Medieval Sensibilities: A History of Emotions in the Middle Ages

by Damien Boquet, Piroska Nagy, Robert Shaw (Translator)

What do we know of the emotional life of the Middle Ages? Though a long-neglected subject, a multitude of sources – spiritual and secular literature, iconography, chronicles, as well as theological and medical works – provide clues to the central role emotions played in medieval society.

In this work, historians Damien Boquet and Piroska Nagy delve into a rich variety of texts and images to reveal the many and nuanced experiences of emotion during the Middle Ages – from the demonstrative shame of a saint to a nobleman's fear of embarrassment, from the enthusiasm of a crusading band to the fear of a town threatened by the approach of war or plague. Boquet and Nagy show how these outbursts of joy and pain, while universal expressions, must be understood within the specific context of medieval society. During the Middle Ages, a Christian model of affectivity was formed in the ‘laboratory’ of the monasteries, one which gradually seeped into wider society, interacting with the sensibilities of courtly culture and other forms of expression.

Bouqet and Nagy bring a thousand years of history to life, demonstrating how the study of emotions in medieval society can also allow us to understand better our own social outlooks and customs.

Genres: History, Medieval

350 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2018

About the author

Damien Boquet is Lecturer in History at the University of Aix-Marseille.

Reviews

[Valérie]

Je ne donne pas d'étoiles pour les ouvrages scientifiques, mais j'ai bien aimé celui-ci. Très informatif et intéressant ; il me faudrait sans doute lire ce livre une deuxième fois pour mieux comprendre encore l'histoire émotive du Moyen Âge, mais le sujet est très passionnant.

[Raynald Provost]

Après le très décevant 'Histoire des émotions', voici un livre sur les émotions dans l'histoire comme ils doivent être écrit: une recherche minutieuse et savante, des déductions convaincantes et un style clair.

[Alessandro Nicolai]

Davvero troppo specialistico e quindi pesante, pensavo desse un’analisi più viva e originale sui sentimenti umani, invece troppo spesso entra troppo nello specifico in mabito filosofico e teologico, lento e noioso

[fra]

Libro letto per un esame universitario. Ho trovato la lettura difficile, soprattutto nei capitoli che si concentrano maggiormente sulla sfera monastica, ma nel complesso ho trovato davvero interessanti gli argomenti trattati e con ottimi spunti riflessivi.

[Eyan]

For school

[Hélène Lamboley]

Un livre très complet sur son sujet, presque trop pour moi qui ai eu, je l’avoue, un peu de mal sur les passages détaillant l’évolution du débat théologique sur les émotions au moyen âge