Why the Middle Ages Matter

Medieval Light on Modern Injustice

By: Celia Chazelle (Editor), Simon Doubleday (Editor), Felice Lifshitz (Editor)

Write A Review

Paperback | 14 September 2011 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
226 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.39 x 15.6 x 1.22

Paperback

RRP $88.99

$70.25

21%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $17.56 with

Aims to ship in 7 to 10 business days

The word "medieval" is often used in a negative way when talking about contemporary issues. Why the Middle Ages Matter refreshes our thinking about this historical era, and our own, by looking at some pressing concerns from today's world, asking how these issues were really handled in the medieval period, and showing why the past matters now. The contributors here cover topics such as torture, marriage, sexuality, imprisonment, refugees, poverty, work, the status of women, disability, race, political leadership and end of life care. They focus on a variety of regions, from North Africa and the Middle East, through Western and Central Europe, to the British Isles.

This collection challenges many negative stereotypes of medieval people, revealing a world from which, for instance, much could be learned about looking after the spiritual needs of the dying, and about integrating prisoners into the wider community through an emphasis on reconciliation between victim and criminal. It represents a new level of engagement with issues of social justice by medievalists and provides a highly engaging way into studying the middle ages. All the essays are written so as to be accessible to students, and each is accompanied by a list of further readings.

Industry Reviews

The "lessons of history" cannot be reduced to some specious argument that knowledge of the past provides a privileged insight into the present. Nevertheless these essays show that a deep understanding of the otherness of the medieval past and of the myriad possibilities of belief, thought, and behavior of this distant and yet creative period, can help us to understand both how the medieval past has shaped our present as well as how this same past offers models for thinking and acting differently. One need not agree with all of the authors represented in this volume either in their reading of the Middle Ages or in their recommendations for the present in order to applaud them for being what everyone should be: a thoughtful, engaged and critical participant in the great adventure of life. These learned and committed essays challenge the notion that the deep past is somehow irrelevant to the present and compel contemporary society to recognize that the human condition is essentially historical and that dialogue with the past is a necessity to build a different and better future. Patrick J. Geary Distinguished Professor of History UCLA

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Sociology & Anthropology Sociology Law Jurisprudence & General Issues Jurisprudence & Philosophy of Law History Earliest Times to Present Day Early History from 500 to 1500 Medieval History General & World History Literature, Poetry & Plays

History & Criticism of Literature General Literary Studies Classical Literary Studies

List of contributors	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xii
A note to readers	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Crime and punishment: Penalizing without prisons	p. 15
Social deviancy: A medieval approach	p. 29
End of life: Listening to the monks of Cluny	p. 41
Marriage: Medieval couples and the uses of tradition	p. 54
Women: The Da Vinci Code and the fabrication of tradition	p. 66
Homosexuality: Augustine and the Christian closet	p. 77
Sexual scandal and the clergy: A medieval blueprint for disaster	p. 90
Labor: Insights from a medieval monastery	p. 106
Disability?: Perspectives on bodily difference from the Middle East	p. 121
Race: What the bookstore hid	p. 130
Refugees: Views from thirteenth-century France	p. 141
Torture and truth: Torquemada's ghost	p. 154
Class justice: Why we need a Wat Tyler Day	p. 169
Leadership: Why we have mirrors for princes but none for presidents	p. 183
Index	p. 199
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Why the Middle Ages Matter

Medieval Light on Modern Injustice

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in History

The Legend of Albert Jacka

From the brutal shores of Gallipoli to the battlefields of France, the epic story of the first Australian soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross in WW1

The Sunbird

The Name Of This Band Is R.E.M

An electrifying biography of influential alternative American rock band, by best selling author of BRUCE, PAUL McCARTNEY and HOMEWARD BOUND

Russia in Four Criminals

Black Convicts

How slavery shaped Australia

The Dictionary Of Terrible Ideas

The very funny new book from one of The Chaser founders and author of the hilarious STRAYAN DICTIONARY and STRAYAPEDIA

Max Dupain

A portrait of the new landmark biography of Australia's most iconic photographer from leading curator and award-winning author of OLIVE COTTON

65,000 Years

A Short History of Australian Art

Half of a Yellow Sun

No Front Line

Australia's special forces at war in Afghanistan

Australia's Greatest Stories

True Tales, Legends and Larrikins

Junior Atlas of Indigenous Australia

Oxford Humanities 9 Student Book+obook pro

2nd Edition - Victorian Curriculum

Charles Todd's Magnificent Obsession

The epic race to connect Australia to the world

HAMAS

The Quest for Power

Abandoned Women : Scottish Convicts Exiled Beyond the Seas

Dark Emu

Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture

Unmasking the Killer of the Missing Beaumont Children

Oxford Humanities 7 Student Book+Student obook pro

2nd Edition - Victorian Curriculum

Decolonizing Methodologies

3rd Edition - Research and Indigenous Peoples

The Fourth Turning

An American Prophecy: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny

Eureka : The Unfinished Revolution

from the author of The Opera House, Batavia and Mutiny on the Bounty

The Master and His Emissary

The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

The Gulag Archipelago

1918-56

This product is categorised by