ABSTRACT
However, such approaches can be criticized for adopting a somewhat reductionist and selective view of the later Middle Ages. Orthodox, everyday religious activities are much more difficult to trace in historical sources, simply because neither chronicler nor ecclesiastical judge found them worth recording. Any attempt to arrive at a general assessment valid for as large a section of society as possible must therefore resist the temptation to extrapolate from the extravagant or exceptional. At the very least, existing sources of ordinary religious life have to be incorporated alongside other evidence. Naturally, these do rarely answer the sort of questions that present-day historians would like to ask, and, given that their raison d'etre was often administrative and practical, they can be repetitive, tedious, and confusing. Yet means and ways have to be found to make them accessible and manageable. This is the process that this study seeks to contribute to.
