Indulgences in Late Medieval England
Passports to Paradise?
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:22nd Sep '11
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£126.00(9780521881203)
This book presents a history of indulgences (or pardons) in late medieval England.
Used to avoid the pains of Purgatory after death, indulgences have been a neglected aspect of late medieval English religion. Reassessing the evidence, this book shows that indulgences were popular and widely appreciated, and made a positive contribution to the religious, social and economic life of late medieval England.Indulgences played a major role in medieval 'strategies for eternity', easing the journey through Purgatory to Heaven after death. However, theological attacks during the Reformation and the subsequent Protestant rejection of indulgences have given them a poor reputation, compounding the effect of the fourteenth-century satires by Chaucer and Langland of the pardoners who ensured their widespread distribution. This book examines indulgences in late medieval England and it offers an extensive and authoritative re-evaluation of their role in England's religious, social and economic life between 1300 and the Reformation. R. N. Swanson traces their importance to devotional life, their contribution to charitable and economic structures and the complex tale of their disappearance under Henry VIII. This is a major contribution to the religious history of late medieval England and will be essential reading for scholars of medieval history, religious studies and the Reformation.
Review of the hardback: '…not only the first scholarly book on indulgences specifically focused upon England, but the result of Herculean archival research …This is a long-awaited and necessary book, aimed at scholars but written with great verve and clarity.' The Tablet
Review of the hardback: … sheds much new light and challenges long-held views in a fresh and stimulating way.' Contemporary Review
'Swanson's impressively extensive study seeks to dispel the myths surrounding pardoners and the undulgences (pardons) they sold … this is a difficult topic superbly handled by a master of the field. What Swanson provides in [this book is not so much a rehabilitation of the pardon in history, more a reassessment - and a highly detailed and long-overdue one at that. This will be the seminal text on the subject for a long time to come.' The Journal of Church History
ISBN: 9780521293921
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 31mm
Weight: 790g
594 pages