Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages / / Patrick J. Geary.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Geary, Patrick J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2018]; ©1994
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) :; 8 halftones

Whereas modern societies tend to banish the dead from the world of the living, medieval men and women accorded them a vital role in the community. The saints counted most prominently as potential intercessors before God, but the ordinary dead as well were called upon to aid the living, and even to participate in the negotiation of political disputes. In this book, the distinguished medievalist Patrick J. Geary shows how exploring the complex relations between the living and dead can broaden our understanding of the political, economic, and cultural history of medieval Europe. Geary has brought together for this volume twelve of his most influential essays. They address such topics as the development of saints' cults and of the concept of sacred space; the integration of saints' cults into the lives of ordinary people; patterns of relic circulation; and the role of the dead in negotiating the claims and counterclaims of various interest groups. Also included are two case studies of communities that enlisted new patron saints to solve their problems. Throughout, Geary demonstrates that, by reading actions, artifacts, and rituals on an equal footing with texts, we can better grasp the otherness of past societies.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Reading -- 1. Saints, Scholars, and Society: The Elusive Goal -- 2. The Uses of Archaeological Sources for Religious and Cultural History -- Representing -- 3. Germanic Tradition and Royal Ideology in the Ninth Century: The Visio Karoli Magni -- 4. Exchange and Interaction between the Living and the Dead in Early Medieval Society -- Negotiating -- 5. Humiliation of Saints -- 6. Coercion of Saints in Medieval Religious Practice -- 7. Living with Conflicts in Stateless France: A Typology of Conflict Management Mechanisms, 1050-1200 -- Reproducing -- 8. The Saint and the Shrine: The Pilgrim's Goal in the Middle Ages -- 9. The Ninth-Century Relic Trade-A Response to Popular Piety? -- 10. Sacred Commodities: The Circulation of Medieval Relics -- Living -- 11. Saint Helen of Athyra and the Cathedral of Troyes in the Thirteenth Century -- 12. The Magi and Milan -- Index of Published Sources -- General Index