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The king's body : the sacred rituals of power in medieval and early modern Europe / Sergio Bertelli ; translated by R. Burr Litchfield.
Kislak Center for Special Collections - Furness Shakespeare Library (Van Pelt 628) JC375 .B4613 2001
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Kislak Center for Special Collections - Lea Collection JC375 .B4613 2001
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- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Bertelli, Sergio.
- Standardized Title:
- Corpo del re. English
- Language:
- English
- Italian
- Subjects (All):
- Kings and rulers.
- Europe--Kings and rulers--Religious aspects.
- Europe.
- Divine right of kings.
- Kings and rulers--Religious aspects--Christianity.
- Kings and rulers, Medieval.
- Power (Christian theology).
- Penn Provenance:
- Peters, Edward, 1936- (donor) (Lea copy)
- Physical Description:
- xviii, 302 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm
- Edition:
- [English edition].
- Place of Publication:
- University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, [2001]
- Summary:
- The King's Body offers a unique and up-to-date overview of a central theme in European history: the nature and meaning of the sacred rituals of kingship. Informed by the work of recent cultural anthropologists, Sergio Bertelli explores the cult of kingship, which pervaded the lives of hundreds of thousands of subjects, poor and rich, noble and cleric. His analysis takes in a wide spectrum, from the Vandal kings of Spain and the long-haired kings of France, to the beheaded kings of England and France, Charles I and Louis XVI.
- Bertelli explores the multiple meanings of the rites related to the king's body, from his birth (with the exhibition of his masculinity) to the crowning (a rebirth) to his death (a triumph and an apotheosis). We see how particular occasions such as entrances, processions, and banquets make sense only as they related directly to the king's body. Bertelli also singles out crowd-participatory aspects of sacred kingship, including the rites of violence connected with the interregnum (perceived as a suspension of the law) and the rites of expulsion for a tyrant's body, emphasizing the inversion of crowning rituals.
- First published in Italy in 1990, The King's Body has been revised and updated for English-speaking readers and expertly translated from the Italian by R. Burr Litchfield. Deftly argued and amply illustrated, this book is a perfect introduction to the cult of kingship in the West; at the same time, it illuminates for modern readers how strangely different the medieval and early modern world was from our own.
- Contents:
- Part I Triumph and Death
- 1 His Majesty 10
- 2 Viva Lex 35
- 3 Rituals of Violence 39
- 4 Qui Venit in Nomine Domini 62
- 5 A Baldacchino, Horse Trappings, and a Fistful of Money 97
- 6 Stuffed Bulls and Plenty of Oats 114
- Part II The Natural Body
- 7 A Wax Lamb 128
- 8 Oriens Augusti 139
- 9 Magnanimi Lombi 151
- 10 Spurious Offspring 171
- 11 Ostentatio Genitalium 177
- 12 The Lord's Dinner 191
- Part III The End of Sacredness
- 13 The King Is Dead! 214
- 14 The Body Denied 231
- 15 Nolite Tangere Christos Meos 253.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [271]-295) and index.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.
- Presented to the Penn Libraries by Dr. Edward Peters.
- Lea Library copy has ms. underlines and a few notes by Dr. Edward Peters.
- Lea Library copy has dustjacket retained.
- ISBN:
- 0271021020
- OCLC:
- 44509329
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