Customer Reviews

Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe (The Middle Ages Series)

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There is nothing else available like this collection of original sources from the Middle Ages on the theory and reality of heresy and its persecution. Peters presents foundational texts, well-chosen and diverse in character: not just theoretical tracts and official pronouncements, but also court records, popular stories about saints, and other material. The commentary that Peters provides is very limited. For an area of knowledge where there's an awful lot of myth and rumor and gossip -- Templars, witches, underground cults, the like -- this collection is sober and solid. We need to understand the idea of heresy and what it meant (and means): this book is an important resource for doing that.

This book is most certainly good for what it is meant to be. It provides primary texts with a minimal amount of analysis. I am reading this for a college course on Heresy and Dissent in Medieval Europe and it provides the basis for the entire class.