ABSTRACT
Marginality, a concept of recent vintage, cannot always be fully applied to the medieval or early modern world. In its all-encompassing embrace, Christianity assigned a task or pi ace to every individual and/or group within its moral economy of redemption, no matter how humble or degraded. In asense, one that may seem ruthless or misguided from our modern perspective, medieval society was inclusive, each person fulfilling a role in the harmonious working of a divinely inspired his tory. So much for ideal formulations. In reality, numerous groups and individuals were excluded, persecuted and humiliated (what today we might call marginalized), and lived perilously on the margins of society.' The notion of marginality is therefore relevant to the medieval context, for exclusion meant debasement, endangerment and ostracism for those who were its targets.
