Seldom heard from in modern times, those on the margins of Medieval Europe have much to tell us about the society that defined them. More than just a fascinating cast of characters, the visionaries and sexual dissidents, the suicidal and psychologically unbalanced, the lepers and converts of Medieval times reveal the fears of a people for whom life was made both meaningful and terrifying by the sacred.

After centuries of historical silence, these and other disenfranchised members of the medieval public have been given voice by Michael Goodich in a unique collection of texts from the mid-eleventh through the fourteenth century. Translated from their original Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, these texts, many of them first person narratives or testimonies, give insight into those figures who made Medieval society uneasy.

The book is divided into chapters dealing with the Jewish community, apostates and converts, sexual nonconformists, victims of the Devil, Christian heretics, and the liminal and temporarily marginalized. The texts included both give spiritual voice to such groups, and illuminate the more mundane affairs of their daily lives-child rearing, social life, economic difficulties, sexuality, dreams, emotional instability, and gender relations among them.

About the Author
Michael Goodich is Associate Professor of History at the University of Haifa, Israel.

Reviews

"Anyone interested in medieval history would profit from this well-conceived and well-translated collection of sources."-Church History

"Other Middle Ages serves as an important balance to the many source collections that reflect the ideology of the dominant classes and neglect the voices that bring us insights from the edge of society. Goodich's anthology opens a new chapter in medieval studies, focusing on the margins and the people living there."-The Medieval Review

Book Information
ISBN 9780812216547
Author Michael Goodich
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint University of Pennsylvania Press
Publisher University of Pennsylvania Press