Sexual morality and canon law: The evidence of the Rochester consistory court

Abstract

Material which survives from the Rochester consistory court during the middle years of the fourteenth century makes it possible to examine the manner in which canon legal theory on offences against sexual morality was implemented in practice. The officials at Rochester were adhering to general canon legal principles by assigning penance according to a ‘hierarchy of sin‘, and they were using the discretion allowed to them to make individual judgments in each case. The use of penances other than penitential beatings was related both to contemporary views on the suitability of different forms of penance for those in authority, and to the actual gravity of an offence. Priests' delicts were regarded more seriously than those of the laity. The court did not display any bias against women when assigning penance, and often treated men more harshly.