| This study examines the Eucharistic theology of St. Thomas Aquinas as it is presented and developed in medieval English popular literature, primarily in the four complete surviving Corpus Christi Cycles, from the perspective of Corntemporary-Strict Thomism. After defining the terms to be used throughout the study in Chapter 1, the Anglo-Saxon attitude toward the Eucharist is surveyed in Chapter 2 from both ecclesiastical and secular sources. Chapter 3 examines in detail St. Thomas' doctrine concerning the Eucharist, while Chapter 4 is an in depth investigation of the beginnings of the Order of Preachers in England and an examination of the Oxford Controversy over the Unicity of Substantial Form. Finally, Chapter 5 examines the Chester, York, Towneley/Wakefield, and "N"-Town Corpus Christ Cycles' depiction of the Institution of the Eucharist and other dramatized Eucharistic scenes. The study concludes that there is a vastly underdeveloped field of research into the influence of Thomism in medieval English literature. |
