Date of Award
Spring 1988
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History
Abstract
Despite religious controversy that threatened the church and
endangered the state, William Courtenay, as an aristocratic bishop,
succeeded in preserving the traditional structure of the medieval
English Church. During the second half of the fourtheenth century,
England sustained reversals abroad in the renewed war with France.
The military setbacks aggrevated the domestic unrest, which existed
under the uncertain leadership of senile Edward III and then young
Richard II. Church and state in medieval society were so closely
interwoven by means of a cohesive religion that "any substantial
alteration of the church system could have led to a revolution of a
type for which the age was not prepared,'' Thee prospect of heavy
and sustained expenses from the war effort caused the crown and
parliament to look to the wealth and endowments of the church as a
source of revenue.
Recommended Citation
Gwaltney, Michael P., "William Courtenay's England : an aristocratic bishop in the fourteenth century" (1988). Honors Theses. 297.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/297