Tabulae, tabulae ecclesiae
Tabulae, tabulae ecclesiae

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the evolution of the term tabula from antiquity onward and the use of it in middle ages and early modern age literature. It analyses in detail the term tabulae ecclesiae finding its triple meaning in the Central European environment: 1) tabulae written on parchment (later on paper) and fixed on a board in the church – these contained information and instructions for laymen, those in the sacristy or in the choir contained normative constitutions or doctrinal auctoritates for clerics, 2) tabulae on the church walls near the high-altar contained lists of persons to be remembered in liturgy permanently; their external form were frescos framing their names like funeral tablets, 3) the same term tabulae ecclesiae is used also in the sense of financial cash resulting from a church collection. In all cases the ideological connection of medieval church boards to antique legistic texts (1.), to fasti (2.) or to the external form of a real board only (3.) is examined.

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