A Short History of Medieval Christianity

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

A Short History of Medieval ChristianityAuthor(s): G.R. Evans\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, United Kingdom\nImprint: I.B. Tauris\nISBN-13: 9781784532833, 978-1784532833\nSynopsis\nWhat did people really believe in the Middle Ages? Much of our sense of the medieval period has come down to us from the writings of the learned: the abbots, priors, magnates, scholastic theologians and others who between them, and across Christendom, controlled the machinery of church and state. For G R Evans too much emphasis has been placed on a governing elite and too little on those - the great mass of the semi-literate and illiterate, and the emergent middle classes - who stood outside the innermost circles of ecclesiastical power, privilege and education. Her book finally gives proper weight to the neglected literature of demotic religion: the lives of saints; writings by those - including lay women - who had mystical experiences; and lively texts containing storie.