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Books have rarely been written about the history of any emotion except love and shame, and this volume is the very first on the meaning of anger in the Middle Ages. Well aware of modern theories about the nature of anger, the authors consider the role of anger in the social lives and conceptual universes of a varied and significant cross-section of medieval people: monks, saints, kings, lords, and peasants. They are careful to distinguish between texts (the sources on which historians must rely) and the reality behind the texts. They are sensitive, as well, to the differences between ideals and normative behavior.
The first eight essays in the volume focus on anger in the Latin West, while the last two turn to the fringes of Europe (the Celtic and Islamic worlds) for purposes of comparison. Barbara H. Rosenwein concludes the volume with an essay on modern conceptions of anger and their implications for understanding its role in the Middle Ages. The essays reveal much that is new about medieval rituals of honor and status and illuminate the rationales behind such seemingly irrational practices as cursing, feuding, and the punishment of blinding.
Contributors:
Gerd Althoff, University of Münster
Richard E. Barton, Yale University
Geneviève Bührer-Thierry, University of Marne-la-Vallée
Wendy Davies, University College London
Paul Freedman, Yale University
Zouhair Ghazzal, Loyola University, Chicago
Paul Hyams, Cornell University
Lester K. Little, Smith College
Catherine Peyroux, Duke University
Barbara H. Rosenwein, Loyola University, Chicago
Stephen D. White, Emory University
Reviews
"Overall, this work fills a large lacuna because . . . the history of anger has not yet been written. . . . This work will be a welcome addition to research and graduate libraries."--History "The collection of articles assembled in this book is yet another proof for the vibrancy and progressiveness of medieval studies at large...The authors demonstrate the excellent results of interdisciplinary research employing both traditional philological research skills as well as insights from anthropology, sociology, and Mentalitätsgeschite...This excellent volume demonstrates that medieval society was neither primitive nor ideal, as it experienced many forms of anger, but often knew very well how to deal with it, as anger assumed an important ritual function for the aristocracy."--Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona, Arthuriana. Winter, 1999. "As this collection shows, the history of the emotions is a promising field which should yield riches for researchers, outside as well as in America, in the years to come." --Sarah Hamilton
“This is a valuable and fascinating collection of essays that explores the cultural, social, linguistic, and political contexts of medieval anger. Its principal values lie first in its successful challenge to the ahistorical, evolutionary constructs of Elias, and second, in the models it presents for further investigation of the history of emotions in medieval or in any other society. I expect that this will be a watershed volume, much read by students and scholars not only in medieval studies but in a wide spectrum of disciplines.”--Patrick Geary, University of California, Los Angeles
About the Author
Barbara H. Rosenwein is Professor of History at Loyola University, Chicago. She is the author of Negotiating Space: Power, Restraint, and Privileges of Immunity in Early Medieval Europe and To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter: The Social Meaning of Cluny's Property, 909–1049 and coeditor of Monks and Nuns, Saints and Outcasts: Religion in Medieval Society, all from Cornell.
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