Wow! eBook
The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England: 3
Author(s): Beth Allison Barr (Author)
- Publisher: Boydell Press
- Publication Date: 17 April 2008
- Language: English
- Print length: 184 pages
- ISBN-10: 1843833735
- ISBN-13: 9781843833734
Book Description
A close examination of religious texts illuminates the way in which parish priests dealt with their female parishioners in the middle ages. The question of how priests were taught to think about and care for female parishioners is the topic of this book. As neither misogynist villains nor saintly heroes, clerical authors of pastoral vernacular literature persisted both in their characterization of women as difficult parishioners and in their attempts to recognize women as ordinary parishioners who deserved ordinary pastoral care. Focusing on the important vernacular writings of John Mirk, hisFestial and Instructions for Parish Priests, the author reveals how even a small number of influential sermon compilations, exempla, and pastoral guides could have significantly shaped the perceptions, attitudes, and- perhaps – actions of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century priests. Shedding light on the mental universe of the late medieval parish, this study offers important new insights into the reality of how priests perceived and fulfilledtheir spiritual obligations to the women they served. BETH ALLISON BARR is Assistant Professor of European Women’s History at Baylor University.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Possesses multiple strengths. With each new chapter (Barr) presents a solid argument backed with valid textual evidence. –Speculum
(This) excellent monograph will be of use to anyone studying women between the time of the Black Death and the Reformation. –Year’s Work in English Studies
A well-intentioned and widely-researched book. –Journal of English and German Philology, July 2011
