The Medieval World Complete re-creates one of the great ages of European civilization through a sequence of spectacular images accompanied by a lively, informed commentary. Organized by topic and thoroughly cross-referenced, this comprehensive volume enables the reader to explore and understand every facet of the Middle Ages, an era of breathtaking artistic achievement and religious faith in a world where life was often coarse and cruel, cut short by war, famine, and disease. Framed by chapters that bracket the beginning and the end of this misunderstood period, The Medieval...

How did people of the medieval period explain physical phenomena, such as eclipses or the distribution of land and water on the globe? What creatures did they think they might encounter: angels, devils, witches, dogheaded people? This fascinating book explores the ways in which medieval people categorized the world, concentrating on the division between the natural and the supernatural and showing how the idea of the supernatural came to be invented in the Middle Ages. Robert Bartlett examines how theologians and others sought to draw lines between the natural, the miraculous, the marvelous...

Seven hundred years ago, executioners led a Welsh rebel named William Cragh to a wintry hill to be hanged. They placed a noose around his neck, dropped him from the gallows, and later pronounced him dead. But was he dead? While no less than nine eyewitnesses attested to his demise, Cragh later proved to be very much alive, his resurrection attributed to the saintly entreaties of the defunct Bishop Thomas de Cantilupe.

The Hanged Man tells the story of this putative miracle--why it happened, what it meant, and how we know about it. The nine eyewitness accounts live on...

Esej amerického medievisty Roberta Bartletta je mistrnou sondou do antrologie 13. století. Autor v ní zkoumá vztah středověkých lidí k zázračnu jako součásti soudobých náboženských a společenských představ. Na příkladu Velšana Viléma Cragha, odsouzeného k smrti oběšením a následně zázračně vzkříšeného biskupem Tomášem z Cantilupe, rozkrývá meandry utváření kolektivní paměti několik let po zázračném vzkříšení. Během vyšetřování při snaze o Tomášovu kanonizaci svědci z nejrůznějších sociálních vrstev vzpomínají na okolnosti...