Corpus Christi
- LAST REVIEWED: 22 April 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 August 2013
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396584-0144
- LAST REVIEWED: 22 April 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 August 2013
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396584-0144
Introduction
The Feast of Corpus Christi was the culmination of nearly four hundred years of debate about the nature of the Eucharist. The debate was concluded by the Fourth Lateran Council, where the term transubstantiation was first used to describe the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ in the mass. The feast was first instituted in Liège in 1246 at the urging of Juliana of Mont-Cornillon, who served at the nearby leper house. Urban IV extended it to the entire Church in 1264 through his bull Transiturus de hoc mundo. Urban established the day of the feast as the Thursday following the octave of Pentecost (feria quinta post octavas penthecostes), an echo of Holy Thursday, when the Last Supper took place. Thus Corpus Christi is tied to Easter and can fall as early as 21 May or as late as 24 June. Urban’s bull was reaffirmed by Clement VI in 1311 at the Council of Vienne (not Vienna, as one often reads), and the reaffirmation was published by John XXII in 1317, after which the feast spread rapidly throughout Europe. During the 14th and 15th centuries, various accretions built up around the feast. The chants of the liturgy were given polyphonic elaboration, Eucharistic scenes increasingly attracted the attentions of visual and plastic artists, and confraternities and guilds dedicated themselves to the Eucharist and its celebration. Finally, the feast entailed a substantial civic procession from the 14th century on, and these processions inspired the pageants and play cycles in England, Germany, and Spain. Interest in and opposition to the concept of transubstantiation and the feast continued through the 16th century up to the present. All of this activity lies outside the scope of the present bibliography, but modern studies cited below often contain much information on these developments.
General Overviews
To come to grips with the subject, scholars have produced several types of general studies, some scholars give comprehensive coverage (Browe 1967, Bynum 1987, Devlin 1975, Rubin 1991). Others focus on the history and liturgy of the feast (Maurey 2005; Walters, et al. 2006) and its proponents (Mulder-Bakker 2005). Finally, a collection of miscellaneous articles covers various aspects of the Eucharist (Piolanti 1957).
Browe, Peter. Die Verehrung der Eucharistie im Mittelalter. Rome: Herder, 1967.
First published in 1933. An extremely valuable resource for many aspects of Eucharistic devotion, including history of Eucharistic worship, elevation of host and chalice and the details involved, establishment of the feast, processions and their offshoots, and devotions to and display of the host within and outside of the mass.
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Although not the focus of the book, the Eucharist and Corpus Christi are mentioned throughout and covered in some detail in “A Medieval Change: From Body of Heaven to Broken Body,” pp. 48–69.
Devlin, Dennis Steel. “Corpus Christi: A Study in Medieval Eucharistic Theory, Devotion, and Practice.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 1975.
A detailed survey of Eucharistic theology and practice from the 9th through the 13th century, with special emphasis on Berengar. The study concludes with a history of the establishment of the feast, together with the popularity of processions, the influence of the Beguines, and the importance of Juliana.
Maurey, Yossi. “Music and Ceremony in Saint-Martin of Tours, 1205–1500.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2005.
Survey of music and liturgy at Saint-Martin of Tours, broader than the title implies. Chapter 7 is an extended description of the Eucharistic debates surrounding Berengar, the history of the Corpus Christi feast, celebration of the feast at Tours, and five new prosae composed for the Corpus Christi office hours.
Mulder-Bakker, Anneke. Lives of the Anchoresses: The Rise of the Urban Recluse in Medieval Europe. Translated by Myra Heerspink Scholz. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.
Two chapters deal with Juliana of Mont Cornillon (“Juliana of Mont Cornillon, Church Reform, and the Corpus Christi Feast,” pp. 78–117) and Eve of St. Martin (“Eve of St. Martin, the Faithful of Liège, and the Church,” pp. 118–147), two women instrumental in establishing the feast of Corpus Christi in Liège. Isabelle of Huy, Juliana’s confidante, also instrumental in promulgating the feast, is mentioned in passing. The feast itself is mentioned often elsewhere.
Piolanti, Antonio, ed. Eucaristia: Il mistero dell’Altare nel pensiero e nella vita della Chiesa. Rome and New York: Desclée, 1957.
An extensive series of articles on all aspects of the history, theology, and rituals of the Eucharist. Contains articles by Cyrille Lambot (“L’ufficio del Ss. Sacramento,” pp. 827–836) and Frédégard Calleay (“Origine e sviluppo della festa del Corpus Domini,” pp. 907–933).
Rubin, Miri. Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
One of the most important sources on all aspects of Corpus Christi. Begins with a summary of the history from 1000, the establishment of the feast in the 13th century, and later elaborations (processions, plays). Processions are covered on pp. 243–271 (see “Corpus Christi Processionals”), and dramatic cycles on pp. 271–287 (see “Corpus Christi Drama”).
Walters, Barbara R., Vincent Corrigan, and Peter T. Rickets. The Feast of Corpus Christi. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.
The book is divided into three sections: Social and intellectual history of the founding of the feast in Liège; critical editions (texts, translations, music) of the seven earliest liturgical sources; and a critical edition and translation of the Mosan Psalter, poetry generated by the same circle of women who promoted the feast.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Aelred of Rievaulx
- Alcuin of York
- Alexander the Great
- Alfonso X
- Alfred the Great
- Alighieri, Dante
- Angevin Dynasty
- Anglo-Norman Realm
- Anglo-Saxon Art
- Anglo-Saxon Law
- Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Illumination
- Anglo-Saxon Metalwork
- Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture
- Apocalypticism, Millennialism, and Messianism
- Archaeology of Southampton
- Armenian Art
- Art and Pilgrimage
- Art in Italy
- Art in the Visigothic Period
- Art of East Anglia
- Art of London and South-East England, Post-Conquest to Mon...
- Arthurian Romance
- Attila And The Huns
- Auchinleck Manuscript, The
- Audelay, John
- Augustodunensis, Honorius
- Bartholomaeus Anglicus
- Benedictines After 1100
- Benoît de Sainte Maure [113]
- Beowulf
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Bernardus Silvestris
- Biblical Apocrypha
- Birgitta of Sweden and the Birgittine Order
- Boccaccio, Giovanni
- Boethius
- Bokenham, Osbern
- Book of Durrow
- Book of Kells
- Bozon, Nicholas
- Byzantine Art
- Byzantine Manuscript Illumination
- Calendars and Time (Christian)
- Cambridge Songs
- Canon Law
- Capgrave, John
- Carolingian Architecture
- Carolingian Era
- Carolingian Manuscript Illumination
- Carolingian Metalwork
- Carthusians and Eremitic Orders
- Cecco d’Ascoli (Francesco Stabili)
- Charlemagne
- Charles d’Orléans
- Charters of the British Isles
- Chaucer, Geoffrey
- Childhood
- Christian Mysticism
- Christianity and the Church in Post-Conquest England
- Christianity and the Church in Pre-Conquest England
- Christina of Markyate
- Chronicles of England and the British Isles
- Church of the Holy Sepulchre, The
- Cistercian Architecture
- Cistercians, The
- Clanvowe, John
- Classics in the Middle Ages
- Cloud of Unknowing and Related Texts, The
- Coins
- Contemporary Sagas (Bishops’ sagas and Sturlunga saga)
- Coptic Art
- Corpus Christi
- Councils and Synods of the Medieval Church
- Crusades, The
- Crusading Warfare
- Cynewulf
- da Barberino, Francesco
- da Lentini, Giacomo
- da Tempo, Antonio and da Sommacampagna, Gidino
- da Todi, Iacopone
- Dance
- Dance of Death
- d’Arezzo, Ristoro
- de la Sale, Antoine
- de’ Rossi, Nicolò
- de Santa Maria, Cantigas
- Death and Dying in England
- Decorative Arts
- delle Vigne, Pier
- Drama in Britain
- Dress
- Dutch Theater and Drama
- Early Italian Humanists
- Economic History
- Eddic Poetry
- El Cid
- England, Pre-Conquest
- England, Towns and Cities Medieval
- English Prosody
- Exeter Book, The
- Falconry
- Family Letters in 15th Century England
- Family Life in the Middle Ages
- Feast of Fools
- Female Monasticism to 1100
- Feudalism
- Findern Manuscript (CUL Ff.i.6), The
- Florence
- Folk Custom and Entertainment
- Food, Drink, and Diet
- Fornaldarsögur
- France
- French Drama
- French Monarchy, The
- French of England, The
- Friars
- Froissart, Jean
- Games and Recreations
- Gawain Poet, The
- German Drama
- Gerson, Jean
- Glass, Stained
- Gothic Art
- Gower, John
- Gregory VII
- Guilds
- Handbooks for Confessors
- Hardyng, John
- Harley 2253 Manuscript, The
- Hiberno-Latin Literature
- High Crosses
- Hilton, Walter
- Historical Literature (Íslendingabók, Landnámabók)
- Hoccleve, Thomas
- Hood, Robin
- Hospitals in the Middle Ages
- Hundred Years War
- Hungary
- Hungary, Latin Literacy in Medieval
- Hungary, Libraries in Medieval
- Hymns
- Icons
- Illuminated Manuscripts
- Illustrated Beatus Manuscripts
- Insular Art
- Insular Manuscript Illumination
- Islamic Architecture (622–1500)
- Italian Cantari
- Italian Chronicles
- Italian Drama
- Italian Mural Decoration
- Italian Novella, The
- Italian Religious Writers of the Trecento
- Italian Rhetoricians
- Jewish Manuscript Illumination
- Jews and Judaism in Medieval Europe
- Julian of Norwich
- Junius Manuscript, The
- King Arthur
- Kings and Monarchy, 1066-1485, English
- Kings’ Sagas
- Knapwell, Richard
- Kraków
- Lancelot-Grail Cycle
- Late Medieval Preaching
- Latin and Vernacular Song in Medieval Italy
- Latin Arts of Poetry and Prose, Medieval
- Latino, Brunetto
- Ælfric
- Libraries in England and Wales
- Lindisfarne Gospels
- Liturgical Drama
- Liturgical Processions
- Liturgy
- Lollards and John Wyclif, The
- Lombards in Italy
- London, Medieval
- Love, Nicholas
- Low Countries
- Lydgate, John
- Machaut, Guillaume de
- Magic in the Medieval Theater
- Maidstone, Richard
- Malmesbury, Aldhelm of
- Malory, Sir Thomas
- Manuscript Illumination, Ottonian
- Marie de France
- Markets and Fairs
- Masculinity and Male Sexuality in the Middle Ages
- Medicine
- Medieval Archaeology in Britain, Fifth to Eleventh Centuri...
- Medieval Archaeology in Britain, Twelfth to Fifteenth Cent...
- Medieval Bologna
- Medieval Chant for the Mass Ordinary
- Medieval English Universities
- Medieval Ivories
- Medieval Latin Commentaries on Classical Myth
- Medieval Music Theory
- Medieval Naples
- Medieval Optics
- Melusine
- Mendicant Orders and Late Medieval Art Patronage in Italy
- Middle English Language
- Mirk, John
- Mosaics in Italy
- Mozarabic Art
- Music and Liturgy for the Cult of Saints
- Music in Medieval Towns and Cities
- Music of the Troubadours and Trouvères
- Musical Instruments
- Necromancy, Theurgy, and Intermediary Beings
- Nibelungenlied, The
- Nicholas of Cusa
- Norman (and Anglo-Norman) Manuscript Ilumination
- N-Town Plays
- Nuns and Abbesses
- Old English Hexateuch, The Illustrated
- Old English Language
- Old English Literature and Critical Theory
- Old English Religious Poetry
- Old Norse-Icelandic Sagas
- Ottonian Art
- Ovid in the Middle Ages
- Ovide moralisé, The
- Owl and the Nightingale, The
- Papacy, The Medieval
- Paris
- Peasants
- Peter Abelard
- Petrarch
- Pictish Art
- Pizan, Christine de
- Plowman, Piers
- Poland
- Poland, Ethnic and Religious Groups in Medieval
- Pope Innocent III
- Post-Conquest England
- Pre-Carolingian Western European Kingdoms
- Prick of Conscience, The
- Pucci, Antonio
- Queens
- Rate Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 61)
- Regions of Medieval France
- Regular Canons
- Religious Instruction (Homilies, Sermons, etc.)
- Religious Lyrics
- Rímur
- Robert Mannyng of Brunne
- Rolle, Richard
- Roman Law
- Romances (East and West Norse)
- Romanesque Art
- Ruthwell Cross
- Sagas and Tales of Icelanders
- Saint Plays and Miracles
- Saint-Denis
- Scandinavian Migration-Period Gold Bracteates
- Schools in Medieval Britain
- Scogan, Henry
- Seals
- Sermons
- Sex and Sexuality
- Ships and Seafaring
- Shirley, John
- Skaldic Poetry
- Slavery in Medieval Europe
- Song of Roland, The
- Songs, Medieval
- Spain
- St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury
- St. Peter's in the Vatican (Rome)
- Textiles
- The Middle Ages, The Trojan War in
- The Use of Sarum and Other Liturgical Uses in Later Mediev...
- Theater and Performance, Iberian
- Thirteenth-Century Motets in France
- Thomas Aquinas
- Thomism
- Thornton, Robert
- Tomb Sculpture
- Travel and Travelers
- Trevisa, John
- Tropes
- Troubadours and Trouvères
- Troyes, Chrétien de
- Usk, Adam
- Usk, Thomas
- Venerable Bede, The
- Vercelli Book, The
- Vernon Manuscript, The
- Vikings
- Von Eschenbach, Wolfram
- Wace
- Wall Painting in Europe
- Wearmouth-Jarrow
- Welsh Literature
- William of Ockham
- Witchcraft
- Women's Life Cycles
- Wulfstan
- York Corpus Christi Plays
- York, Medieval