William Chester Jordan is Professor of History and Director of the Program in Medieval Studies at Princeton University. His books include Europe in the High Middle Ages (Penguin) and The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century (Princeton).

"Through his narration of events great and small, Jordan evokes the mood of an age... He effortlessly covers a lot of ground in relatively few pages and there is an attractive economy to his stimulating treatment of subjects that come with considerable historiographical baggage. His book ought to have a wide readership of students and scholars alike."--Patrick Nold, H-France Review "Jordan opens a window on a remote time. It is Jordan's genius to spot that window, his achievement to let us peer through. That alone makes this work a valuable contribution to our historical perspective. It adds yet another piece to our understanding of a critical and enigmatic period."--Alan Friedlander, American Historical Review "In this book of modest size, Jordan succeeds in leading the modern reader into the world, work, and concerns of a fourteenth-century monk and scholar who occupied a not-insignificant place in the intellectual and political life of his time. Jordan's study provides new insights into debates and dissent over major church issues in the age of the last Capetians."--Kathryn L. Reyerson, Speculum

• *FrontMatter, pg. i*CONTENTS, pg. vii*PREFACE, pg. ix*ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, pg. xiii*CHAPTER 1. Encroachments on Ecclesiastical Authority: Taxation, Clerical Immunity, and the Jews, pg. 1*CHAPTER 2. The Pope in Avignon and the Crisis of the Templars, pg. 18*CHAPTER 3. The Exemption Controversy at the Council of Vienne, pg. 37*CHAPTER 4. An Uneasy Relationship: Church and State at the Cistercian Abbey of Sainte-Marie of Chaalis, pg. 56*CHAPTER 5. Old Fights and New: From Exemption to Usus pauper, pg. 73*EPILOGUE: Unceasing Strife, Unending Fear, pg. 98*NOTES, pg. 105*BIBLIOGRAPHY, pg. 137*INDEX, pg. 151

William Chester Jordan is Professor of History and Director of the Program in Medieval Studies at Princeton University. His books include Europe in the High Middle Ages (Penguin) and The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century (Princeton).

"Through his narration of events great and small, Jordan evokes the mood of an age... He effortlessly covers a lot of ground in relatively few pages and there is an attractive economy to his stimulating treatment of subjects that come with considerable historiographical baggage. His book ought to have a wide readership of students and scholars alike."--Patrick Nold, H-France Review "Jordan opens a window on a remote time. It is Jordan's genius to spot that window, his achievement to let us peer through. That alone makes this work a valuable contribution to our historical perspective. It adds yet another piece to our understanding of a critical and enigmatic period."--Alan Friedlander, American Historical Review "In this book of modest size, Jordan succeeds in leading the modern reader into the world, work, and concerns of a fourteenth-century monk and scholar who occupied a not-insignificant place in the intellectual and political life of his time. Jordan's study provides new insights into debates and dissent over major church issues in the age of the last Capetians."--Kathryn L. Reyerson, Speculum

• *FrontMatter, pg. i*CONTENTS, pg. vii*PREFACE, pg. ix*ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, pg. xiii*CHAPTER 1. Encroachments on Ecclesiastical Authority: Taxation, Clerical Immunity, and the Jews, pg. 1*CHAPTER 2. The Pope in Avignon and the Crisis of the Templars, pg. 18*CHAPTER 3. The Exemption Controversy at the Council of Vienne, pg. 37*CHAPTER 4. An Uneasy Relationship: Church and State at the Cistercian Abbey of Sainte-Marie of Chaalis, pg. 56*CHAPTER 5. Old Fights and New: From Exemption to Usus pauper, pg. 73*EPILOGUE: Unceasing Strife, Unending Fear, pg. 98*NOTES, pg. 105*BIBLIOGRAPHY, pg. 137*INDEX, pg. 151