A Cultural History of the Emotions in the Medieval Age

The period covered by this volume, 350- 1300, was one of enormous change in the way emotions were understood, expressed, and valued as components of social life. At the opening of this period, the Roman Empire still existed as an administrative and cultural force across Europe, while Christianity had survived its first rocky centuries to become the official religion of the Empire. This meant that the approach to emotions was heavily influenced both by ancient Greek and Roman Stoic philosophy, and by the ascetic, and especially eremitic, character of early Christianity. The authors of the essays included in this volume trace the way understandings of emotions evolved over the next millennium into the high Middle Ages. This was the age of the flowering of affective piety and mysticism, when emotions, instead of being seen as unwanted distractions to be extirpated, were viewed instead as a pathway to experiencing and sharing in the ineffability of God.