Episcopal jurisdiction, monastic churches and development of the diocese in Northern Iberia

Abstract

This paper addresses the formation of the diocese in Northern Iberia focusing on the conflicts involved in the establishment of episcopal authority over the churches controlled by monastic houses. To this end, the paper analyzes the lost-lasting dispute between the episcopacy of León and the monastery of Sahagún over the exercise of episcopal jurisdiction in the churches owned by the monastery, considering the ways in which the monastery conditioned and restricted the authority of the bishops in these churches, and identifying the strategies that, in that context, contributed to the materialization of episcopal jurisdiction within the diocesan space.