Food, Heresies, and Magical Boundaries in the Middle Ages.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maraschi, Andrea.

Contributor:

Tasca, Francesca.

Series:

Food Culture, Food History Before 1900 Series

Food Culture, Food History Before 1900 Series ; v.6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Food habits--History--To 1500.

Food habits.

Heresy--History--To 1500.

Heresy.

Magic--History--To 1500.

Magic.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2024.

Summary:

In this book readers will find stories about medieval heresies and "magic" from an unusual perspective: that of food studies. The time span ranges from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages, while the geographical scope includes regions as different as North Africa, Spain, Ireland, continental Europe, the Holy land, and Central Asia. Food, heresies, and magical boundaries in the Middle Ages explores the power of food in creating and breaking down boundaries between different groups, or in establishing a contact with other worlds, be they the occult sides of nature, or the supernatural. We emphasized the role of food in crafting and carrying identity, and in transferring virtues and powers of natural elements into the eater?s body. Which foods and drinks made someone a heretic? Could they be purified? Which food offerings forged a connection with the otherworld? Which recipes allowed gaining access to the hidden powers within nature?

Contents:

Cover

Table of Contents

Introduction ‒ On Food and Boundaries: New Trends in Food History

Part I. Religious Boundaries

1. Religious Identities and Consuming Differences in Augustine's De haeresibus

2. Dinner with the Heretic: The Story of an Ordeal Meal in Gregory of Tours's De gloria martyrum

3. Consuming Heresy according to Walter Map: How to Restate the Boundaries of the Status Quo

4. Comos in William of Rubruck's Itinerarium: A Mongolian Beverage of Apostasy

Part II. Magical Boundaries

5. Saint Brigit and Milk from the Otherworld

6. A Pagan Counter-Cuisine: Food and the Supernatural in Burchard of Worms's Corrector

7. Cannibalism and Natural Magic: Human Flesh as a Gate to the Hidden Powers of Nature in the Picatrix

8. Niccolò da Poggibonsi and the "Magical" Bread of Bethlehem

Concluding Remarks ‒ Boundary Foods and Boundaries of Food

Index of Names

Index of Places

Index of Foods and Ingredients.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-003-69584-1

1-04-078385-6

90-485-5493-4

9781003695844

OCLC:

1451784104