Medieval Piety From Relics To The Eucharist A Process Of Mutual Interaction

As a major advance in the study of medieval piety the interrelationship between the veneration of relics and of the Eucharistic Host is presented here for the first time. Traced through Christian Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the veneration of the Host proves to be closely associated with the piety focused on relics of the Saints. Both were kept in the sleeping area of private homes, carried on journeys and placed in graves. They were buried together in altar tables and monks called on both for help in threatening circumstances. Like the relics, the sacred Host was later carried in procession, shown to the people for veneration and used to give blessings. This book offers a rich account of one of the most revealing dimensions of medieval belief and practice.

Thomas Izbicki presents a new analysis of the medieval Church's teaching about and the regulation of the practice of the Eucharist. Examining the relationship between the adoration of the sacrament and canon law, Izbicki draws on canon law collections and commentaries, synodal enactments, legal manuals and books about ecclesiastical offices.

Oxbow says: The six essays featured in this study originated as papers given at the 36th International Congress of Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. The contributors survey the ornate altars produced from the early 8th to 13th century in Europe, with specific examples taken from Italy, Germany and Scandinavia.

A companion volume for the usage of medieval miracle collections as a source, offering versatile approaches to the origins, methods, and techniques of various types of miracle narratives, as well as fascinating case studies from across Europe.

The seventeen authors of this volume present an all-round picture of the person, the work, and the influence of the Russian medievalist Aron Gurevich who introduced innovative approaches to scholarship against all odds. Professor Janos Bak, Central European University

The articles in this collection offer an in-depth analysis of the Dialogus Miraculorum by the Cistercian Caesarius of Heisterbach (thirteenth century) and provide an insight into the theory and practice of Cistercian persuasion and Caesarius’s narrative theology.

Through interdisciplinary readings of medieval literature and devotional artifacts, The Medieval Poetics of the Reliquary shows how reliquaries shaped ideas about poetry and poetics in late-medieval England.