Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T21:53:30.581Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - ‘Each in the Calling to Which They are Called’: Images of Authority in the De XII abusiuis saeculi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2024

Constant Jan Mews
Affiliation:
Monash University, Victoria
Kathleen Neal
Affiliation:
Monash University, Victoria
Get access

Summary

Abstract:

This chapter examines the images of authority in the De XII abusiuis saeculi. It investigates how the treatise merged both hierarchical or vertical relationships with consensus or horizontal relationships between the orders. I argue that its author drew on scripture and Pauline ideas of justice to emphasize a sophisticated model balancing personal responsibility with the need for public correction. This model of authority potentially points to the influence of the Rule of Basil and may represent a profound change in the structuring of authority in seventh-century Ireland.

Keywords: social hierarchy, scripture, early medieval Ireland, Paul of Tarsus, Basil of Caesarea, Isidore of Seville

The De XII abusiuis saeculi, or On the Twelve Abuses of the Age, is a treatise from seventh-century Ireland predominately concerned with the orders of society and the proper roles of those orders within society. Its author formulates twelve abusive expressions or abusiua to identify behaviour that undermines the Christian message. In doing so, the treatise connects abusiua to abuses of God's Law and of the divine calling of different groups within society. Failure to avoid these abuses will result in the suffocation of justice and the damnation of an entire Christian society, without recourse to a defence before the divine judge.

The treatise outlines the orders in twelve distinct categories, appearing to move from six categories of the individual—the scholar, the old, the young, the wealthy, the female, and the aristocrat—to six more ‘public’ categories—the Christian, the poor, the king, the bishop, the common folk, and the people as a whole. The rhetoric is powerfully shaped by appreciation for antithesis, pairing a positive role with the lack of a required virtue or the presence of a destructive vice. The treatise subsequently unpacks the adverse impacts of the select examples, followed by the benefits to society if virtuous behaviour is embraced and wrong behaviour is rejected. This style—whereby antithesis introduces negative criticism followed by positive example—is much favoured in an insular context. Indeed, one of the earliest surviving medieval ‘mirror for princes’, that of Gildas's De excidio Britanniae (dated variously 479–550) and critical of the behaviour of kings and clerics, adopts similarly antithetical criticism followed by positive example. It may well be useful to regard DDAS as a broader ‘mirror for society’, although structured in a more systematic fashion.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×