The Materiality of Devotion in Late Medieval Northern Europe: Images, Objects and Practices - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846825032 ISBN 13: 9781846825033

Publisher: Four Courts Press, 2016

Synopsis

This volume explores aspects of the devotional world of late medieval northern Europe, with a special emphasis on how people interacted with texts, images, artifacts, and other instruments of piety at the level of the senses. The book focuses on the materiality of medieval religion and the manner in which Christians were encouraged to engage their senses in their devotional practices: gazing, hearing, touching, tasting, and committing to memory. In so doing, it brings together the ideals of medieval mystical writing and the increasingly tangible and material practice of piety, which would become characteristic of the period. [Subject: History, Medieval Studies, European Studies, Religious Studies]

About this title

About the Author

Henning Laugerud is associate professor at the Department of Linguistics, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen. Salvador Ryan is professor of ecclesiastical history at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. Laura Katrine Skinnebach is based at Aarhus University where she is the recent recipient of a Danish Research Council Postdoctoral Grant for Independent Research in the Humanities.

Review

'One of the very lovely things about this volume is the way in which the authors interact with each other's work, both commenting on and building upon ideas across the articles. This is not just a collection of articles around a particular theme, but a volume which tries to integrate information and ideas across the individual pieces', Mary Jane Chase, British Catholic History (2017).

'This extraordinary book comprises an anthology of the material aspects of medieval religion in Northern Europe, exploring how each of the five human sense interacts with texts, holy imagery and many other instruments of devotion ... this anthology brings together the ideals of medieval mystical writing and the increasingly tangible and material practice of piety ... this volume comprises a wealth of insightful ideas capable of challenging the ways we interact with religious articles. Stylistically, the book is beautifully, passionately written and is also accessible throughout. Although it is specifically aimed at students and historians conducting research in religious symbolism, it will equally appeal to anyone with an interest in the materiality of medieval devotion. Furthermore, fellow historians who wish to further their study in this particular field will find the reference section enormously helpful and comprehensive', Antonio Battagliotti, Open History (2016).

'A quality production, pleasantly heavy in the hands and beautiful to behold .... It [has a] clean traditional layout, thick glossy paper, and a center section of 34 high-resolution color figures. Fortunately, equal attention has been paid to the research, writing and immaculate proofreading, as to the outward appearance. This book [pushes] forward many intertwined fields in medieval studies ... this volume, while illuminating the Middle Ages in unexpected ways, also sheds light on how the modern seems to mediate our senses differently - and how we need to be aware of that to better understand the past and ourselves', Laura Saetveit Miles, Kunst og Kultur (2016).

'This book, which is a deeply learned one, is provided as well with pages of gorgeous illustrations which give an astonishing insight into just what was painted, done, made and practised in the Middle Ages ... This is a most interesting book, opening up the ways in which an earlier age approached the non-material through the material. The papers are filled with interesting ideas beyond the scope of a short review to discuss, but this is a book which will open the eyes of many to lost beauties of Christian art', Peter Costello, Irish Catholic (February 2016).

About this edition

• Publisher: Four Courts Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1846825032
• ISBN 13: 9781846825033
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 218
• Editor: Laugerud Henning, Ryan Salvador, Skinnebach Laura Katrine