L'Agenda des Médiévistes

L’histoire du corps est aujourd’hui un domaine privilégié de la recherche. Si elle est redevable à d’autres sciences sociales, en premier lieu l’anthropologie, l’ethnologie et la sociologie, elle a existé bienavant d’être identifiée en tant que telle et certaines manières de faire l’histoire l’ont irriguée sans le savoir　: elle apparaît donc comme un organisme encore en développement et doué d’un appétit qui lui fait franchir les barrières consacrées entre périodes ou disciplines, en attirant à elle des sources de plus en plus diverses. Sa relative jeunesse peut se mesurer à sa capacité d’osmose avec d’autres branches de l’histoire, avec qui elle a un objet central en partage qu’aucune n’épuise. Ses intersections sont évidentes avec l’histoire de la médecine et celle de l’alimentation, mais la littérature et l’iconographie sont aussi des observatoires potentiels de représentations, de même que les textes philosophiques offrant force matière à l’exploration des conceptions du corps, notamment de ses relations avec l’âme.

Les dernières synthèses sur l’histoire du corps n’accordant qu’une part limitée au Moyen Âge, malgré l’influence tutélaire de Marc Bloch et de Jacques Le Goff, un volume consacré à cette période s’impose comme une nécessité. On rend donc ici compte des origines et des développements de cette histoire, en envisageant la question du corps au Moyen Âge dans toutes ses dimensions, physiques, mais aussi physiologiques, artistiques, religieuses et spirituelles, sociales et politiques.

Daniel Le Blévec, professeur émérite d’histoire du Moyen Âge à l’Université Paul-Valéry – Montpellier 3, est spécialiste de l’histoire des institutions religieuses et culturelles dans le Midi médiéval. Il s’intéresse plus particulièrement à l’assistance aux pauvres et aux malades entre le XIIe et le XVe siècle et poursuit ses recherches sur l’histoire sociale des hôpitaux et de la médecine, ainsi que sur les ordres religieux.

Laurence Moulinier-Brogi est Professeure d’Histoire du Moyen Âge à l’université Paris Nanterre. Elle a consacré de nombreux travaux à Hildegarde de Bingen, à Guillaume l’Anglais, à l’histoire des textes et des savoirs, à celle de la médecine et à celle du corps. Elle poursuit actuellement ses recherches dans deux principales directions, l’histoire des femmes et l’histoire culturelle des ordres religieux, notamment mendiants.

Table des matières :

Chapitre 1 : Introduction générale
Daniel Le Blévec et Laurence Moulinier-Brogi
Chapitre 2 : Le corps et ses fonctions
Laurence Moulinier-Brogi
Chapitre 3 : Corps affamé, corps nourri
Bruno Laurioux
Chapitre 4 : Le corps vêtu
Nadège Gauffre Fayolle
Chapitre 5 : Corps en beauté
Laurence Moulinier-Brogi
Chapitre 6 : Corps et sexualité. Un regard historiographique
Jacques Rossiaud
Chapitre 7 : Corps souffrant, corps soigné
Geneviève Dumas et Daniel Le Blévec
Chapitre 8 : Corps meurtri, corps mutilé, corps déformé, corps empêché
Franck Collard
Chapitre 9 : Le corps en procès
Claude Gauvard
Chapitre 10 : Corps en action, corps en jeu
Sébastien Nadot
Chapitre 11 : Le corps en image
Jean Wirth
Chapitre 12 : Corps vénérés, corps adoré : les saints, la Vierge Marie, le Christ
Catherine Vincent
Chapitre 13 : Les ascètes et leur corps
Patrick Henriet
Chapitre 14 : Le corps du roi
Élisabeth Lalou
Chapitre 15 : Corpus, cadaver. Le corps mort au Moyen Âge
Cécile Treffort

Liste des illustrations

Informations pratiques :

Le corps au Moyen Âge, éd. Daniel Le Blévec, Laurence Moulinier-Brogi, Turnhout, Brepols, 2025 ; 1 vol., 678 p. (L’atelier du médiéviste, 16). ISBN : 978-2-503-61340-6. Prix : € 80,00.

Source : Brepols

Constant Crisis focuses on the culmination of struggles in the medieval Norwegian kingdom to examine whether these conflicts underscored a breakdown of society and polity or whether they created an equilibrium among factions that in fact « served to contain violence. » Applying the term « constant crisis » for its deliberate « dissonance, » Hans Jacob Orning observes that two properties were manifest in Norwegian political and social structures of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: a systemic balance achieved in an environment of « endemic power struggles, » and a normalization of these conflicts that made it « possible to maneuver and make plans and strategies. »

The kings’ sagas Sverris saga and Böglunga sögur are virtually indispensable sources of information on this period of Norwegian history, and Orning relies extensively on them, as well as on other medieval sources, to depict this era and its protagonists, including the major rival armed groups (the Birchlegs and the Croziers); and among kings, bishops, and earls, the person of King Sverre himself.

Hans Jacob Orning is Professor of History in the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo. His primary research field is the Nordic Middle Ages. His books include Unpredictability and Presence: Norwegian Kingship in the High Middle Ages (2008); The Reality of the Fantastic: The Magical, Political and Social Universe of Late Medieval Saga Manuscripts (2017); and with Øyvind Østerud, Krig uten stat: Kriger i middelalderen og i dag (2020, English version forthcoming). He has led or co-led several research projects, including one on medieval and modern civil war in collaboration with Jón Viðar Sigurðsson and funded by the Norwegian Research Council and the Center for Advanced Research, as well as Legitimation of the Elites in Medieval Poland and Norway funded by Norway Grants in Poland.

Informations pratiques :

Hans Jacob Orning, Constant Crisis. Deconstructing the Civil Wars in Norway, ca. 1180–1220, Ithaca (NY), Cornell Unievrsity Press, 2025 ; 1 vol., 276 p. (Islandica, 66). ISBN : 978-0-93599-531-2. Prix : USD 65,00.

Source : Cornell University Press

With the birth of the cult of the saints, their relics became valuables whose possession would guarantee prestige, protection, and spiritual benefits to a town, church, or monastery. For this reason—at first with the aim of preserving the bodies of newly-executed martyrs from destruction and later of increasing the power of a particular faction or community—, the relics began to be stolen, with numerous cases documented throughout Europe. At the same time, a rich hagiographic literature flourished to describe the contexts in which the thefts occurred and to demonstrate their authenticity. Justifications, legitimations, ordeals, and supernatural interventions are dotted throughout the stories of hagiographers over the centuries. This book seeks to reconstruct the cultural history of the theft of relics in the specific context of Italy, from Late Antiquity to the Central Middle Ages, availing itself of an interdisciplinary perspective.

Marco Papasidero is Assistant Professor in History of Christianity and Churches at the University of Palermo, Italy. From 2019 to 2023, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Turin, as part of the ERC StG project NeMoSanctI. He has also been Research Fellow at the Edward Worth Library in Dublin and at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris, as well as Visiting Professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense.

Table des matières :

Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
List of figures
Introduction

1. Relics and Thefts: A Preliminary Approach
2. Thefts of relics in Late Antiquity (300–600)
3. Thefts of relics in the Early Middle Ages (600–950)
4. Thefts of relics in the Central Middle Ages (950–1150)
5. The accounts of translation: historical, literary, and visual representations
6. Anthropology of the thefts of relics
7. Dreams, Rituals, and Spaces
   Conclusions. Thefts of relics: a never-ending story
   Appendix
   Map of the thefts of relics
   Bibliography
   Primary sources
   Secoundary sources

Informations pratiques :

Marco Papasidero, Thefts of Relics in Italy. From Late Antiquity to the Central Middle Ages, 300–1150, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2025 ; 1 vol. (Italy in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages). ISBN : 978-9-46372-387-9. Prix : € 141,00.

Source : Amsterdam University Press

Profili del secolo XI (Spoleto, 4-10 aprile 2024), Spolète, Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 2025 ; 2 vol., 1298 p. (Atti delle settimane di studio, 71). ISBN : 9788868094508. Prix : € 190,00.

Table des matières :

C. Wickham, Nuovi approcci ai cambiamenti dell’XI secolo in Europa e nel Mediterraneo, pp. 1-22 – Discussione, 23-26

É. Doublier, Declinazioni dell’autorità regia e imperiale a Nord e a Sud delle Alpi. Tra spazi sociali e spazi regionali, 27-54 – Discussione, 55-56

G. M. Cantarella, La Penisola iberica in un’età di trasformazione: frammenti di un discorso?, 57-96 – Discussione, 97-100

B. Pohl, Norman Monasteries and Cultural Capital in Eleventh-Century Europe, 101-126 – Discussione, 127-128

D. Barthélemy, Guerres féodales et usages chevaleresques en France de l’Ouest au XIe siècle, 129-180 – Discussione, 181-182

M. E. Cortese, Aristocrazie e incastellamento: il regno italico nel contesto europeo, 183-208 – Discussione, 209-212

A. Fiore, La signoria: l’esercizio del potere locale tra continuità e rotture, 213-240 – Discussione, 241-244

E. Faini, I consoli: incunaboli del Comune?, 245-282 – Discussione, 283-284

W. Verbaal, «Con le armi della poesia»: The Loire Poets and the Politics of Poetry, 285-300 – Discussione, 301- 304

A. Wilkin, The North-Western European Economy in the Eleventh Century: A Crucible of Change?, 305-340 – Discussione, 341-344

A. Molinari, Produzioni e consumi contadini nell’XI secolo: mondi rurali a confronto attraverso i dati archeologici, 345-370 – Discussione, 371-372

T. Lazzari, Risorse contese: patrimonio e diritti del fisco regio, 373-398 – Discussione, 399-402

B. Callegher, Eredità bizantine nella monetazione dell’Italia dell’XI secolo, 403-434 – Discussione, 435-438

T. Kohl, Comparing conflicts: Control of churches and secular lords in Germany and France, 439-460 – Discussione, 461-462

N. D’Acunto, Le riforme della Chiesa nel secolo XI tra sistemi in conflitto e processi di ricomposizione, 463-488 – Discussione, 489-492

C. Ciccopiedi, Immunità vescovili. Tra ingiudicabilità e territorializzazione, 493-516 – Discussione, 517- 518

K. G. Cushing, Rethinking the libelli de lite: Law in Practice, Disputation and the Public Sphere in the eleventh century, 519-532 – Discussione, 533-534

E. Destefanis, Il monachesimo occidentale nel secolo XI: idealità e materialità, 535-586 – Discussione, 587-594

B. Crostini, The Evergetis Monastery between Schism and Reform (second half of the 11th cent.), 595-640

J.-C. Cheynet, Les mutations de la société byzantine au xie siècle (986-1118): une révolution?, 641-668 – Discussione, 669-670

M. Lauxtermann, The Grottaferrata version of Kalīla wa-Dimna, 671-694 – Discussione, 695-698

N. Zorzi, I rapporti tra Venezia e Bisanzio nel secolo XI nel riflesso delle fonti letterarie bizantine, 699-730 – Discussione, 731-732

A. Bucossi, La costruzione del mito del 1054: fonti medievali e riletture contemporanee, 733-760 – Discussione, 761-764

V. Prigent, Bisanzio e l’Occidente nell’XI secolo: nuove sfide, nuove opportunità, 765-808 – Discussione, 809-810

D. Jacquart, Sciences et médecine au XIe siècle en Occident: la rencontre des cultures, 811-830 – Discussione, 831-832

C. Storti, Giustizia imperiale e scuola di Pavia, 833-900 – Discussione, 901-902

B. Brasington, Pro nostrae Ecclesiae necessitate fecerim. Canonical Collections from Burchard of Worms to Ivo of Chartres: Continuities, Challenges, Opportunities, 903-926 – Discussione, 927-928

E. M. Tyler, Writing History and the Politics of Language in Eleventh- Century England: Latin, English, Norse, French, Welsh and Irish, 929-966 – Discussione, 967-970

E. D’Angelo, Maudits Normands. L’epopea normanna nella letteratura storiografica in latino, 971- 1008 – Discussione, 1009-1012

A. Degl’Innocenti, «Nunc vere monachi estis»: antiche e nuove forme di santità nell’agiografia monastica di area italiana, 1013-1036 – Discussione, 1037-1038

P. Henriet, Ermites, moines et évêques, entre tradition et réforme. La sainteté au XIe siècle, 1039-1080 – Discussione, 1081-1086

M. Bottazzi, L’evoluzione dell’epigrafia. L’XI secolo, 1087-1126 – Discussione, 1127-1130

M. C. Somma, Società di pietra: le rappresentazioni del potere attraverso l’edilizia, 1131-1172 – Discussione, 1173-1174

H. A. Klein, Byzantine Art in/and/beyond the West during the Long Eleventh Century: Infusing the ‘Byzantine Question’ with a ‘Global’ Perspective, 1175-1208 – Discussione, 1209-1212

S. Lomartire, Il rapporto tra scultura e architettura nell’XI secolo in area occidentale: la progressiva estensione dell’arredo scultoreo all’esterno degli edifici, 1213-1260 – Discussione, 1261-1266

W. Jacobsen, Le trasformazioni dell’architettura nell’XI secolo, 1267-1286

A. Rusconi, The Musical Reform of Guido of Pomposa/Arezzo in the Age of the Ecclesiastical Reforms, 1287-1298.

Source : CISAM

Benedict of Peterborough’s Passion and Miracles of St Thomas Becket puts the reader in Canterbury on the day of one of the most famous murders of all time, when four of King Henry II’s knights killed the archbishop inside his cathedral on 29 December 1170. It reveals how a monk thrust into the role of chronicler attempted to understand the earliest cures at Thomas Becket’s tomb and the rapid growth of his reputation as a miracle-worker. With its description of Becket’s murder and some 275 miracles, all dating to 1171-1173, Benedict’s text, which went on to circulate across Europe, is by far our most important source for the beginnings of the cult that would draw hundreds of thousands of medieval pilgrims to Canterbury.

This book provides the first full English translation of Benedict’s Passion and Miracles from the original Latin. It includes an introduction that assesses the relationship of the Canterbury monks to the archbishop, analyses the story of the murder as told in the Passion, and examines the ways in which Benedict gathered material and constructed the Miracles. The translation is also accompanied by full explanatory notes, while two appendices provide biographical information and a translation of the eighteen stories in the Miracles that are also recounted in a slightly later Canterbury collection. This translation will make Benedict’s hugely significant text accessible to a wider audience for the first time.

This book is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.

RACHEL KOOPMANS is a historian of medieval religion, hagiography, and material culture who specialises in the cult of Thomas Becket and the stained glass of Canterbury Cathedral. She teaches history at York University in Toronto, Canada.

Table des matières :

Acknowledgements
Note on the Translation
List of Abbreviations
Introduction

THE PASSION OF ST THOMAS BECKET
THE MIRACLES OF ST THOMAS BECKET
PROLOGUE
BOOK I
BOOK II
BOOK III
BOOK IV
ADDITIONS

Biographical Notes
Appendix: William of Canterbury, The Parallel Miracles
Select Bibliography
Index to Biblical Allusions
General Index

Informations pratiques :

The Passion and Miracles of St. Thomas Becket by Benedict of Peterborough, trad. Rachel Koopmans, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2025 ; 1 vol., 400 p. (Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 58). ISBN : 978-1-83765-271-6. Prix : GBP 28,99.

Source : Boydell and Brewer