Martyrs and Martyrdom in England, c.1400-1700
Thomas Mayer editor Thomas S Freeman editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Published:19th Apr '07
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A fresh examination of the idea of martyrdom in the transition from the medieval to the modern periods. Concepts of Christian martyrdom changed greatly in England from the late middle ages through the early modern era. The variety of paradigms of Christian martyrdom (with, for example, virginity or asceticism perceived as alternateforms of martyrdom) that existed in the late medieval period, came to be replaced during the English Reformation with a single dominant idea of martyrdom: that of violent death endured for orthodox religion. Yet during the seventeenth century another transformation in conceptions of martyrdom took place, as those who died on behalf of overtly political causes came to be regarded as martyrs, indistinguishable from those who died for Christ. The articles in this book explore these seminal changes across the period from 1400-1700, analyzing the political, social and religious backgrounds to these developments. While much that has been written on martyrs, martyrdom and martyrologies has tended to focus on those who died for a particular confession or cause, this book shows how the concepts of martyrdom were shaped, altered and re-shaped through the interactions between these groups. THOMAS S. FREEMAN is Research Officer at the British Academy John Foxe Project, which is affiliated with the University of Sheffield; THOMAS F. MAYER is Professor of History at Augustana College. Contributors: JOHN COFFEY, BRAD S.GREGORY, VICTOR HOULISTON, ANDREW LACEY, DANNA PIROYANSKY, RICHARD REX, ALEC RYRIE, WILLIAM WIZEMAN
Adds to existing scholarship as its authors collectively study the early-modern narrowing of martyrdom's definition to mean specifically violent deaths for religion, the various polemical and controversial conflicts in which martyrological writing participated, and the extension of martyrdom's crown to political martyrs over the course of the seventeenth century. [...] This volume has a high degree of consistency and coherence (not always the case with essay collections).The contributors' emphases on the polemical, generic, political, and doctrinal aspects of the making of martyrs should be a welcome addition to early-modern scholarship. * CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW *
Opens up suggestive new avenues for future enquiry [and] deserves to be recognized as a significant intervention in debates about religious persecution and its implications in the era of the long Reformation. * HISTORICAL JOURNAL *
The diverse articles in this volume give an important insight onto the conflicting discourse of early modern martyrdom. * SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL *
The essays in this collection provide a wealth of references for scholars who wish to pursue the study of individual martyrs or the development of an English martyrological tradition. * RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY *
Represents the present state of affairs in writing about early modern martyrs; as such it provides a good overview. [...] an effective overview, reiterating ten years of excellent scholarship - but scholarship that calls for new critical approaches toward a subject that need not be as reverent as martyrs, and martyrologists, took themselves to be. * JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES *
ISBN: 9781843832904
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 552g
262 pages