ABSTRACT

Body and Sacred Place in Medieval Europe investigates the medieval understanding of sacred place, arguing for the centrality of bodies and bodily metaphors to the establishment, function, use, and power of medieval churches. Questioning the traditional division of sacred and profane jurisdictions, this book identifies the need to consider non-devotional uses of churches in the Middle Ages. Dawn Marie Hayes examines idealized visions of medieval sacred places in contrast with the mundane and profane uses of these buildings. She argues that by the later Middle Ages-as loyalties were torn by emerging political, economic, and social groups-the Church suffered a loss of security that was reflected in the uses of sacred spaces, which became more restricted as identities shifted and Europeans ordered the ambiguity of the medieval world.

part I|50 pages

Incorporating Conceptions of Medieval Sacred Places

chapter Chapter One|23 pages

Learned Conceptions of Sacred Place

Building and Body as Two Facades of Christian Worship in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

chapter Chapter Two|26 pages

History Incarnate

Human Bodies and Ideal Sacred Place inThe Miracles of Our Lady of Chartres

part II|54 pages

Mundane and Profane Uses of Medieval Sacred Places

chapter Chapter Three|19 pages

Earthly Uses of Heavenly Spaces

Non-Liturgical Activities in Sacred Place

chapter Chapter Four|24 pages

Body as Champion of Church Authority and Sacred Place

The Murder of Thomas Becket

chapter |6 pages

Conclusion

Division and Decomposition

chapter |4 pages

Epilogue Body and Sacred Place in the Wake of September 11

Resurrecting Medieval Metaphors in the Modern World