Sign-In
Cart
Image of the Medieval Peasant as Alien and Exemplary
Hardcover
Series: Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture
Medieval & Renaissance History
ISBN13: 9780804733724
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: Jan 1 1999
Pages: 484
Weight: 1.82
Height: 1.26 Width: 6.22 Depth: 9.44
Language: English
The medieval clergy, aristocracy, and commercial classes tended to regard peasants as objects of contempt and derision. In religious writings, satires, sermons, chronicles, and artistic representations peasants often appeared as dirty, foolish, dishonest, even as subhuman or bestial. Their lowliness was commonly regarded as a natural corollary of the drudgery of their agricultural toil.
Yet, at the same time, the peasantry was not viewed as other in the manner of other condemned groups, such as Jews, lepers, Muslims, or the imagined monstrous races of the East. Several crucial characteristics of the peasantry rendered it less clearly alien from the elite perspective: peasants were not a minority, their work in the fields nourished all other social orders, and, most important, they were Christians. In other respects, peasants could be regarded as meritorious by virtue of their simple life, productive work, and unjust suffering at the hands of their exploitive social superiors. Their unrewarded sacrifice and piety were also sometimes thought to place them closest to God and more likely to win salvation.
This book examines these conflicting images of peasants from the post-Carolingian period to the German Peasants' War. It relates the representation of peasants to debates about how society should be organized (specifically, to how human equality at Creation led to subordination), how slavery and serfdom could be assailed or defended, and how peasants themselves structured and justified their demands.
Though it was argued that peasants were legitimately subjugated by reason of nature or some primordial curse (such as that of Noah against his son Ham), there was also considerable unease about how the exploitation of those who were not completely alien--who were, after all, Christians--could be explained. Laments over peasant suffering as expressed in the literature might have a stylized quality, but this book shows how they were appropriated and shaped by peasants themselves, especially in the large-scale rebellions that characterized the late Middle Ages.
1 different editions
Also available
Also in
Medieval & Renaissance History
The Power of Place: Rulers and Their Palaces, Landscapes, Cities, and Holy Places
Rollason, David
Hardcover
The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace
Moses, Paul
Hardcover
Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us about Living
Jones, Peter
Hardcover
Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival
Greenblatt, Stephen
Hardcover
The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume II: The Modern and Contemporary West
Hankins, James
Guelzo, Allen C.
Hardcover
Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It
Ramirez, Janina
Paperback
Alchemy: An Illustrated History of Elixirs, Experiments, and the Birth of Modern Science
Ball, Philip
Hardcover
The Surgeon, the Midwife, the Quack: How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England
Skuse, Alanna
Hardcover
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Mortimer, Ian
Paperback
Irish History & Mythology: Exploring The History, Celtic Myths, Folklore, Sagas, Traditions of Ireland
Brought Alive, History
Paperback
The Wolf Age: The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire
Skeie, Tore
Paperback
Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe
Gabriele, Matthew
Perry, David M.
Paperback
Stone Lands: A Journey of Darkness and Light Through Britain's Ancient Places
Robertson, Fiona
Hardcover
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
Kelly, John
Paperback
What God Kept for Himself: Atheism, Sodomy, and Radical Dissent in Renaissance Italy
Grassi, Umberto
Hardcover
Ancient and Medieval Siege Weapons: A Fully Illustrated Guide To Siege Weapons And Tactics
Nossov, Konstantin
Paperback
Our Island Story: A History of the Kings, Queens and Battles of England, Scotland and Britain for Boys and Girls
Marshall, H. E.
Paperback
When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the Riches of the East
Gordon, Stewart
Paperback
The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
Bauer, Susan Wise
Hardcover
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire
Weatherford, Jack
Paperback
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews Under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain
Fernandez-Morera, Dario
Hardcover
The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts
de Hamel, Christopher
Paperback
Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
Starr, S. Frederick
Paperback
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys Into the Medieval World
de Hamel, Christopher
Paperback
Cryptic: From Voynich to the Angel Diaries, the Story of the World's Mysterious Manuscripts
Shaw, Garry J.
Hardcover
A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age
Manchester, William
Paperback
Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival
Greenblatt, Stephen
Paperback
Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It
Ramirez, Janina
Hardcover
The Battle of Yarmuk: An Assessment of the Immediate Factors behind the Islamic Conquests
Ibrahim, Raymond
Paperback
In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire
Holland, Tom
Paperback
The Magic Books: A History of Enchantment in 20 Medieval Manuscripts
Lawrence-Mathers, Anne
Hardcover
The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople
Bauer, Susan Wise
Hardcover
Venice and the Mongols: The Eurasian Exchange That Transformed the Medieval World
Di Cosmo, Nicola
Pubblici, Lorenzo
Hardcover
The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons: Three Kings and a History of Britain at the Dawn of the Viking Age
Adams, Max
Hardcover
This Earthly Globe: A Venetian Geographer and the Quest to Map the World
Di Robilant, Andrea
Paperback
Women in the Middle Ages: The Lives of Real Women in a Vibrant Age of Transition
Gies, Joseph
Gies, Frances
Paperback
Financial Vipers of Venice: Alchemical Money, Magical Physics, and Banking in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Farrell, Joseph P.
Paperback
Urban Infrastructure in Medieval England: Sustainability and Resilience
Magnusson, Roberta J.
Paperback
Old Norse - Old Icelandic: Concise Introduction to the Language of the Sagas
Byock, Jesse
Gordon, Randall
Paperback
Elucidation of Necromancy Lucidarium Artis Nigromantice Attributed to Peter of Abano: Including a New Translation of His Heptameron or Elements of Mag
Abano, Peter Of
Peterson, Joseph H.
Hardcover
The Prince (Royal Collector's Edition) (Annotated) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)
Machiavelli, Niccolò
Hardcover
Il Fior di Battaglia by Fiore dei Liberi Facsimile: With translation by Guy Windsor
Windsor, Guy
Hardcover
The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance
Al-Khalili, Jim
Paperback
The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance
King, Ross
Paperback