton 1983) p. 15 Google Scholar. The quest for intercession and commemoration was so widely pervasive that even poor folk endeavoured to provide for themselves, as did the members of the poor men’s gild of Norwich, PRO, C47/43/292; see also Owen, , Church and Society p. 95 Google Scholar and Monter, , Ritual, Myth and Magic p. 14 Google Scholar.

²⁴ The Corpus Christi gild of Lincoln employed 9 chaplains for daily masses, Owen, Church and Society pp. 129-30.

²⁵ PRO, C47/38/31.

²⁶ PRO, C47/44/309.

²⁷ ‘in honorem Corporis Christi et ad sustentandum tresdecim céreos ardentes circa sepulcrum in eadem ecclesia tempore Paschae’, Parish Fraternity Register pp. 79, 80.

²⁸ PRO, C47/39/109.

²⁹ Councils and Synods and Other Documents Relating to the English Church 2, eds F.M. Powicke and C.R. Cheney (Oxford 1964) c 2, p. 210 (1224x37 Coventry Council), c 1, p. 345 (1240x66 Statutes for the diocese of Norwich). The account of expenses on the feast day of the Tailors’ Corpus Christi fraternity for 1387-8 only mention 12d for carrying the tabernacle from the church to their hall but of the £5 spent that year £2.5 went to on illumination of its tabernacle, The Making of King’s Lynn. A Documentary Survey ed D.M. Owen, Records of Economic and Social History new ser. 9 (London 1984) pp. 318-9. For an agreement regulating the provision of lights in the Corpus Christi gild of Lynn see B. Mackerell, The History and Antiquities of the Flourishing Corporation of King’s Lynn in the County of Norfolk (London 1738) pp. 254-5.

³⁰ PRO, C47/38/21.

³¹ PRO, C47/39/92.

³² On the development and significance of the elevation see G.G. Grant, ‘The Elevation of the Host: A Reaction to the Twelfth Century Heresy’, Theological Studies 1 (1940) pp. 228-50 as well as Macy, Eucharistie Theologies pp. 88-9. For examples of provision of illumination by gilds dedicated to Corpus Christi see Parish Fraternity Register c 21, p. 4. And for French confraternities see Y. Dossat, ‘Les confréries du Corpus Christi dans le monde rural pendant la première moitié du XIVe siècle’ Cahiers de Fanjeaux 1 (1976) pp. 357-85.

³³ On the development of pastoral work for the sick and dying see J. Avril, ‘La pastorale des malades et des mourants aux Xlle et Xllle siècles’ in Death in the Middle Ages eds H. Braet and W. Verbeke (Louvain 1983) pp. 88-106.

³⁴ Councils and synods 2 c 15, p. 110 (1222 Oxford Council), c 1, p. 171 (1229 Worcester Council II), e 3, p. 268 (1239 Lincoln Council). On abuse of the Host and misinterpretation of its powers see P. Browe, ‘Die Eukaristie als Zaubermittel im Mittelalter’ Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 20 (1930) pp. 134-54.

³⁵ PRO, C47/42/279.

³⁶ PRO, C47/38/38 and C47/40/135.

³⁷ In some Corpus Christi confraternities of Southern France related functions of nursing and patronage of hospitals evolved, Dossat, ‘Les confréries de Corpus Christi’ pp. 367, 373 and Chiffoleau, La comptabilité de l’au-delà p. 284 and p. 282.

³⁸ Gottfried, R. S., Bury St. Edmunds and the Urban Crisis, 1290-1539 (Princeton N.J. 1982) p. 188.Google Scholar

³⁹ On the Corpus Christi procession of Coventry see Phythian-Adams, ‘Ceremony and the Citizen’ pp. 58-60 and on other towns again James, ‘Ritual, Drama and Social Body’ passim.

⁴⁰ PRO, C47/41/158 and C47/41/159.

⁴¹ Owen, Church and Society p. 128.

⁴² Cambridge Gild Records, 1295-1389 ed M. Bateson, Cambridge Antiquarian Society Publications 39 (Cambridge 1903) p. 27.

⁴³ The Cambridge fraternity owned breviaries, ibid pp. 40, 41, the text of a play, ibid p. 51 and had a gild reader, ibid p. 40.

⁴⁴ Corpus Christi gilds developed diverse charitable and liturgical activities; some maintained hospitals, Dossat, ‘Les confréries du Corpus Christi’ pp. 366-7 and L. Martz, Poverty and Welfare in Habsburg Spain. The Example of Toledo (Cambridge 1983) p. 161. For examples of diversification of a gild’s activities beyond its original and formal aims and dedication see N. Orme, ‘The Kalendar Brethren of the City of Exeter’ Reports and Transactions of the Devonshire Association 109 (1977) pp. 153-69 and idem, ‘The Guild of Kalendars, Bristol’ Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 96 (1978) pp. 32-52.

⁴⁵ Pfaff, R., New Liturgical Feasts in Later Medieval England (Oxford 1970).Google Scholar

⁴⁶ On the voluntary impulse towards liturgical and charitable activities in religious fraternities see Le Bras, ‘Les confréries chrétiennes’, p. 325 and Chiffoleau, La comptabilité de l’au-delà p. 286.

⁴⁷ Professor Bossy has suggested that Corpus Christi was espoused so readily because of its message of unity, J. Bossy, ‘The Mass as a Social Institution 1200-1700’, PP 100 (1983) pp. 29-61 at p. 59.

⁴⁸ Scarisbrick, The Reformation and the English People p. 24. On connections with clergy in rural Italian confraternities see La Roncière, ‘La place des confréries dans le contado florentin’ pp. 41-2.

⁴⁹ Little, A.G. and Easterling, R.C., The Franciscans and Dominicans of Exeter History of Exeter Research Group Monograph 2 (Exeter 1927) p. 26.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Nelson, A.H., The Medieval English Stage: Corpus Christi Pageants and Plays (Chicago 1974) pp. 39–41; on involvement of friars in the dramatic para-liturgy see Craddock, L.G., ‘Franciscan Influences on Early English Drama’, Franciscan Studies 10 (1950) pp. 383–417, esp p. 387. For some consideration of the clergy’s role see in para-liturgical drama see Bercé, Y.-M., Fête et révolte. Des mentalités populaires du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle (Paris 1976) pp. 136–8.Google Scholar

⁵¹ On lay literacy see Moran, J.H., Education and Learning in the City of York, 1300-1560, Borthwick Papers 55 (York 1979) pp. 31–5 and Moran, J.H, The Growth of English Schooling, 1340-1548: Learning, Literacy and Laicization in Pre-Reformation York Diocese (Princeton N.J. 1985); as a reminder against over-estimation of literacy see Heath, P., ‘Piety in Late Medieval Hull’, in The Church, Patronage and Politics in the Fifteenth Century ed Dobson, B. (New York 1985) p. 226. It brings forth the vernacular and personal prayers as a valid source for the study of the religion of a considerable section of the urban population through books such as the The Lay Folk’s Catechism ed T.P. Simmons and H.E. Nolloth EETS 118 (London 1912), in a direction suggested recently in Collinson, P., The Religion of Protestants. The Church in English Society 1559-1625 (Oxford 1982) pp. 190–1 Google Scholar. For vernacular writings on the eucharist, mass and the feast of Corpus Christi for contemplation and recitation see The Lay Folk’s Mass Book ed T.F. Simmons EETS 71 (London 1879) pp. 2-60 and The Minor Poems of the Vernon MS. ed C. Horstmann EETS 98 (London 1892) pp. 24-5, 168-97, 198-221.

⁵² On cooperation and the relation between individual and community in fraternities see J. Bossy, ‘Holiness and Society’, pp. 75 (1977) pp. 119-37, esp p. 131. A deeper understanding of levels of interpretation of doctrine as well as of commitment can be gained from the study of para-liturgy, festivals, and especially the page antry and vernacular drama which flourished in connection with Corpus Christi: A.V. Kolve, The Play Called Corpus Christi (London 1966); on drama as a source for the study of piety see E.C. Dunn, ‘Popular Devotion in the Vernacular Drama of Medieval England’ Mediaevalia et Humanistica 4 (1973) pp. 55-68.