Medieval Sensibilities

What do we know of the emotional life of the Middle Ages? Though a long-neglected subject, a multitude of sources – spiritual and secular literature, iconography, chronicles, as well as theological and medical works – provide clues to the central role emotions played in medieval society.

In this work, historians Damien Boquet and Piroska Nagy delve into a rich variety of texts and images to reveal the many and nuanced experiences of emotion during the Middle Ages – from the demonstrative shame of a saint to a nobleman's fear of embarrassment, from the enthusiasm of a crusading band to the fear of a town threatened by the approach of war or plague. Boquet and Nagy show how these outbursts of joy and pain, while universal expressions, must be understood within the specific context of medieval society. During the Middle Ages, a Christian model of affectivity was formed in the ‘laboratory’ of the monasteries, one which gradually seeped into wider society, interacting with the sensibilities of courtly culture and other forms of expression.

Bouqet and Nagy bring a thousand years of history to life, demonstrating how the study of emotions in medieval society can also allow us to understand better our own social outlooks and customs.

“'This pathbreaking book, from two pioneer researchers on the history of emotions, tracks the unfolding of a gradual "emotional revolution," beginning in late antiquity, that slowly transformed medieval society from top to bottom. An ancient ideal of calm self-control was supplanted by a vision of God and human beings bound together by emotional, even passionate, relationships. Every dimension of social life is brought into the story, from religion to politics, to gender, to popular culture, building a new understanding of the medieval world that sweeps aside the all-too-resilient clich”

‘This pathbreaking book, from two pioneer researchers on the history of emotions, tracks the unfolding of a gradual “emotional revolution,” beginning in late antiquity, that slowly transformed medieval society from top to bottom. An ancient ideal of calm self-control was supplanted by a vision of God and human beings bound together by emotional, even passionate, relationships. Every dimension of social life is brought into the story, from religion to politics, to gender, to popular culture, building a new understanding of the medieval world that sweeps aside the all-too-resilient clichés of Johan Huizinga and Norbert Elias.’
William M. Reddy, Duke University

Damien Boquet is Lecturer in History at the University of Aix-Marseille.

Piroska Nagy is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Quebec at Montreal.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.