Angels and anchoritic culture in late medieval England / Joshua S. Easterling.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Easterling, Joshua S., author.

Series:

Oxford studies in medieval literature and culture.

Oxford Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature, Medieval--History and criticism.

Literature, Medieval.

Angels in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages) : illustrations (colour).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2021.

Summary:

This volume examines Latin and vernacular writings that formed part of a flourishing culture of mystical experience in the later Middle Ages (ca. 1150-1400), including the ways in which visionaries within their literary milieu negotiated the tensions between personal, charismatic inspiration and their allegiance to church authority. It situates texts written in England within their wider geographical and intellectual context through comparative analyses with contemporary European writings. A recurrent theme across all of these works is the challenge that a largely masculine and clerical culture faced in the form of the various, and potentially unruly, spiritualities that emerged powerfully from the twelfth century onward.

Contents:

Cover

Angels and Anchoritic Culture in Late Medieval England

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Anchoritic Communities

Charismatics in a Reforming Culture

From Transformation to Transfiguration: Reform and the Angelic Image

The Contributions of This Book

1: The Arrival of Angels

Bodies in Crisis: Monastic and Clerical Reforms

Challenges to the Angelic Priesthood

Rival Angels: Charismatic Forms of Spiritual Power

Angels and the Enclosure

Conclusion

2: Charismatic Anchorites and the Making of Truth

Cistercians, Visions, and Spiritual Discernment

When the Cistercians Came: Angelic Visitation in Monastic Guise

From the Apostolic Life to Clerical Visitation

From Apostolic to Sacramental Visions

3: Lay Preaching and Living Saints

Prophets and Preachers

Authority and the Devoured Body

The New Saints in Thirteenth-Century England

4: The Angel, the Confessor, and the Anchoress

The Perils of Angelic Consolation

Between Confession and Investigation

Hypocrisy and the Discerning Subject

5: The Transformation of Perfection

Women, Eucharistic Vision, and Doubt

The Transformation of Gifts

The Gift of Angelic Sweetness

6: A Mirror of Clerical Authority

Contested Perfections and the Suffering Christ

Discernment, Mediation, and Clerical Authority

At the Threshold: Mary Magdalene and the Resurrection

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Index.

Notes:

This edition also issued in print: 2021.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-189837-6

0-19-263579-4