Read more
Zusatztext this book is a major contribution not only to the study of medieval preaching but also to the literary and ecclesiastical history of late-medival England as a whole ... one of the handful of books that must be consulted for an idea of the late-medieval English church ... Next in merit to Spencer's breadth of approach is the sheer learning exhibited in this work ... although it seems unlikely that Spencer's book will convert many to the reading of these sermons in extenso, she has made it possible for us to understand their social and intellectual dimensions. Klappentext This interdisciplinary study of English sermons written in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries focuses on material recorded in English and relates the surviving texts to their historical and cultural background. H. Leith Spencer shows how the use of the vernacular to explore ideas hitherto expressed in Latin anticipated the better-known developments of the sixteenth century. His detailed and original study, drawing on the most up-to-date research, uncovers the pluralism of the medieval English church that anti-heretical legislation and Reformed propaganda sought to deny. Zusammenfassung This book is a major interdisciplinary study of English sermons written in the late fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries - a body of texts currently attracting much attention both for their own interest, and for their value in helping us to understand an important historical period marked by rapid social and religious change.Relating the texts to their historical and cultural context, the author focuses on material recorded in English, showing how the use of the vernacular to explore ideas hitherto expressed in Latin anticipated the better-known developments of the sixteenth century. Conservatives distrusted the sermonizers as popularizers of theology, and Dr Spencer pays close attention to the ways in which these writers' freedom of expression was curbed by the Church's increasingly repressive attitude to reform.Drawing on the most up-to-date research, this detailed and original book uncovers - through an analysis of its sermons - the pluralism of the medieval English church which anti-heretical legislation and Reformed propaganda sought to deny....
