Around the year 1215, female mystics and their sacramental devotion were among orthodoxy’s most sophisticated weapons in the fight against heresy. Holy women’s claims to be in direct communication ...with God placed them in positions of unprecedented influence. Yet by the end of the Middle Ages female mystics were frequently mistrusted, derided, and in danger of their lives. The witch hunts were just around the corner. While studies of sanctity and heresy tend to be undertaken separately, Proving Woman brings these two avenues of inquiry together by associating the downward trajectory of holy women with medieval society’s progressive reliance on the inquisitional procedure. Inquisition was soon used for resolving most questions of proof. It was employed for distinguishing saints and heretics; it underwrote the new emphasis on confession in both sacramental and judicial spheres; and it heralded the reintroduction of torture as a mechanism for extracting proof through confession.
On 31 May 1310, at the Place de Grève in Paris, the Dominican inquisitor William of Paris read out a sentence that declared Marguerite "called Porete," a beguine from Hainault, to be a relapsed ...heretic, released her to secular authority for punishment, and ordered that all copies of a book she had written be confiscated. William next consigned Guiard of Cressonessart, an apocalyptic activist in the tradition of Joachim of Fiore and a would-be defender of Marguerite, to perpetual imprisonment. Over several months, William of Paris conducted inquisitorial processes against them, complete with multiple consultations of experts in theology and canon law. Though Guiard recanted at the last moment and thus saved his life, Marguerite went to her execution the day after her sentencing.The Beguine, the Angel, and the Inquisitor is an analysis of the inquisitorial trials, their political as well as ecclesiastical context, and their historical significance. Marguerite Porete was the first female Christian mystic burned at the stake after authoring a book, and the survival of her work makes her case absolutely unique.The Mirror of Simple Souls, rediscovered in the twentieth century and reconnected to Marguerite's name only a half-century ago, is now recognized as one of the most daring, vibrant, and original examples of the vernacular theology and beguine mysticism that emerged in late thirteenth-century Christian Europe. Field provides a new and detailed reconstruction of hitherto neglected aspects of Marguerite's life, particularly of her trial, as well as the first extended consideration of her inquisitor's maneuvers and motivations. Additionally, he gives the first complete English translation of all of the trial documents and relevant contemporary chronicles, as well as the first English translation of Arnau of Vilanova's intriguing "Letter to Those Wearing the Leather Belt," directed to Guiard's supporters and urging them to submit to ecclesiastical authority.
Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of this seminal book,
this new edition includes an illuminating foreword by Carlos Eire
and Ronald K. Rittges The seeds of the swift and sweeping
religious ...movement that reshaped European thought in the 1500s were
sown in the late Middle Ages. In this book, Steven Ozment traces
the growth and dissemination of dissenting intellectual trends
through three centuries to their explosive burgeoning in the
Reformations-both Protestant and Catholic-of the sixteenth century.
He elucidates with great clarity the complex philosophical and
theological issues that inspired antagonistic schools, traditions,
and movements from Aquinas to Calvin. This masterly synthesis of
the intellectual and religious history of the period illuminates
the impact of late medieval ideas on early modern society. With a
new foreword by Carlos Eire and Ronald K. Rittgers, this modern
classic is ripe for rediscovery by a new generation of students and
scholars.
Medieval theology, in all its diversity, was radically theo-centric, Trinitarian, Scriptural and sacramental. It also operated with a profound view of human understanding (in terms of intellectus ...rather than mere ratio). In a post-modern climate, in which the modern views on 'autonomous reason' are increasingly being questioned, it may prove fruitful to re-engage with pre-modern thinkers who, obviously, did not share our modern and post-modern presuppositions. Their different perspective does not antiquate their thought, as some of the 'cultured despisers' of medieval thought might imagine. On the contrary, rather than rendering their views obsolete it makes them profoundly challenging and enriching for theology today. This book is more than a survey of key medieval thinkers (from Augustine to the late-medieval period); it is an invitation to think along with major theologians and explore how their thought can deeply challenge some of today's modern and post-modern key assumptions.
The Observant reform of the religious orders remains one of the most important yet understudied religious movements of the later Middle Ages. This volume provides scholars with a current, synthetic ...introduction to the field, and suggests new avenues for future scholarship.
A Handbook of Modern Arabic Historical Scholarship on the Ancient and Medieval Periods presents 16 studies about modern Arab academic scholarship on the Ancient and Medieval Worlds covering various ...disciplines (Assyriology, Mamluk studies etc.) as well as historiographical schools.
The field of medieval studies has shifted towards a growing degree of multidisciplinarity during recent decades. The concept of medieval studies covers in fact a multitude of disciplines, some of ...them being loyal to their long-established traditions, whereas other are very new & borrow methods from other branches of the humanities.
In England in Europe, Elizabeth Tyler focuses on two histories: the Encomium Emmae Reginae, written for Emma the wife of the Æthelred II and Cnut, and The Life of King Edward, written for Edith the ...wife of Edward the Confessor.Tyler offers a bold literary and historical analysis of both texts and reveals how the two queens actively engaged in the patronage of history-writing and poetry to exercise their royal authority. Tyler’s innovative combination of attention to intertextuality and regard for social networks emphasizes the role of women at the centre of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman court literature. In doing so, she argues that both Emma and Edith’s negotiation of conquests and factionalism created powerful models of queenly patronage that were subsequently adopted by individuals such as Queen Margaret of Scotland, Countess Adela of Blois, Queen Edith/Matilda, and Queen Adeliza.
Measuring the Middle Ages Walker, James T.; Lee, John S.; Broadberry, Stephen
Significance (Oxford, England),
August 2022, 2022-08-01, 20220801, Letnik:
19, Številka:
4
Journal Article
James Walker, John Lee and Stephen Broadberry synthesise and analyse ancient sources to address three fascinating questions: What can Domesday Book tell us about medieval England and Wales? How can ...we estimate medieval populations? What was the size of the medieval economy?
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