La Suspensión del Procedimiento de Cobranza Coactiva

/il

40 Ibid., p. 192.

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structural integration of the virtue of "prowesse" with the sacrament of penance via the branches/battles metaphors. A similar use of

structuring extended imagery is found in the following example drawn from the Speculun) Christiani.

The Speculum Christiaxil, a popular fourteenth-century vernacular compilation largely based upon Peckham's Constitditiones, skillfully manages to convey the ethical/remedial function of the entire sacrament of penance by referring to it not as penance per se, but as that "thyng" which makes a man clean, a rhetorical strategy which enables the

compiler to avoid the issue concerning the time of absolution: Foure thynges in herte bere a-way.

On es what thynges fileth men. A-nother es what thynge malt^ them clene. The ther de es what thynge kep^ hem in

clennes. The fourte es that ther wyl to goddes wyl thei redres.4i

Tills four-fold division— things which be-foul a man, which make him clean, which keep him clean, and which align his will with God's— corresponds with sin, contrition/confession/satisfaction, various

practical ways to avoid sin, and finally with the examples of the saints and the mercy of God. This division also determines the order of

treatment (ordinatio), with the sins being divided into the categories of sins of the heart, mouth, and sins of deed. Each type of sin is described through an extensive listing of its various manifestations;

41 Speculimi Christiani, edited by Gustaf Holmstedt, OS 182, E.E.T.S. (London, 1933), p. 74.

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following the comprehensive lists of sins, the writer then introduces his audience to the three "thynges" that "maken a man clene":

As to the secunde wete §e wele that thre thynges maken a man clene. On es sorow of herte, and hym be-houeg to be in wyl to sgnne no more. . . Anothyr es serifte of mouthe . . .The therde es satisfaccyon, which es fastynge, prayer, and almes-dede (p. 102,104: 2-3 and 3).

There is nothing unusual in the actual listing of the three elements of the sacrament of penance. However, it is remarkable that instead of explicitly identifying contrition, confession (shrift), and satisfaction as belonging to penance, the writer simply cites them as belonging to the second "thing"— that is, what makes men "clene".

As an example of compilâtio this presentation of penance as but one aspect of a series of cleansing "things" demonstrates the way in which a mere organizing device— in this case a structuring extended metaphor— may significantly alter the relative nature and role of the sacrament of penance. The Speculum Christiani stands somewhat unique in this respect compared with the other vernacular didactic texts for its use of an exclusively remedial (cleansing) nomenclature to describe penance. Yet it should be noted that this emphasis, rather than being a result of a technical deviation on the part of the writer (compiler) from orthodox doctrine (as with the Speculum Sacerdotale's ambivalence concerning the timing of absolution), stems entirely from the way in which he compiles or arranges the various doctrinal elements considered. It is probable that the compiler of the Speculum Sacerdotale had the remedial function

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of penance uppermost in mind, but the compiler of the Speculimi

Christiani achieves the same emphasis using a metaphorical description of penance, a rhetorical technique which avoids raising the problematic issue concerning the timing of absolution.

The structural device of the extended metaphor or schematic image underlines the important contribution of the compilatio to the

development of the representation, reception, and even understanding of the nature and process of penance. The Speculimi Christiani includes the doctrinal groups pertinent to the Peckham syllabus, indeed the Peckham

Constitutiones is cited in the work's prologue. However, the Speculum Qiristiani, like the Vices and Virtues, demonstrates an added dimension in its presentation of the Peckham syllabus in its attempts to transform the various and somewhat disparate doctrinal elements into structurally integrated schematic images or metaphors which, I believe, are

culturally and ideologically homologous with the third type distinctio

and the memory image or imago rerum. The nature of this unifying structure differs between texts, but it is possible, I think, to identify two basic features which contribute to further integrating disparate groups of doctrine and which, at the same time, may further integrate that doctrine with the life of the individual reader.

Tiie first feature, and one which we have considered in some detail, consists of the arrangement of doctrine as part of the anatomized image or pictorial whole reminiscent of the third type distinctio. In

configurations of this sort the primary focus is upon the spatial unity provided by the figurai res which contains, by virtue of its constituent parts, the whole of the doctrinal aspects concerned. This feature of

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the structuring schematic image corresponds to the "first-type" of "order" or ordinatio which Aquinas identifies in his commentary on

Aristotle's Ethica, an arrangement of parts within a larger "containing" whole (see above p. Ill, note 25). The versatility of the structuring schematic image has been described in terms of its potential mnemonic role as a "compositional site" or central image which, although it may not depict the entire main text, does structurally unify extensive didactic prose (see above pp. 101-102).

The second feature may be described in terms of the causal

progression of the soul from sin to salvation. This cause-and-effect feature of the structuring schematic image corresponds with the second sort of "order" described by Aquinas in his commentary on the Bthica— that is, the arrangement of "things" with reference to an "end" (finis). Indeed, the presence of causality within a didactic text does not

necessarily involve the presence or use of narrative. We have seen that within the static tree image the relationships between trunk, branches

and leaves have a strong causal basis. Likewise, any didactic

presentation of the elements of penances carries with it the supposition that the standard ordinatio or "order of treatment" (contrition,

confession, satisfaction) shows a causal correspondence with the actual experience of the penitent within the confessional.

However, apart from these intrinsic causal aspects there are others which suggest a more explicit regard on the part of the compiler for the human context of doctrine. In the Vices and Virtues this awareness takes the form, I believe, of trying to closely integrate the sacrament of penance with the remedial virtues by the use of causally linked

From a pedagogical viewpoint this difference means that the extended metaphor obtains a more universal application than the narrative or perhaps even the allegory, since rather than representing a fixed, past series of events specific to a protagonist, it suggests a general

paradigm for all future himian actions. This difference between narrative and metaphorical modes will be discussed more fully with reference to the penitential exempla of Chapter V. For the present, it will suffice to note that the practical, organizing role of the compiler must be seen a potent factor in the development of penance in relation

to other doctrinal groups, a synthesis which in itself further defines penance in terms of how it is to be conducted in the actual life.

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images such as the branches and the battles, an attempt which clearly presupposes the audience's need for explicit causal links between doctrinal groups.

In the Speoulim Christiani the causal linkage between penance and the moral reform of the individual is effected with the use of the

extended metaphor of cleansing. We have seen a similar equation between penance and cleansing made in Piers B-text in Conscience's explanation of penance to Haulî^m (see above p. 30). However, in the Speculum

Christiani the cleansing metaphor stands alone without the larger

narrative context of Langland's allegory, a difference which— while not denying a possible narrative frame-work for the extended metaphor—

stops short of recasting its causal links between different "things" I

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Piers Plowman and the Castle Image

As a further demonstration of the possibilities available to the compiler, Langland's structuring schematic image of the castle— as the primary feature in the map of the "way to Truth" in Passus V— offers both an alternative strategy for the configuration of doctrine

(including penance) and a sophisticated example of the integration of penance and the remedial virtues. Unfortunately, critics have tended to move quickly and superficially over the map of the "way to Truth" and the castle image in order to discuss the events within Piers' half-acre which in turn lead to the enigmatic tearing of the pardon.