How Pagan Were Medieval English Peasants

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8931397
AutoresRonald Hutton (autor de correspondencia)
Año2011
Volumen122
Número3
Páginas235-249
Fecha de publicación2011-11-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaFolklore (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
EditorialRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.2011.608262
OpenAlexW2040486611
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas30

During the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, it was commonplace among historians that the common people of medieval England had remained substantially pagan in their religious beliefs. Christianity, according to this view, was essentially the faith of the elite, with the populace embracing what was at best a dual allegiance to the new and old religions. This view has now disappeared, and the time seems right to take stock of medieval popular religion in England with a view to solving three problems: why did the concept of a pagan medieval populace develop, flourish for so long and then decline; what is the actual evidence for medieval popular belief; and what new perspectives can be taken on medieval English Christianity by employing comparisons with paganism? Notes [1] Bristol Record Office, D/D/Cd 4, 1535-40. I owe this reference to my former colleague at Bristol, Joseph Bettey

Allegiance · Ancient history · Art · Christianity · Dual (grammatical number · Elite · Faith · Literature · Medieval history · Medieval Literature · Medieval studies · Middle Ages · Mysticism · Paganism · Political science · Politics · Theology · Classics · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices