Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199230204
- eISBN:
- 9780191710681
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230204.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the ...
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The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.Less
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.
Adam T. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163239
- eISBN:
- 9781400866502
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163239.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the breakdown and redevelopment of the civilization machine during the Middle Bronze Age alongside a fearsome new assemblage that is best described as a “war machine.” The ...
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This chapter examines the breakdown and redevelopment of the civilization machine during the Middle Bronze Age alongside a fearsome new assemblage that is best described as a “war machine.” The operation of the war machine entailed not only the reproduction of political violence but also the dissection of social orders, severing a sovereign body from the bodies of subjects—those who command from those who obey. Through the conspicuous consumption of Middle Bonze Age mortuary ritual, the war machine reproduced the terms on which social order was predicated—charisma, violence, and distinction. However, built into the conjoined operations of the civilization and war machines was a contradiction. As the one (the erstwhile sovereign) pulled away from the many (the constituted public), demands upon material resources exceeded capacities. Territorial fragmentation and military stalemate—consequences of the war machine's proliferation—threatened to undermine the workings of the civilization machine, dissecting a previously expansive public into smaller and smaller segments. As a result, the central principle of charismatic authority was put at risk insofar as political power flowed from the provision of needs through conflicts successfully waged.Less
This chapter examines the breakdown and redevelopment of the civilization machine during the Middle Bronze Age alongside a fearsome new assemblage that is best described as a “war machine.” The operation of the war machine entailed not only the reproduction of political violence but also the dissection of social orders, severing a sovereign body from the bodies of subjects—those who command from those who obey. Through the conspicuous consumption of Middle Bonze Age mortuary ritual, the war machine reproduced the terms on which social order was predicated—charisma, violence, and distinction. However, built into the conjoined operations of the civilization and war machines was a contradiction. As the one (the erstwhile sovereign) pulled away from the many (the constituted public), demands upon material resources exceeded capacities. Territorial fragmentation and military stalemate—consequences of the war machine's proliferation—threatened to undermine the workings of the civilization machine, dissecting a previously expansive public into smaller and smaller segments. As a result, the central principle of charismatic authority was put at risk insofar as political power flowed from the provision of needs through conflicts successfully waged.
Frederick Quinn
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195325638
- eISBN:
- 9780199869336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325638.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter discusses the changing Western perceptions of Islam from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics covered include images of Islam, Christian-Islamic contact in history, accounts of Islam ...
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This chapter discusses the changing Western perceptions of Islam from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics covered include images of Islam, Christian-Islamic contact in history, accounts of Islam that emerged, later Catholic views of Islam, the Protestant view, positive strains of interpretation of Islam, and depictions of Islam in Western literary works of the Middle Ages.Less
This chapter discusses the changing Western perceptions of Islam from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics covered include images of Islam, Christian-Islamic contact in history, accounts of Islam that emerged, later Catholic views of Islam, the Protestant view, positive strains of interpretation of Islam, and depictions of Islam in Western literary works of the Middle Ages.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.003.0016
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, ...
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The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, evidence for feuding in France before 1559 is fragmentary. Among the aristocracy at least private violence was increasingly under control during the late Middle Ages: revenge killing as a feature of high politics had been eradicated by the beginning of the 16th century. Factors often identified with modernity did much to create the conditions for a recrudescence of vindicatory violence: social mobility, Protestantism, and duelling. Vindicatory violence increased in France because of, not in spite of, the social and economic dynamism associated with the Renaissance, as the traditional elite was challenged by the enterprising and socially mobile.Less
The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, evidence for feuding in France before 1559 is fragmentary. Among the aristocracy at least private violence was increasingly under control during the late Middle Ages: revenge killing as a feature of high politics had been eradicated by the beginning of the 16th century. Factors often identified with modernity did much to create the conditions for a recrudescence of vindicatory violence: social mobility, Protestantism, and duelling. Vindicatory violence increased in France because of, not in spite of, the social and economic dynamism associated with the Renaissance, as the traditional elite was challenged by the enterprising and socially mobile.
Peter S. Wells
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143385
- eISBN:
- 9781400844777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0013
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter argues that the “Roman conquest” of parts of temperate Europe was not as all-changing as most history books would suggest. The idea of a “Roman Europe,” in the sense of European ...
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This chapter argues that the “Roman conquest” of parts of temperate Europe was not as all-changing as most history books would suggest. The idea of a “Roman Europe,” in the sense of European provinces practicing Roman culture—in particular, Roman ways of seeing—needs considerable revision. Much evidence suggests that Middle Iron Age modes of visual perception and ways of crafting objects continued throughout the period of Roman political domination to reemerge in the so-called “early Germanic” style of the early Middle Ages, as well as in “Celtic” objects such as the Book of Kells and the traditions known as “Anglo-Saxon” and “Viking” art.Less
This chapter argues that the “Roman conquest” of parts of temperate Europe was not as all-changing as most history books would suggest. The idea of a “Roman Europe,” in the sense of European provinces practicing Roman culture—in particular, Roman ways of seeing—needs considerable revision. Much evidence suggests that Middle Iron Age modes of visual perception and ways of crafting objects continued throughout the period of Roman political domination to reemerge in the so-called “early Germanic” style of the early Middle Ages, as well as in “Celtic” objects such as the Book of Kells and the traditions known as “Anglo-Saxon” and “Viking” art.
Robert H. F. Carver
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199217861
- eISBN:
- 9780191712357
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217861.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores Apuleian influence in the Middle Ages. The importance of Monte Cassino in preserving (and providing early responses to) Apuleius' works is discussed. Evidence is presented that ...
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This chapter explores Apuleian influence in the Middle Ages. The importance of Monte Cassino in preserving (and providing early responses to) Apuleius' works is discussed. Evidence is presented that the most educated minds of the period could (re-)create Apuleian effects through their imitation of narrative and descriptive sources (such as the De nuptiis), which were themselves suffused with Apuleian themes and diction.Less
This chapter explores Apuleian influence in the Middle Ages. The importance of Monte Cassino in preserving (and providing early responses to) Apuleius' works is discussed. Evidence is presented that the most educated minds of the period could (re-)create Apuleian effects through their imitation of narrative and descriptive sources (such as the De nuptiis), which were themselves suffused with Apuleian themes and diction.
Axel Hadenius
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246663
- eISBN:
- 9780191599392
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246661.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Analyses the development of a new mode of state in the Middle Ages in Europe. This was the emergence of an interactive state, signified by a regulated intercourse between state and society. This was ...
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Analyses the development of a new mode of state in the Middle Ages in Europe. This was the emergence of an interactive state, signified by a regulated intercourse between state and society. This was a state built on pluralism, power sharing and constitutionalism. Certain institutional and societal conditions contributed to this development, which laid the ground for the so‐called ‘European miracle’.Less
Analyses the development of a new mode of state in the Middle Ages in Europe. This was the emergence of an interactive state, signified by a regulated intercourse between state and society. This was a state built on pluralism, power sharing and constitutionalism. Certain institutional and societal conditions contributed to this development, which laid the ground for the so‐called ‘European miracle’.
John Hatcher and Mark Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199244119
- eISBN:
- 9780191697333
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199244119.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Economic History
Most of what has been written on the economy of the Middle Ages is deeply influenced by abstract concepts and theories. The most powerful and popular of these guiding beliefs are derived from ...
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Most of what has been written on the economy of the Middle Ages is deeply influenced by abstract concepts and theories. The most powerful and popular of these guiding beliefs are derived from intellectual foundations laid down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Adam Smith, Johan von Thünen, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx. In the hands of twentieth-century historians and social scientists these venerable ideas have been moulded into three grand explanatory ideas that continue to dominate interpretations of economic development. These trumpet in turn the claims of ‘commercialisation’, ‘population and resources’, or ‘class power and property relations’ as the prime movers of historical change. This book examines the structure and tests the validity of these conflicting models from a variety of perspectives. In the course of their investigations the authors provide not only detailed reconstructions of the economic history of England in the Middle Ages and sustained critical commentaries on the work of leading historians, but also discussions of the philosophy and methods of history and the social sciences. The result is an introduction to medieval economic history, a critique of established models, and a treatise on historiographical method.Less
Most of what has been written on the economy of the Middle Ages is deeply influenced by abstract concepts and theories. The most powerful and popular of these guiding beliefs are derived from intellectual foundations laid down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Adam Smith, Johan von Thünen, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx. In the hands of twentieth-century historians and social scientists these venerable ideas have been moulded into three grand explanatory ideas that continue to dominate interpretations of economic development. These trumpet in turn the claims of ‘commercialisation’, ‘population and resources’, or ‘class power and property relations’ as the prime movers of historical change. This book examines the structure and tests the validity of these conflicting models from a variety of perspectives. In the course of their investigations the authors provide not only detailed reconstructions of the economic history of England in the Middle Ages and sustained critical commentaries on the work of leading historians, but also discussions of the philosophy and methods of history and the social sciences. The result is an introduction to medieval economic history, a critique of established models, and a treatise on historiographical method.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This concluding chapter provides some final insights into the history surrounding the Problem of Paganism. First, the chapter considers how the progress of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in ...
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This concluding chapter provides some final insights into the history surrounding the Problem of Paganism. First, the chapter considers how the progress of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe would likewise lead to a natural progression of attitudes from medieval severity to Early Modern toleration. The reality, as the chapter shows, defies such expectations, and this unchangingness is remarkable, because according to almost every historical account, the three centuries involved were a time of epochal change, of the transition to what is called ‘modernity’, and the most emblematic event of the new era, Columbus's voyages, had a direct bearing on the Problem of Paganism. After expounding on this point, the chapter suggests a new way of approaching philosophy from the Long Middle Ages — ‘Historical Synthesis’.Less
This concluding chapter provides some final insights into the history surrounding the Problem of Paganism. First, the chapter considers how the progress of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe would likewise lead to a natural progression of attitudes from medieval severity to Early Modern toleration. The reality, as the chapter shows, defies such expectations, and this unchangingness is remarkable, because according to almost every historical account, the three centuries involved were a time of epochal change, of the transition to what is called ‘modernity’, and the most emblematic event of the new era, Columbus's voyages, had a direct bearing on the Problem of Paganism. After expounding on this point, the chapter suggests a new way of approaching philosophy from the Long Middle Ages — ‘Historical Synthesis’.
Richard H. Steckel
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280681
- eISBN:
- 9780191602467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280681.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Gives perspective to the debate over living standards during industrialization by examining health and nutrition over the past 1200 years using stature either recorded on military records or inferred ...
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Gives perspective to the debate over living standards during industrialization by examining health and nutrition over the past 1200 years using stature either recorded on military records or inferred from skeletal remains. From an average of 173.4 cm in the early Middle Ages, the heights of men fell approximately 6.4 cm, reaching a minimum sometime in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, and recovery to levels of a millennium earlier was not attained until the 1920s. The decline that began in the late Middle Ages may be linked with a cooler and more variable climate; growing inequality; urbanization; fluctuations in population size that impinged on nutritional status; the global spread of diseases associated with European expansion and colonization; and wars over state building or religion. The upturn well underway by the nineteenth century was associated initially with dietary improvements and later with reduced exposure to disease related to public health measures and better housing.Less
Gives perspective to the debate over living standards during industrialization by examining health and nutrition over the past 1200 years using stature either recorded on military records or inferred from skeletal remains. From an average of 173.4 cm in the early Middle Ages, the heights of men fell approximately 6.4 cm, reaching a minimum sometime in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, and recovery to levels of a millennium earlier was not attained until the 1920s. The decline that began in the late Middle Ages may be linked with a cooler and more variable climate; growing inequality; urbanization; fluctuations in population size that impinged on nutritional status; the global spread of diseases associated with European expansion and colonization; and wars over state building or religion. The upturn well underway by the nineteenth century was associated initially with dietary improvements and later with reduced exposure to disease related to public health measures and better housing.
W. David Myers
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195178067
- eISBN:
- 9780199784905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195178068.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter explores changes in sacramental penance. It is shown that the form of confession prevalent today is a product of the High Middle Ages and the religious reforms of the Council of Trent. ...
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This chapter explores changes in sacramental penance. It is shown that the form of confession prevalent today is a product of the High Middle Ages and the religious reforms of the Council of Trent. Modern devotion to the sacrament signaled by frequent reception is a relatively recent phenomenon that has varied greatly since the Council of Trent.Less
This chapter explores changes in sacramental penance. It is shown that the form of confession prevalent today is a product of the High Middle Ages and the religious reforms of the Council of Trent. Modern devotion to the sacrament signaled by frequent reception is a relatively recent phenomenon that has varied greatly since the Council of Trent.
William Chester Jordan
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164953
- eISBN:
- 9781400866397
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164953.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter considers the factors that justified kings' and administrators' resort to the exile of large numbers of the criminal population. The relationship between the medieval English law of ...
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This chapter considers the factors that justified kings' and administrators' resort to the exile of large numbers of the criminal population. The relationship between the medieval English law of exile and the laws addressing felons and felonies is a complicated and, by modern reckoning, an unusual one. This is especially the case because two groups of people suspected of, or implicated in, felonies in the High Middle Ages regularly avoided the punishments which would have been meted out to them if they had been convicted in a court of law. One group was composed of men and women who, though not convicted of the crimes of which they were suspected, were in such bad repute that they were obliged to abjure (foreswear) the realm. The other comprised felons who confessed their crimes in sanctuary (on which, more shortly) or in other special circumstances, who also were obliged to abjure.Less
This chapter considers the factors that justified kings' and administrators' resort to the exile of large numbers of the criminal population. The relationship between the medieval English law of exile and the laws addressing felons and felonies is a complicated and, by modern reckoning, an unusual one. This is especially the case because two groups of people suspected of, or implicated in, felonies in the High Middle Ages regularly avoided the punishments which would have been meted out to them if they had been convicted in a court of law. One group was composed of men and women who, though not convicted of the crimes of which they were suspected, were in such bad repute that they were obliged to abjure (foreswear) the realm. The other comprised felons who confessed their crimes in sanctuary (on which, more shortly) or in other special circumstances, who also were obliged to abjure.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter looks at the ease with which the ancient pagan culture was adopted and adapted to fit into a Christian world (without in many cases being actually Christianized) during the Early Middle ...
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This chapter looks at the ease with which the ancient pagan culture was adopted and adapted to fit into a Christian world (without in many cases being actually Christianized) during the Early Middle Ages. In writing which was not strictly theological or philosophical, early medieval scholars used ancient models and language freely within a Christian context. They took the compatibility of pagan culture and Christian belief so much for granted that the Problem of Paganism did not arise; and the same is true for their predecessors in the sixth and seventh centuries as for some tenth- and eleventh-century writing. This broad, unproblematic acceptance of classical culture set what would remain the mainstream view throughout the Middle Ages. The chapter also looks at how Christian Europe came about only as the result of a long process.Less
This chapter looks at the ease with which the ancient pagan culture was adopted and adapted to fit into a Christian world (without in many cases being actually Christianized) during the Early Middle Ages. In writing which was not strictly theological or philosophical, early medieval scholars used ancient models and language freely within a Christian context. They took the compatibility of pagan culture and Christian belief so much for granted that the Problem of Paganism did not arise; and the same is true for their predecessors in the sixth and seventh centuries as for some tenth- and eleventh-century writing. This broad, unproblematic acceptance of classical culture set what would remain the mainstream view throughout the Middle Ages. The chapter also looks at how Christian Europe came about only as the result of a long process.
Gerhard Bowering
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164823
- eISBN:
- 9781400866427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164823.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This introductory chapter begins with a historical perspective of the Islamic world. Islam has grown consistently throughout history, expanding into new neighboring territories without ever ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a historical perspective of the Islamic world. Islam has grown consistently throughout history, expanding into new neighboring territories without ever retreating (except on the margins, as in Sicily and Spain, where it was expelled by force). It began in the seventh century as a small community in Mecca and Medina in the Arabian Peninsula, led by its messenger the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), who was eventually to unite all the Arab tribes under the banner of Islam. Within the first two centuries of its existence, Islam came into global prominence through its conquests of the Middle East, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, the Iranian lands, Central Asia, and the Indus valley. In 2014, the year 1435 of the Muslim calendar, the Islamic world was estimated to account for a population of approximately a billion and a half, representing about one-fifth of humanity. The remainder of the chapter discusses the evolution of Islamic political thought; foundations of Islamic political thought; and Islamic political thought in the early Middle Ages (750–1055), high Middle Ages (1055–1258), late Middle Ages (1258–1500), early modern period (1500–1800), and later modern period (from 1800 to the present).Less
This introductory chapter begins with a historical perspective of the Islamic world. Islam has grown consistently throughout history, expanding into new neighboring territories without ever retreating (except on the margins, as in Sicily and Spain, where it was expelled by force). It began in the seventh century as a small community in Mecca and Medina in the Arabian Peninsula, led by its messenger the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), who was eventually to unite all the Arab tribes under the banner of Islam. Within the first two centuries of its existence, Islam came into global prominence through its conquests of the Middle East, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, the Iranian lands, Central Asia, and the Indus valley. In 2014, the year 1435 of the Muslim calendar, the Islamic world was estimated to account for a population of approximately a billion and a half, representing about one-fifth of humanity. The remainder of the chapter discusses the evolution of Islamic political thought; foundations of Islamic political thought; and Islamic political thought in the early Middle Ages (750–1055), high Middle Ages (1055–1258), late Middle Ages (1258–1500), early modern period (1500–1800), and later modern period (from 1800 to the present).
Jack Tannous
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691179094
- eISBN:
- 9780691184166
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179094.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to ...
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In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to its eventual conversion to Islam. This book argues that key to understanding these dramatic religious transformations are ordinary religious believers, often called “the simple” in late antique and medieval sources. Largely agrarian and illiterate, these Christians outnumbered Muslims well into the era of the Crusades, and yet they have typically been invisible in our understanding of the Middle East's history. What did it mean for Christian communities to break apart over theological disagreements that most people could not understand? How does our view of the rise of Islam change if we take seriously the fact that Muslims remained a demographic minority for much of the Middle Ages? In addressing these and other questions, the book provides a sweeping reinterpretation of the religious history of the medieval Middle East. The book draws on a wealth of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources to recast these conquered lands as largely Christian ones whose growing Muslim populations are properly understood as converting away from and in competition with the non-Muslim communities around them.Less
In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to its eventual conversion to Islam. This book argues that key to understanding these dramatic religious transformations are ordinary religious believers, often called “the simple” in late antique and medieval sources. Largely agrarian and illiterate, these Christians outnumbered Muslims well into the era of the Crusades, and yet they have typically been invisible in our understanding of the Middle East's history. What did it mean for Christian communities to break apart over theological disagreements that most people could not understand? How does our view of the rise of Islam change if we take seriously the fact that Muslims remained a demographic minority for much of the Middle Ages? In addressing these and other questions, the book provides a sweeping reinterpretation of the religious history of the medieval Middle East. The book draws on a wealth of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources to recast these conquered lands as largely Christian ones whose growing Muslim populations are properly understood as converting away from and in competition with the non-Muslim communities around them.
Margot E. Fassler
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195124538
- eISBN:
- 9780199868421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195124538.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter demonstrates how liturgical scholars traditionally study the Office, working out of the example of the Advent season and its history. It lays out the common source materials for the ...
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This chapter demonstrates how liturgical scholars traditionally study the Office, working out of the example of the Advent season and its history. It lays out the common source materials for the study of liturgy in the Latin Middle Ages, and demonstrates how scholars work with various kinds of tools currently available. The creative genius of the 10th and 11th centuries was lavished upon this Office, as each region and religious community refashioned a large body of broadly circulating materials to suit its particular needs and tastes. The process of understanding how this happened is crucial to knowing how religious cultures evolved in the Latin Middle Ages.Less
This chapter demonstrates how liturgical scholars traditionally study the Office, working out of the example of the Advent season and its history. It lays out the common source materials for the study of liturgy in the Latin Middle Ages, and demonstrates how scholars work with various kinds of tools currently available. The creative genius of the 10th and 11th centuries was lavished upon this Office, as each region and religious community refashioned a large body of broadly circulating materials to suit its particular needs and tastes. The process of understanding how this happened is crucial to knowing how religious cultures evolved in the Latin Middle Ages.
David Luscombe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263051
- eISBN:
- 9780191734090
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263051.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter discusses the contributions that were made by former Fellows of the Academy to the study of the medieval church. It states that the history of the medieval church is inseparable from the ...
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This chapter discusses the contributions that were made by former Fellows of the Academy to the study of the medieval church. It states that the history of the medieval church is inseparable from the general history of the Middle Ages, since the church shaped society and society shaped the church. The chapter determines that no hard and fast distinction can always be made between the works by ecclesiastical historians during the twentieth century, and the contributions made to general history by other historians.Less
This chapter discusses the contributions that were made by former Fellows of the Academy to the study of the medieval church. It states that the history of the medieval church is inseparable from the general history of the Middle Ages, since the church shaped society and society shaped the church. The chapter determines that no hard and fast distinction can always be made between the works by ecclesiastical historians during the twentieth century, and the contributions made to general history by other historians.
Hugh White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187301
- eISBN:
- 9780191674693
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187301.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings ...
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‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.Less
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.
Alcuin Blamires
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198186304
- eISBN:
- 9780191674501
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186304.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have ...
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Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.Less
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.
DAVID GARY SHAW
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204015
- eISBN:
- 9780191676086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204015.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions ...
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Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions such as the cathedral and the Borough Community. It may well be that the sort of volatility that is of the nature of towns actually contributes to the tenacity with which such groups reinforce and strengthen their corporate bodies. Community may thrive most where the instability of the membership is most acute. In a town such as Wells, where demographic and economic realities produced a largely transient population and where two local authorities vied for influence, the signs of the collectivity may well have loomed even larger. Thus, the official mentality of the leaders of the town was one which fostered the importance of unity, tradition, solidarity, and the connection of surrogate brotherhood. Social complexity helped to father social and cultural unity.Less
Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions such as the cathedral and the Borough Community. It may well be that the sort of volatility that is of the nature of towns actually contributes to the tenacity with which such groups reinforce and strengthen their corporate bodies. Community may thrive most where the instability of the membership is most acute. In a town such as Wells, where demographic and economic realities produced a largely transient population and where two local authorities vied for influence, the signs of the collectivity may well have loomed even larger. Thus, the official mentality of the leaders of the town was one which fostered the importance of unity, tradition, solidarity, and the connection of surrogate brotherhood. Social complexity helped to father social and cultural unity.
