For many, the medieval world seems dark and foreign - a miraculous, brutal and irrational time of superstition and strange relics. The pursuit of heretics, the inquisition, the crusades and the domination of the "Holy Land" come to mind. Yet the medieval world produced much that is part of our world today, including universities, the persistence of the Roman style and the emergence of the gothic in architecture, pilgrimage, the emergence of capitalism, and female saints. This new narrative history of medieval Christianity, spanning 500 to 1500 A.D., attempts to combine both what is unfamiliar and familiar to readers. Elements of novelty in the book include a steady focus on the role of women in Christianity, the relationships between Christians, Jews and Muslims, the experience of ordinary parishioners, the adventure of asceticism, devotion and worship, and instruction through drama, architecture and art. Madigan expertly integrates these focuses with more traditional themes, such as the evolution and decline of papal power, the nature and repression of heresy, sanctity and pilgrimage, the conciliar movement, and the break between the old Western church and the Reformers.
Illustrated with more than forty photographs of physical remains, this book promises to become an essential guide to a historical era of profound influence.