Isabel Moreira
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199736041
- eISBN:
- 9780199894628
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736041.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This study explores the early history of purgatory as it developed from the first to the eighth centuries. Approaching the subject from a variety of angles, the book examines how ideas of post-mortem ...
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This study explores the early history of purgatory as it developed from the first to the eighth centuries. Approaching the subject from a variety of angles, the book examines how ideas of post-mortem purgation as religious belief were forged from contested theology and eschatology, and how purgatory became the focus for such religious practices as prayer for the dead and the hope for intercession. Illuminating the various interests and influences at play in the formation of purgatorial ideas in late antiquity, this book discusses ideas about punishment and correction in the Roman world, slavery, medical purges at the shrines of saints, visionary texts, penitentials, and law codes. Confronting arguments that have viewed purgatory as a symptom of cultural shifts or educational decline, this book questions the extent to which Irish and Germanic views of society, and the sources associated with them — penitentials and legal tariffs — played a role in purgatory’s formation. In reassessing the significance of patristic discussion of purgatory, this study highlights Bede’s contribution to purgatory’s theological underpinnings allowing the future acceptance of purgatory as orthodox belief. Among those whose writings are examined are Origen, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Bede.Less
This study explores the early history of purgatory as it developed from the first to the eighth centuries. Approaching the subject from a variety of angles, the book examines how ideas of post-mortem purgation as religious belief were forged from contested theology and eschatology, and how purgatory became the focus for such religious practices as prayer for the dead and the hope for intercession. Illuminating the various interests and influences at play in the formation of purgatorial ideas in late antiquity, this book discusses ideas about punishment and correction in the Roman world, slavery, medical purges at the shrines of saints, visionary texts, penitentials, and law codes. Confronting arguments that have viewed purgatory as a symptom of cultural shifts or educational decline, this book questions the extent to which Irish and Germanic views of society, and the sources associated with them — penitentials and legal tariffs — played a role in purgatory’s formation. In reassessing the significance of patristic discussion of purgatory, this study highlights Bede’s contribution to purgatory’s theological underpinnings allowing the future acceptance of purgatory as orthodox belief. Among those whose writings are examined are Origen, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Bede.
Isabel Moreira
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199736041
- eISBN:
- 9780199894628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736041.003.0000
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter argues that the early history of purgatory must be discussed on its own terms and not as a precursor to later medieval Catholic doctrine. It explains the use of the term “purgatory.” It ...
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This chapter argues that the early history of purgatory must be discussed on its own terms and not as a precursor to later medieval Catholic doctrine. It explains the use of the term “purgatory.” It identifies major modern scholarly contributions to the field and the historical and interpretive issues raised by sixteenth-century reformers. The chapter explores Bede’s historical status as an author of purgatory.Less
This chapter argues that the early history of purgatory must be discussed on its own terms and not as a precursor to later medieval Catholic doctrine. It explains the use of the term “purgatory.” It identifies major modern scholarly contributions to the field and the historical and interpretive issues raised by sixteenth-century reformers. The chapter explores Bede’s historical status as an author of purgatory.
Isabel Moreira
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199736041
- eISBN:
- 9780199894628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736041.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter identifies some of the earliest Christian texts to describe purgation as part of the Christian afterlife and examines the interpretation placed on them by patristic authors from Origen ...
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This chapter identifies some of the earliest Christian texts to describe purgation as part of the Christian afterlife and examines the interpretation placed on them by patristic authors from Origen to Augustine. Bede’s definition of purgatory is presented. The chapter discusses traditional “proof texts” for purgatory including 2 Maccabees, 1 Corinthians 3:11–15, and the fate of Dinocrates in the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. It discusses purgatorial fire, universal salvation, and how ideas about original sin intersected with an economy of pain that was thought to cross the barrier of death.Less
This chapter identifies some of the earliest Christian texts to describe purgation as part of the Christian afterlife and examines the interpretation placed on them by patristic authors from Origen to Augustine. Bede’s definition of purgatory is presented. The chapter discusses traditional “proof texts” for purgatory including 2 Maccabees, 1 Corinthians 3:11–15, and the fate of Dinocrates in the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. It discusses purgatorial fire, universal salvation, and how ideas about original sin intersected with an economy of pain that was thought to cross the barrier of death.
Isabel Moreira
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199736041
- eISBN:
- 9780199894628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736041.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter challenges a school of thought that proposes that purgatory emerged in the seventh century as a result of the contact of Mediterranean Christianity with Irish religious culture. It gives ...
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This chapter challenges a school of thought that proposes that purgatory emerged in the seventh century as a result of the contact of Mediterranean Christianity with Irish religious culture. It gives special attention to the Vision of Fursey as evidence for postmortem purgation and questions the argument that penitential tariffing had a direct influence on evolving conceptions of purgatory. The chapter also examines Bede’s epitome of the Vision of Fursey, the Fragmentary Vision of 757, Vision of Paul, Redaction 6, and the Bigotian Penitential.Less
This chapter challenges a school of thought that proposes that purgatory emerged in the seventh century as a result of the contact of Mediterranean Christianity with Irish religious culture. It gives special attention to the Vision of Fursey as evidence for postmortem purgation and questions the argument that penitential tariffing had a direct influence on evolving conceptions of purgatory. The chapter also examines Bede’s epitome of the Vision of Fursey, the Fragmentary Vision of 757, Vision of Paul, Redaction 6, and the Bigotian Penitential.
Isabel Moreira
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199736041
- eISBN:
- 9780199894628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736041.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter examines how purgatory was described and understood in the works of Bede and Boniface. Particular attention is given to Bede as the author of works in which purgatory was given ...
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This chapter examines how purgatory was described and understood in the works of Bede and Boniface. Particular attention is given to Bede as the author of works in which purgatory was given theological context and legitimation as orthodox belief. The chapter examines the role of friendship ties and gift-giving in Anglo-Saxon society and in the intercessory practices of Bede’s time. The chapter also considers the cultural and religious influences that informed Anglo-Saxon Christianity and explores the potential importance of Anglo-Saxon England’s close ties with eastern Christianity. Key texts discussed include Boniface’s Vision of the Monk of Wenlock and the works of Bede: the Vision of Drythelm, Homily for Advent, Commentary on Isaiah, and Commentary on Proverbs.Less
This chapter examines how purgatory was described and understood in the works of Bede and Boniface. Particular attention is given to Bede as the author of works in which purgatory was given theological context and legitimation as orthodox belief. The chapter examines the role of friendship ties and gift-giving in Anglo-Saxon society and in the intercessory practices of Bede’s time. The chapter also considers the cultural and religious influences that informed Anglo-Saxon Christianity and explores the potential importance of Anglo-Saxon England’s close ties with eastern Christianity. Key texts discussed include Boniface’s Vision of the Monk of Wenlock and the works of Bede: the Vision of Drythelm, Homily for Advent, Commentary on Isaiah, and Commentary on Proverbs.
Isabel Moreira
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199736041
- eISBN:
- 9780199894628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736041.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter returns to the critical importance of Bede’s approach to purgatorial thinking and his willingness to confront Origen’s heretical views on the subject, as representing a formative and ...
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This chapter returns to the critical importance of Bede’s approach to purgatorial thinking and his willingness to confront Origen’s heretical views on the subject, as representing a formative and lasting contribution to purgatory’s early development, and as a critical juncture in the acceptance of the doctrine of purgatory as Catholic belief in the middle ages and beyond.Less
This chapter returns to the critical importance of Bede’s approach to purgatorial thinking and his willingness to confront Origen’s heretical views on the subject, as representing a formative and lasting contribution to purgatory’s early development, and as a critical juncture in the acceptance of the doctrine of purgatory as Catholic belief in the middle ages and beyond.
Michael Lapidge
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199239696
- eISBN:
- 9780191708336
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239696.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of ...
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The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of those English scholars whose writings determined the curriculum of medieval schools: Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, to name only the best known. This book provides an account of the nature and holdings of Anglo-Saxon libraries from the 6th century to the 11th. The early chapters discuss libraries in antiquity, notably at Alexandria and republican and imperial Rome, and also the Christian libraries of late antiquity which supplied books to Anglo-Saxon England. Because Anglo-Saxon libraries themselves have almost completely vanished, three classes of evidence need to be combined in order to form a detailed impression of their holdings: surviving inventories, surviving manuscripts, and citations of classical and patristic works by Anglo-Saxon authors themselves. After setting out the problems entailed in using such evidence, the book provides appendices containing editions of all surviving Anglo-Saxon inventories, lists of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts exported to continental libraries during the eighth century and then all manuscripts re-imported into England in the tenth, as well as a catalogue of all citations of classical and patristic literature by Anglo-Saxon authors.Less
The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of those English scholars whose writings determined the curriculum of medieval schools: Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, to name only the best known. This book provides an account of the nature and holdings of Anglo-Saxon libraries from the 6th century to the 11th. The early chapters discuss libraries in antiquity, notably at Alexandria and republican and imperial Rome, and also the Christian libraries of late antiquity which supplied books to Anglo-Saxon England. Because Anglo-Saxon libraries themselves have almost completely vanished, three classes of evidence need to be combined in order to form a detailed impression of their holdings: surviving inventories, surviving manuscripts, and citations of classical and patristic works by Anglo-Saxon authors themselves. After setting out the problems entailed in using such evidence, the book provides appendices containing editions of all surviving Anglo-Saxon inventories, lists of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts exported to continental libraries during the eighth century and then all manuscripts re-imported into England in the tenth, as well as a catalogue of all citations of classical and patristic literature by Anglo-Saxon authors.
Michael Lapidge
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263327
- eISBN:
- 9780191734168
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263327.003.0016
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter is primarily concerned with Anglo-Latin prose: that is to say, Latin prose composed in Anglo-Saxon England between roughly 650 and 1050. It poses the question of the extent to which ...
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This chapter is primarily concerned with Anglo-Latin prose: that is to say, Latin prose composed in Anglo-Saxon England between roughly 650 and 1050. It poses the question of the extent to which Anglo-Latin authors were aware of different stylistic registers, and how well they understood what diction was appropriate to either prose or verse. Using the example of Bede as a starting point, the chapter provides a list of those features of poetic diction that are found, in varying degrees, in the authors of Anglo-Latin prose. The seven criteria presented provide a crude measuring-stick against which to assess the poeticism of the principal authors of Anglo-Latin prose. The study of poeticism in Anglo-Latin prose, and in medieval Latin literature in general, is a subject that awaits exploration.Less
This chapter is primarily concerned with Anglo-Latin prose: that is to say, Latin prose composed in Anglo-Saxon England between roughly 650 and 1050. It poses the question of the extent to which Anglo-Latin authors were aware of different stylistic registers, and how well they understood what diction was appropriate to either prose or verse. Using the example of Bede as a starting point, the chapter provides a list of those features of poetic diction that are found, in varying degrees, in the authors of Anglo-Latin prose. The seven criteria presented provide a crude measuring-stick against which to assess the poeticism of the principal authors of Anglo-Latin prose. The study of poeticism in Anglo-Latin prose, and in medieval Latin literature in general, is a subject that awaits exploration.
Richard Sharpe
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263327
- eISBN:
- 9780191734168
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263327.003.0017
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Bede’s reputation has never stood higher than today. The range of his writings is considerable. Bede composed Latin verse, the climax of secondary school education. His language has been little ...
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Bede’s reputation has never stood higher than today. The range of his writings is considerable. Bede composed Latin verse, the climax of secondary school education. His language has been little discussed but often praised. A recent discussion of Bede’s prose takes a statistical approach to five sample passages taken from the Historia ecclesiastica and from two of the homilies; not a single Latin sentence is quoted, and no distinctions are made between the language of the different works. Real analysis of his prose concentrates on the biblical works, which vary substantially from one another. There are two distinct agendas for study here, one focusing on the language of biblical exegesis in Latin, particularly in late antiquity, the other concerning the development of Bede’s own work in this genre. The chapter then reviews the preliminary problems that help to explain why reading the more complex of Bede’s exegetical works is so much more difficult than reading his historical prose.Less
Bede’s reputation has never stood higher than today. The range of his writings is considerable. Bede composed Latin verse, the climax of secondary school education. His language has been little discussed but often praised. A recent discussion of Bede’s prose takes a statistical approach to five sample passages taken from the Historia ecclesiastica and from two of the homilies; not a single Latin sentence is quoted, and no distinctions are made between the language of the different works. Real analysis of his prose concentrates on the biblical works, which vary substantially from one another. There are two distinct agendas for study here, one focusing on the language of biblical exegesis in Latin, particularly in late antiquity, the other concerning the development of Bede’s own work in this genre. The chapter then reviews the preliminary problems that help to explain why reading the more complex of Bede’s exegetical works is so much more difficult than reading his historical prose.
J. R. MADDICOTT
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197262795
- eISBN:
- 9780191753954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262795.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter considers the evidence for rural wealth in the seventh and eighth centuries in the country which was to become England. It demonstrates that the expansion of international trade and the ...
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This chapter considers the evidence for rural wealth in the seventh and eighth centuries in the country which was to become England. It demonstrates that the expansion of international trade and the proliferation of coinage created the conditions for a shift in balance, and for the first time the means became available to turn rural surpluses into something like treasure. The movement of two separate economies towards convergence increased the potentiality of kingship.Less
This chapter considers the evidence for rural wealth in the seventh and eighth centuries in the country which was to become England. It demonstrates that the expansion of international trade and the proliferation of coinage created the conditions for a shift in balance, and for the first time the means became available to turn rural surpluses into something like treasure. The movement of two separate economies towards convergence increased the potentiality of kingship.
Christopher Highley
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199533404
- eISBN:
- 9780191714726
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533404.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
‘The lost British lamb’: Religion and National Identity among English, Welsh, and Scottish Catholics carries the argument beyond the fashioning of English Catholic identity in response to Protestant ...
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‘The lost British lamb’: Religion and National Identity among English, Welsh, and Scottish Catholics carries the argument beyond the fashioning of English Catholic identity in response to Protestant ideology, by probing its formation in relation to competing Catholic identities and traditions from other parts of the British Isles. In exile across Europe, English Catholics found themselves in close proximity to their fellow-Catholics from Wales and Scotland but also in competition with them for the attention and resources of princes and popes. The shared experience of exile, far from producing a pan-British Catholic solidarity, tended instead to exacerbate deep-seated tensions among the different peoples of the Atlantic Archipelago. Thomas Stapleton's translation of the Venerable Bede's The history of the church of Englandeis central to understanding the attitudes and prejudices of English Catholics towards their Celtic co-religionists. The chapter concludes with an examination of divided English Catholic responses to the accession of a Scotsman, James I, to the English throne.Less
‘The lost British lamb’: Religion and National Identity among English, Welsh, and Scottish Catholics carries the argument beyond the fashioning of English Catholic identity in response to Protestant ideology, by probing its formation in relation to competing Catholic identities and traditions from other parts of the British Isles. In exile across Europe, English Catholics found themselves in close proximity to their fellow-Catholics from Wales and Scotland but also in competition with them for the attention and resources of princes and popes. The shared experience of exile, far from producing a pan-British Catholic solidarity, tended instead to exacerbate deep-seated tensions among the different peoples of the Atlantic Archipelago. Thomas Stapleton's translation of the Venerable Bede's The history of the church of Englandeis central to understanding the attitudes and prejudices of English Catholics towards their Celtic co-religionists. The chapter concludes with an examination of divided English Catholic responses to the accession of a Scotsman, James I, to the English throne.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199558155
- eISBN:
- 9780191721342
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558155.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Anglo-Saxon / Old English Literature
Chapters 4 and 5 constitute another pair of chapters, but this time the argument is that critics have been premature in finding evidence of same‐sex activity. Chapter 4 begins with a review of the ...
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Chapters 4 and 5 constitute another pair of chapters, but this time the argument is that critics have been premature in finding evidence of same‐sex activity. Chapter 4 begins with a review of the biblical and patristic allusions to Sodom as a context for its study of medieval Continental and Anglo‐Latin interpretations of the narrative, discussing Bede, Aldhelm, Boniface, Alcuin, and Ælfric. It shows that religious writers in Latin associate Sodom with a range of sins, and not just same‐sex acts.Less
Chapters 4 and 5 constitute another pair of chapters, but this time the argument is that critics have been premature in finding evidence of same‐sex activity. Chapter 4 begins with a review of the biblical and patristic allusions to Sodom as a context for its study of medieval Continental and Anglo‐Latin interpretations of the narrative, discussing Bede, Aldhelm, Boniface, Alcuin, and Ælfric. It shows that religious writers in Latin associate Sodom with a range of sins, and not just same‐sex acts.
Jerry L. Walls
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199732296
- eISBN:
- 9780199918492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732296.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter traces the development of the doctrine of purgatory from biblical and Patristic sources, through the present. It gives special attention to the medieval period, when the doctrine was ...
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This chapter traces the development of the doctrine of purgatory from biblical and Patristic sources, through the present. It gives special attention to the medieval period, when the doctrine was arguably born and achieved its first formal affirmations and doctrinal definition. It shows that the story of purgatory embraces social and cultural dimensions as well as theological ones. Indeed, the cultural power of the doctrine has often been due as much or more to its promulgation in works of art, both popular and classic, as to works of formal theology.Less
This chapter traces the development of the doctrine of purgatory from biblical and Patristic sources, through the present. It gives special attention to the medieval period, when the doctrine was arguably born and achieved its first formal affirmations and doctrinal definition. It shows that the story of purgatory embraces social and cultural dimensions as well as theological ones. Indeed, the cultural power of the doctrine has often been due as much or more to its promulgation in works of art, both popular and classic, as to works of formal theology.
Kathy Lavezzo
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501703157
- eISBN:
- 9781501706158
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501703157.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
England during the Middle Ages was at the forefront of European antisemitism. It was in medieval Norwich that the notorious “blood libel” was first introduced when a resident accused the city's ...
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England during the Middle Ages was at the forefront of European antisemitism. It was in medieval Norwich that the notorious “blood libel” was first introduced when a resident accused the city's Jewish leaders of abducting and ritually murdering a local boy. This book rethinks the complex and contradictory relation between England's rejection of “the Jew” and the centrality of Jews to classic English literature. Drawing on literary, historical, and cartographic texts, the book charts an entangled Jewish imaginative presence in English culture. It tracks how English writers from Bede to John Milton imagine Jews via buildings—tombs, latrines and especially houses—that support fantasies of exile. Epitomizing this trope is the blood libel and its implication that Jews cannot be accommodated in England because of the anti-Christian violence they allegedly perform in their homes. In the Croxton Play of the Sacrament, Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the Jewish house not only serves as a lethal trap but also as the site of an emerging bourgeoisie incompatible with Christian pieties. In the book's epilogue, the chapters advance the inquiry into Victorian England and the relationship between Charles Dickens (whose Fagin is the second most infamous Jew in English literature after Shylock) and the Jewish couple that purchased his London home, Tavistock House, showing how far relations between gentiles and Jews in England had (and had not) evolved.Less
England during the Middle Ages was at the forefront of European antisemitism. It was in medieval Norwich that the notorious “blood libel” was first introduced when a resident accused the city's Jewish leaders of abducting and ritually murdering a local boy. This book rethinks the complex and contradictory relation between England's rejection of “the Jew” and the centrality of Jews to classic English literature. Drawing on literary, historical, and cartographic texts, the book charts an entangled Jewish imaginative presence in English culture. It tracks how English writers from Bede to John Milton imagine Jews via buildings—tombs, latrines and especially houses—that support fantasies of exile. Epitomizing this trope is the blood libel and its implication that Jews cannot be accommodated in England because of the anti-Christian violence they allegedly perform in their homes. In the Croxton Play of the Sacrament, Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the Jewish house not only serves as a lethal trap but also as the site of an emerging bourgeoisie incompatible with Christian pieties. In the book's epilogue, the chapters advance the inquiry into Victorian England and the relationship between Charles Dickens (whose Fagin is the second most infamous Jew in English literature after Shylock) and the Jewish couple that purchased his London home, Tavistock House, showing how far relations between gentiles and Jews in England had (and had not) evolved.
Ronald Hutton
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205708
- eISBN:
- 9780191676758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205708.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, British and Irish Early Modern History
The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at once a festival of Christ and of his mother, was installed upon February 2. It took a long time to develop and its origins are obscure. It is first ...
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The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at once a festival of Christ and of his mother, was installed upon February 2. It took a long time to develop and its origins are obscure. It is first definitely recorded in seventh-century Rome, in a context which suggests that it had arrived from Gaul, but with a name which suggests that it had first appeared in the Greek world. Some sort of festival of the Purification was certainly operating among the eastern churches by the fourth century. Once the Roman Church had taken it up, its adoption throughout western Europe was assured, and rapid; it had reached England by the end of the seventh century, and by the time that Bede wrote had acquired its characteristic ritual of a candlelit procession.Less
The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at once a festival of Christ and of his mother, was installed upon February 2. It took a long time to develop and its origins are obscure. It is first definitely recorded in seventh-century Rome, in a context which suggests that it had arrived from Gaul, but with a name which suggests that it had first appeared in the Greek world. Some sort of festival of the Purification was certainly operating among the eastern churches by the fourth century. Once the Roman Church had taken it up, its adoption throughout western Europe was assured, and rapid; it had reached England by the end of the seventh century, and by the time that Bede wrote had acquired its characteristic ritual of a candlelit procession.
Ronald Hutton
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205708
- eISBN:
- 9780191676758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205708.003.0038
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, British and Irish Early Modern History
In Ireland until the nineteenth century, the feast of Martinmas remained tinged with the ritual connotations mentioned by Bede, for in most of the west of the island, and some places in the east, it ...
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In Ireland until the nineteenth century, the feast of Martinmas remained tinged with the ritual connotations mentioned by Bede, for in most of the west of the island, and some places in the east, it was considered lucky to kill an animal upon this day and to sprinkle its blood on the threshold of the home. A cock was the most convenient victim, but a sick sheep or goat was often chosen instead. Nothing like this seems to be recorded in Britain, where the annual immolation was kept up for purely practical reasons and pleasures until the development of root crops enabled farmers to feed whole herds and flocks through the winters. This chapter discusses Queen Elizabeth and her favourite courtier at that time, the earl of Essex, armoured in black, and the decorations of the tiltyard included a pavilion representing the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, a compliment to the Virgin Queen.Less
In Ireland until the nineteenth century, the feast of Martinmas remained tinged with the ritual connotations mentioned by Bede, for in most of the west of the island, and some places in the east, it was considered lucky to kill an animal upon this day and to sprinkle its blood on the threshold of the home. A cock was the most convenient victim, but a sick sheep or goat was often chosen instead. Nothing like this seems to be recorded in Britain, where the annual immolation was kept up for purely practical reasons and pleasures until the development of root crops enabled farmers to feed whole herds and flocks through the winters. This chapter discusses Queen Elizabeth and her favourite courtier at that time, the earl of Essex, armoured in black, and the decorations of the tiltyard included a pavilion representing the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, a compliment to the Virgin Queen.
Alexander Murray
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199285464
- eISBN:
- 9780191700330
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285464.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Rees Davies was a Welsh historian who wrote about, among other subjects, the English; Bede, an English historian who wrote about, among other subjects, the Welsh — or rather, in both cases, not the ...
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Rees Davies was a Welsh historian who wrote about, among other subjects, the English; Bede, an English historian who wrote about, among other subjects, the Welsh — or rather, in both cases, not the Welsh (a Germanic term for ‘foreign’) but the Brytaniaid (Britons). This chapter shows that Bede's references to the Brytaniaid betray a racial animus, an animus distinct enough to have ensured that, if written today, his book would be banned in state schools, and one not to be explained away by the justifications he offers for it. Bede compares unfavourably in this respect with Rees, who wrote evenhandedly about all the hybrids of our happily united kingdom.Less
Rees Davies was a Welsh historian who wrote about, among other subjects, the English; Bede, an English historian who wrote about, among other subjects, the Welsh — or rather, in both cases, not the Welsh (a Germanic term for ‘foreign’) but the Brytaniaid (Britons). This chapter shows that Bede's references to the Brytaniaid betray a racial animus, an animus distinct enough to have ensured that, if written today, his book would be banned in state schools, and one not to be explained away by the justifications he offers for it. Bede compares unfavourably in this respect with Rees, who wrote evenhandedly about all the hybrids of our happily united kingdom.
Diarmuid Scully
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264508
- eISBN:
- 9780191734120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264508.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines the early insular history of Bede's Chronica Maiora in a universal context. It considers Bede's treatment of salvation history in the Chronica Maiora's account of the ...
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This chapter examines the early insular history of Bede's Chronica Maiora in a universal context. It considers Bede's treatment of salvation history in the Chronica Maiora's account of the archipelago in the era of the Roman conquest and the barbarian invasions, viewed within the context of contemporary world history. The chapter explains that the Chronica Maiora is located in Bede's magisterial survey of divine and human time and traces the providential unfolding of universal history through the six ages of this world.Less
This chapter examines the early insular history of Bede's Chronica Maiora in a universal context. It considers Bede's treatment of salvation history in the Chronica Maiora's account of the archipelago in the era of the Roman conquest and the barbarian invasions, viewed within the context of contemporary world history. The chapter explains that the Chronica Maiora is located in Bede's magisterial survey of divine and human time and traces the providential unfolding of universal history through the six ages of this world.
Juliet Mullins
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264508
- eISBN:
- 9780191734120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264508.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines the doubtful issues in Bede's account of the pre-Viking history of Britain and Ireland in his Historia Ecclesiastica (HE). It focuses on the section of the HE where Bede ...
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This chapter examines the doubtful issues in Bede's account of the pre-Viking history of Britain and Ireland in his Historia Ecclesiastica (HE). It focuses on the section of the HE where Bede attributed the conversion of the Picts to the work of Columba and the Christianisation of the southern Picts to one Nynia episcopo reuerentissimo et sanctissimo uiro de natione Brettonum. The chapter explores the origins of the cult of Saint Martin of Tours and considers what evidence it might offer about the nexus of influences operating upon Bede's account of the conversion.Less
This chapter examines the doubtful issues in Bede's account of the pre-Viking history of Britain and Ireland in his Historia Ecclesiastica (HE). It focuses on the section of the HE where Bede attributed the conversion of the Picts to the work of Columba and the Christianisation of the southern Picts to one Nynia episcopo reuerentissimo et sanctissimo uiro de natione Brettonum. The chapter explores the origins of the cult of Saint Martin of Tours and considers what evidence it might offer about the nexus of influences operating upon Bede's account of the conversion.
Ní Máire Mhaonaigh
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264508
- eISBN:
- 9780191734120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264508.003.0018
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter discusses the historical accounts of Viking raids in Ireland and Britain during the last years of the eighth century or the early years of the ninth. It compares the accounts of Bede and ...
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This chapter discusses the historical accounts of Viking raids in Ireland and Britain during the last years of the eighth century or the early years of the ninth. It compares the accounts of Bede and Alcuin of York and the historical relevance of the role of the Mayo monastery, Bishop Colmán, and Gerald of Mayo. The chapter provides background information on the lives of both Colmán and Gerald.Less
This chapter discusses the historical accounts of Viking raids in Ireland and Britain during the last years of the eighth century or the early years of the ninth. It compares the accounts of Bede and Alcuin of York and the historical relevance of the role of the Mayo monastery, Bishop Colmán, and Gerald of Mayo. The chapter provides background information on the lives of both Colmán and Gerald.
