Carmina Burana 151groups of seven palatine deacons and 12 regional dea-
cons. They were to read the gospel at the church of Saint
John Lateran and elsewhere. By 1100 they could have
numbered 18.
A fundamental change began in the mid-11th
century. The cardinals of the reforming papacy were
placed under the jurisdiction of the pope. During the
pontificates of Pope Leo IX (1049–54) and Pope
PASCHALII, the cardinals became one of the main instru-
ments of government of the universal church. Leo IX
decided soon after his election to appoint only candi-
dates he could trust politically. The cardinal-bishops,
then became the most important group in the pope’s
immediate household and entourage. They abandoned
local liturgical service and took on important roles in the
administration of the church.
In April 1059 Pope NICHOLASII had promulgated a
decree concerning the election of the pope. He mandated
a procedure in three phases: The cardinal-bishops would
begin the discussion, and the other cardinals would have
the right to elect the pope. The rest of the clergy and the
people could then only acclaim his election. If the
Romans rioted and imposed a fundamental limitation of
the freedom of election of the cardinals, the papal elec-
tion could move outside Rome.
Between 1123 and 1153, the position of cardinal
underwent further modification. The cardinals became
the pope’s privileged collaborators in the administration
of justice. That they were allowed to sign pontifical privi-
leges was indicative of their active role in the government
of the universal church. During the remainder of the
Middle Ages, the extent of the cardinals’ power in the
government of the church became a disputed topic, espe-
cially their role during a vacancy in the papal office, the
question of whether they could call councils, and the
determination of their real place in the metaphorical
body representing the universal church. Constant and
considerable tension characterized relations between the
pope and the College of Cardinals throughout this era.
See alsoHOSTIENSIS, CARDINAL;HUGUCCIO.
Further reading:S. Kuttner, “Cardinalis: The History
of a Canonical Concept,” Traditio3 (1945): 129–214; I. S.
Robinson, The Papacy, 1073–1198: Continuity and Innova-
tion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990),
33–120.
Carmelites (White Friars)The Carmelites had their
origins as a mendicant and a religious order that traced
its history back to the prophet Elijah and his supposed
settlement of disciples on Mount Carmel in PALESTINE.In
the 13th century, evidence multiplies of a group of Latin
hermits who arrived with the first CRUSADESand who the
Limousin Aymeric de Malifaye (1141–93), patriarch of
ANTIOCH, first federated around a church dedicated to the
Virgin MARY. Albert, a patriarch of JERUSALEM, drew up
the first rule for them in about 1209; confirmed by Hono-
rius III (r. 1216–27) in 1226, it was wholly oriented
toward continual prayer and the solitary life.DEFINITION AND EXPANSION
After abandoning Palestine in 1291, when the LATIN
Kingdom of JERUSALEM ceased to exist, the order
migrated to Europe in about 1235. Thereafter it devel-
oped rapidly. In 1247, the election of a first prior general,
perhaps Simon Stock (d. 1264), initiated the centuries-
long consolidation of the order throughout the West.
With its increasingly urban concentration, the develop-
ment of a common life, and the softening of the rule of
silence and fasting, it became a mendicant order along-
side the Franciscan and Dominican. In the face of a pro-
hibition on new orders from 1215, the order was only
slowly accepted. A rule was made official by INNOCENTIV
in 1247 and 1252. During this period the Virgin Mary
appeared to Simon and handed him a scapular to be sym-
bolic of the Carmelite family.
BONIFACEVIII in 1298 permitted the Carmelites new
expansion. Over the course of the next century, the theo-
logical masters John Baconthorp (d. 1348) and Michael
of BOLOGNA(d. 1400), and especially Saint Peter Thomas
(1305–66), theologian, diplomat, defender of the faith,
and finally Latin patriarch of CONSTANTINOPLE, repre-
sented the success and accomplishment of the Carmelite
Order.TRIBULATION AND REFORM
The order fell on difficult times in the late 14th century.
The Black Death killed many, the Great SCHISMdivided
the order, the HUNDREDYEARS’WARdestroyed a third of
its convents, and poor recruitment led to defections
and scandals. There were numerous attempts at reform of
the order in the 15th century. Discipline and standards
improved. Women were allowed to form an order of
eremetrical nuns that continues to exist.
Further reading: Patrick R. McMarie and Peter
Thomas Rohrbach, Journey to Carith: The Story of the
Carmelite Order(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966).Carmina Burana The Carmina Buranawas a collec-
tion of poetic compositions dating from around 1300.
First discovered in 1803, the German manuscript con-
taining them was divided into four thematic sections:
moral-satirical songs, amorous poems, hedonistic songs
and poems, and spiritual dramas. The authors have
remained anonymous but were probably the GOLIARDIC
POETS, or clerics without incomes or benefices, at the
margins of university circles. The carminareflect a wide
variety of linguistic and literary influences.
Further reading: E. D. Blodgett and Roy Arthur
Swanson, trans., The Love Songs of theCarmina Burana
(New York: Garland, 1987); Tuomas M. S. Lehtonen,