The Devil's World: Heresy and Society 1100-1300 [Paperback]

Andrew Roach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0582279607 | ISBN-13: 978-0582279605 | Edition: 1

An extensive study of heresy and its effects on medieval society and its leaders.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Runner-up, General History Book of the Year, Ancestors Magazine

'Issues of religious doctrine and beliefs are once more at the forefront of political and cultural conflicts around the world. Andrew Roach's interesting book can help us understand our modern world better, and should have a wide appeal to non-specialist readers'

Paul Ormerod, author of the best-selling 'Death of Economics' and 'Butterfly Economics'

'fascinating new study....a refreshing look at the church of the high middle ages'

Morning Star

'a well written work. And as with the best academic texts the footnotes are a joy in themselves. '

Ancestors Magazine

'...a stimulating contribution to Longman's excellent Medieval World series...a scholarly and cogently assembled work that succeeds in making an important contribution to the history of medieval heresy.'

Jonathan Phillips, The Times Higher Education Supplement, July 7 2006

‘Medieval Europe was a market-place whose principal commodity was religion. Because heresy meant choice, it was as subject to market forces as to the terrors of the devil or the Inquisition.  Catharism was a lifestyle rather than a frightening secret society.  This is the controversial argument sustained with great lucidity throughout this book.  It is original, accessible and scholarly, as well as being an excellent guide to the most recent research.’

Michael Clanchy FBA, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London

‘Here, in Andrew Roach's nuanced reconstruction, is a clear and objective analysis of the way the close relationship between social and economic change and religious dissent worked in real life, devoid of the ideological baggage which has so often distorted such interpretations in the past.’

Malcolm Barber, Professor of Medieval European History, University of Reading

From the Back Cover

¿Medieval Europe was a market-place whose principal commodity was religion. Because heresy meant choice, it was as subject to market forces as to the terrors of the devil or the Inquisition.  Catharism was a lifestyle rather than a frightening secret society.  This is the controversial argument sustained with great lucidity throughout this book.  It is original, accessible and scholarly, as well as being an excellent guide to the most recent research.¿

 

Michael Clanchy FBA, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History

Institute of Historical Research, University of London

'Issues of religious doctrine and beliefs are once more at the forefront of political and cultural conflicts around the world. Andrew Roach's interesting book can help us understand our modern world better, and should have a wide appeal to non-specialist readers'

Paul Ormerod, author of the best-selling Death of Economics and Butterfly Economics

¿Here, in Andrew Roach's nuanced reconstruction, is a clear and objective analysis of the way the close relationship between social and economic change and religious dissent worked in real life, devoid of the ideological baggage which has so often distorted such interpretations in the past.¿

Malcolm Barber, Professor of Medieval European History

University of Reading

 

 

In his fascinating new study, Andrew Roach places the rise and fall of the heresies of the central middle ages in their broader context. He argues that the emergence of heresy in the twelfth century reflected lay impatience with the monopoly of the medieval Church.  Unprecedented consumer choice in food, clothing and less tangible products such as troubadour entertainment and higher education meant that people looked at religion in a new light. Not only did they expect to be cared for in this life and the next, but they also hoped to enhance their wealth and social standing through their involvement in religious organisations.  Consequently, they turned to informal groups such as the Cathars and Waldensians who were there at pivotal moments in their lives and offered them simple theology, explained through preaching.

 

¿Heresy¿ literally means choice, and medieval heresy saw the birth of the modern consumer.  For a brief period in the early thirteenth century there was more choice in religion in Western Europe than at any period before the Reformation.  Only a combination of systematic persecution of heresy through inquisitors and a change in lay taste brought this to an end.

 

Andrew P. Roachis a Lecturer in History at the Universityof Glasgow.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 1 edition (September 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0582279607
• ISBN-13: 978-0582279605
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #642,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars part of a scholarly middle ages study group of books, September 20, 2008

By 

Douglas E. Libert "howitt" (parkersburg wv) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's World: Heresy and Society 1100-1300 (Paperback)

The book is about heresy in an area the author call "the bannana",an oval type area from Rome to London from 1100-1300.Spain is not included in this study and little mention of the Spanish Inquisition.Explored in readable detail is the Waldensian and Cathar "heresies" and how the Catholic Church from Rome and other European environs, tried to deal with them.There are alot of politics involved because there is no separation of church and state at the time.Some of these persecutions are obviously instigated to take property and influence from the persecuted.The different tactics the church used to quell the Cathars are explored including imprisonment,torture and even a crusade called the Albigensian Crusade. This crusade was used by the pope to put an end to the Cathars,so not all Crusades were aimed to regain the Holy Land.You can feel that the church is trying to use the right combination of persuasion and violence when necessary.Alot of the Monastic orders that came out of this period such as the Dominicans and the Franciscans were attempts by the church to use reasoning and persuasion to overcome the heresies.The Inquisition was used when the first methods failed. As I've heard before, a person was allowed freedom of thought and expression in religious matters,that is if they kept their ideas to themselves.If a persons'religious ideas boiled over into the political arena or high visiblity area,the Inquisition was quick to act with some of the religious orders the leading edge of the persecutions.

The author points out the Cathar movement came about as the result of a rising middle class and a stong desire by the laity to run their own church affairs.Ideological matters of belief may not have been important as political and economic ones. The Cathars were never completely crushed but retreated to mountainous regions such as Switzerland.(Is it coincidental that Calvin and his church reform movement come from this area later.)Did the Cathars go underground and wait for a more advantageous time to reaasert themselves.The Cathars could then be the first Protestants?The book also goes into some details about women and their new roles as church reformers and lay leaders.There is almost no mention of the Devil in the book despite the title and little of witchcraft.You won't find a cloved hoof in the book only the usual cast of saints and sinners.Some are pretty twisted and interesting to read about but wouldn't be much fun to deal with in real life.