exemplum 247can be viewed as a dramatic statement of the universal
human predicament, the reality and inevitability of death,
and as an explication of the church’s doctrine on how to
deal with it.
See alsoDRAMA.
Further reading:A. C. Cawley, ed., Everyman and
Medieval Miracle Plays(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1959),
205–234; Michael James Preston, ed., A Concordance to
Four “Moral” Plays: The Castle of Perseverance, Wisdom,
Mankind, and Everyman,2 vols. (Boulder, Colo.: Xerox
University Microfilms, 1975).
Exchequer and Court of Exchequer(Scaccarium)
This was the Treasury, which kept fiscal accounts for the
English Crown. The Exchequer existed from the reign of
KINGWILLIAMRUFUSbut cannot be found in sources
until the beginning of the 12th century and continued to
function essentially according to the same procedures
throughout the Middle Ages. The lower Exchequer devel-
oped into an office for the receipt and payment of
accounts. The upper Exchequer was a court that met
twice a year to regulate royal accounts.
The Dialogus de Scaccario, written by Richard
Fitzneal around 1179, described its organization and
functions. Receipts and payments were made according
to a complex procedure involving the issuing of wooden
tallies on which were inscribed the sums either received
by or due to the king. Usually, they could not be paid
directly for lack of cash and were assigned to a future
specific royal revenue. The debtor or creditor had to get
a tally paid by the official designated by the Exchequer.
These procedures and the incapacity to pay immediately
earned the Exchequer a bad reputation; however, it was
one of the first and most sophisticated administrative
organs created by western monarchies. The upper
Exchequer became the judicial system for the kingdom
of England.
See alsoHENRYI; PIPE ROLLS.
Further reading:Richard Fitzneale, Dialogus de Scac-
cario: The Course of the Exchequer,ed. and trans. Charles
Johnson, with corrections by F. E. L. Carter and D. E.
Greenway (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983); Anthony
Bedford Steel, The Receipt of the Exchequer, 1377–1485
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954); Regi-
nald Lane Poole, The Exchequer in the Twelfth Century:
The Ford Lectures Delivered in the University of Oxford in
Michaelmas Term, 1911(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912).
excommunication Excommunication as the exclu-
sion of an individual from the community and sacra-
ments of the faithful has been attested to from the
beginnings of Christianity. During the early Middle Ages
excommunication became renewable and less public. The
penalty of anathema or a “condemnation to eternal
death” was more serious, but excommunication generally
had the same meaning and effects. However, one could
repent, do penance, and escape it.
From the late 11th century, the GREGORIANREFORM
revived this sanction, making it a weapon against recalci-
trant lay powers, often for political reasons. From the
time of Pope GREGORYVII, the subjects of an excommu-
nicated ruler were intended to be relieved of their oaths
of loyalty. It was also incurred by those who broke the
PEACE ANDTRUCE OFGODor who rejected the new and
better-defined ecclesiastical laws. At the Second Lateran
Council in 1139, the papacy gave itself the authority to
excommunicate those who would not respect papal
injunctions.
A trivialization of this sentence as a political
weapon occurred in the later Middle Ages. Excommuni-
cation was so common that it lost a good deal of its
impact and enforcement. All kinds of acts deemed illicit
fell under this one terrible sanction. On the more mun-
dane level, every Sunday the priest still read out a list of
excommunicated Christians, who were then obliged to
leave the church before the consecration of the
Eucharist at mass.
Rabbinic courts during the Middle Ages could decree
such punishments of those who had gravely violated the
commandments or failed to follow local decrees. When
Jewish communities were highly cohesive, such a sen-
tence could have grave consequences. According to the
TALMUD, there were four kinds of excommunication,
ranging from a rebuke to anathema or herem.It was a
strong weapon for rabbinic control.
See alsoHALAKAH;INTERDICT.
Further reading:F. Donald Logan, Excommunication
and the Secular Arm in Medieval England: A Study in Legal
Procedure from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Century
(Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1968);
Elisabeth Vodola, Excommunication in the Middle Ages
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986).execution SeeCRIME, PUNISHMENT, AND THE COURTS.exegesis SeeBIBLE.exemplum The Latin term exemplumin the singular,
and exemplain the plural, had several meanings in the
Middle Ages. The most common was that of a cautionary
tale, or an example to follow, or a model for behavior for
the cultivation of VIRTUE. A “rhetorical” exemplumwas a
fact or a word from the past and used initially by a trust-
worthy person, such as Cicero. These were used with
intent to help persuade, as in Cicero’s judicial discourses.
They were generally citations of facts or sayings from
ancient history.
The more commonly employed homiletic exemplum
was used in a preached narrative to serve as proof in