The Penitential State

The Penitential State
Author: Mayke de Jong
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2009-04-16
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0521881528

An evaluation of Emperor Louis the Pious' reign which examines Louis' public penance of 833.

The Sacrament of Penance and Religious Life in Golden Age Spain

The Sacrament of Penance and Religious Life in Golden Age Spain
Author: Patrick J. O'Banion
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 0271058994

"Explores the role of the sacrament of penance in the religion and society of early modern Spain. Examines how secular and ecclesiastical authorities used confession to defend against heresy and to bring reforms to the Catholic Chiurch"--Provided by publishers.

Pain, Penance, and Protest

Pain, Penance, and Protest
Author: Sara M. Butler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2021-11-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 100907959X

In medieval England, a defendant who refused to plead to a criminal indictment was sentenced to pressing with weights as a coercive measure. Using peine forte et dure ('strong and hard punishment') as a lens through which to analyse the law and its relationship with Christianity, Butler asks: where do we draw the line between punishment and penance? And, how can pain function as a vehicle for redemption within the common law? Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this book embraces both law and literature. When Christ is on trial before Herod, he refused to plead, his silence signalling denial of the court's authority. England's discontented subjects, from hungry peasant to even King Charles I himself, stood mute before the courts in protest. Bringing together penance, pain and protest, Butler breaks down the mythology surrounding peine forte et dure and examines how it functioned within the medieval criminal justice system.

Epics of Sumerian Kings

Epics of Sumerian Kings
Author: H. L. Herman L. J. Vanstiphout
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2004
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004130691

This volume presents for the first time both the authoritative Sumerian text and an elegant English translation of four Sumerian epics, the earliest known in any language. The introduction discusses the intellectual and cultural context as well as the poetics and meaning of this epic cycle.

Franks and Northmen

Franks and Northmen
Author: Daniel Melleno
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2024-06-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1040030742

Franks and Northmen explores the full spectrum of Franco-Scandinavian interaction, examining not just violence but also less well-known relationships centered on acts of diplomacy, commerce, and mission and demonstrating the transformative nature of cross-cultural encounter during the Viking Age. In the year 777, the Frankish sources mention the Northmen, better known to most as the Vikings, for the first time. By the tenth century these Northmen, once a mysterious people on the borders of the Carolingian Empire, would be a familiar presence in the Frankish world. As raiders and pillagers, the Vikings would fill the pages of Frankish authors, leaving a legacy that continues to fascinate even to the twenty-first century. But a closer look at sources, both textual and material, reveals that the relationships between Franks and Northmen were far more complex and multifaceted than a rigid focus on Viking violence might suggest. Merchants carried goods across the North Sea, missionaries encouraged new ways of understanding the world, and Franks and Northmen formed relationships and bonds even amidst conflict and violence. This study is a useful resource for both students and specialists of central and northern Europe in the early medieval period.

Penance in Medieval Europe, 600-1200

Penance in Medieval Europe, 600-1200
Author: Rob Meens
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2014-07-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 052187212X

An up-to-date overview of the functions and contexts of penance in medieval Europe, revealing the latest research and interpretations.

Writing the Early Medieval West

Writing the Early Medieval West
Author: Elina Screen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2018-05-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 110818751X

Far from the oral society it was once assumed to have been, early medieval Europe was fundamentally shaped by the written word. This book offers a pioneering collection of fresh and innovative studies on a wide range of topics, each one representing cutting-edge scholarship, and collectively setting the field on a new footing. Concentrating on the role of writing in mediating early medieval knowledge of the past, on the importance of surviving manuscripts as clues to the circulation of ideas and political and cultural creativity, and on the role that texts of different kinds played both in supporting and in subverting established power relations, these essays represent a milestone in studies of the early medieval written word.

Creating Cistercian Nuns

Creating Cistercian Nuns
Author: Anne E. Lester
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2011-11-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0801462967

In Creating Cistercian Nuns, Anne E. Lester addresses a central issue in the history of the medieval church: the role of women in the rise of the religious reform movement of the thirteenth century. Focusing on the county of Champagne in France, Lester reconstructs the history of the women’s religious movement and its institutionalization within the Cistercian order. The common picture of the early Cistercian order is that it was unreceptive to religious women. Male Cistercian leaders often avoided institutional oversight of communities of nuns, preferring instead to cultivate informal relationships of spiritual advice and guidance with religious women. As a result, scholars believed that women who wished to live a life of service and poverty were more likely to join one of the other reforming orders rather than the Cistercians. As Lester shows, however, this picture is deeply flawed. Between 1220 and 1240 the Cistercian order incorporated small independent communities of religious women in unprecedented numbers. Moreover, the order not only accommodated women but also responded to their interpretations of apostolic piety, even as it defined and determined what constituted Cistercian nuns in terms of dress, privileges, and liturgical practice. Lester reconstructs the lived experiences of these women, integrating their ideals and practices into the broader religious and social developments of the thirteenth century—including the crusade movement, penitential piety, the care of lepers, and the reform agenda of the Fourth Lateran Council. The book closes by addressing the reasons for the subsequent decline of Cistercian convents in the fourteenth century. Based on extensive analysis of unpublished archives, Creating Cistercian Nuns will force scholars to revise their understanding of the women’s religious movement as it unfolded during the thirteenth century.

Augustine on War and Military Service

Augustine on War and Military Service
Author: Phillip Wynn
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1451469853

Did our modern understanding of just war originate with Augustine? In this sweeping reevaluation of the evidence, Phillip Wynn uncovers a nuanced story of Augustine's thoughts on war and military service, and gives us a more complete and complex picture of this important topic. Deeply rooted in the development of Christian thought this reengagement with Augustine is essential reading.

Religious Franks

Religious Franks
Author: Rob Meens
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1784997951

This volume in honour of Mayke De Jong offers twenty-five essays focused upon the importance of religion to Frankish politics, a discourse to which De Jong herself has contributed greatly in her academic career. The prominent and internationally renowned contributors offer fresh perspectives on various themes such as the nature of royal authority, the definition of polity, unity and dissent, ideas of correction and discipline, the power of rhetoric and the rhetoric of power, and the diverse ways in which power was institutionalised and employed by lay and ecclesiastical authorities. As such, this volume offers a uniquely comprehensive and valuable contribution to the field of medieval history, in particular the study of the Frankish world in the eighth and ninth centuries.