Christendom and its Discontents

A volume of essays on the sources of dissent and diversity in medieval society.

This book of essays by leading scholars is about the sources of dissent and diversity in medieval society and the Church's attempt to repress dissent and enforce conformity to its beliefs. No book has hitherto attempted so broad an approach to the issue of discontent in medieval Europe.From the eleventh century onward, Latin Christendom was torn by discontent and controversy. As the Church and secular rulers defined more clearly than ever before the laws and institutions on which they based their power, they demanded greater uniformity and obedience to their authority. The essays in this book cast new light on the dynamics of repression, highlighting the controversies and discontent that troubled medieval society. Looking especially at the mechanisms underlying the dissemination of heterodoxy and its repression, the religious aspirations of women, the fate of non-Christian minorities in Europe, and changing boundaries between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, the authors provide a new understanding of the Church's response to the diversity of belief and practice by which it was confronted.