This article covers the transformation of the ideal of a bishop and the bishop’s role during the Migration Period using the example of Gaul. Following a short description of the methodology, the ideal of the bishop in the period before the migration is discussed. The main aspects of the transformation of this ideal and the role of the bishop are then analysed, followed by any introductory analysis of the source materials where the developments in Gaul are compared with other regions, primarily North Africa. The specific development of the gallic episcopate and gallic society is finally evaluated using the German Bischofsherrschaft medieval studies concept.
This study examines when mandatory clerical celibacy was instituted in the Czech lands. At first it was only demanded of candidates to become bishops while other priests regularly had wives and children up to the 12th century. The Papal Curia first intervened in favour of celibacy in 1143 through a mission by Cardinal Guido when married clerics were removed from their posts. Another came with Cardinal Peter in 1197 when he (unsuccessfully) demanded that those being ordained also take a vow of purity. Celibacy was then enforced after the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215.