Book Description

Excerpt from Peter Lombard and the Sacramental System Erasmus once complained that there were as many commentaries on Peter Lombard's "Sentences" as there were theologians. But here is a commentary by one who is not even a theologian but only a student of history. It is fortunate that Erasmus - and the Lombard himself - did not live to see this evil day. This is not work which would have won the coveted degree of "Bachalarius Sententiarius" in a medieval university - I can only lay claim to have won to an interest in the subject equal to that of most of those medieval bachelors. My first interest in Medieval Church History I owe to my college professor, Annie Heloise Abel, and my interest in this particular phase of it to Seminars on the Medieval Church with Professor Shotwell at Columbia. The subject was assigned to me - I should never have had the courage to venture on it otherwise - and as I finish my study of it, I can only say in the Lombard's own words, If anyone can explain it better, I am not envious." I have had courtesies in many libraries, but I wish especially to speak gratefully of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, of the Library of Columbia University, and of that of Union Theological Seminary. I am particularly indebted to Professor Rockwell of Union Seminary for his invaluable help and training in bibliography. I wish here to express my gratitude to Professor Shotwell for the most interesting work in the Social History of the Middle Ages; to Professor Woker of the University of Bern, "ein geborener Lehrer, der glaubt dass jeder Student ein Genie ist," as a colleague said of him, for fascinating lectures on the Political History of medieval times, and for kindness to a foreigner; and to Professor Annie Heloise Abel, now of Smith College, not only for inspiring teaching in my undergraduate days, but for constant interest, friendship and encouragement in my graduate study. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.