Catherine Rider
Biographic Data
| ID | 3980387 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Catherine Rider |
| GIVEN NAMES | Catherine |
| FAMILY NAME | Rider |
| SIGNATURE | RIDER C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Exeter |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4849-5503 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Infertility and the Margins of Society
The history of infertility is a rapidly growing field but the relationship between infertility and religion remains under-studied. This article investigates the ways in which religious writers in the European Middle Ages thought about infertility, focusing (in keeping with the theme of ‘margins and peripheries’) on how far these sources presented reproductive disorders as leading people to be marginalized or stigmatized. It examines several key s…
Infirmities and invisible ink
This article examines accusations of magic made against enslaved Muslims in Malta over the period 1598-1608. In this period numerous enslaved Muslims were accused of magic before the Roman Inquisition, and the surviving records describe these accusations and magical practices in detail. This article explores the types of magic Muslims were accused of, and why they seem to have been attractive to Christians as magical practitioners. It employs a s…
Textual Magic
Magic in Malta
In this volume, a microhistorical approach is employed to provide a transcription, translation, and case-study of the proceedings (written in Latin, Italian and Arabic) of the Roman Inquisition on Malta’s 1605 trial of the ‘Moorish’ slave Sellem Bin al-Sheikh Mansur, who was accused and found guilty of practising magic and teaching it to the local Christians. Through both a detailed commentary and individual case-studies, it assesses what these p…
The medieval biological clock? Gendered reproductive aging in medieval western medicine
This paper examines discussions of women's and men's reproductive aging in a series of western European medical texts written in the period 1100-1300. It uses the modern image of the biological clock to explore how far physicians in earlier periods understood reproductive aging to be a process of slow decline before a final age at which fertility ended (menopause for women, or a less defined 'old age' for men), and how far they viewed women's rep…
The Routledge History of Medieval Magic
The Landscape of Pastoral Care in Thirteenth-Century England, by William H. Campbell
For many years, scholars of the medieval English church and of medieval religion more broadly have viewed the thirteenth century as a crucial period. The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, bringing together many of the new developments already occurring in theology, canon law and lay religious practice, sought (among other things) to improve the education of the clergy and the pastoral care of the laity, with rulings on clerical education and confes…
Contesting Orthodoxy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
This book originated in a conference in 2010, and brings together, under the editorship of Louise Nyholm Kallestrup and Raisa Maria Toivo, an international group of scholars to investigate the many different ways in which religious orthodoxy might be contested in the later medieval and early modern periods. The thirteen chapters are divided into three sections, on ‘Heresy’, ‘Magic’ and ‘Witchcraft’, and they interpret these concepts very broadly …
Introduction
Although the history of pregnancy and childbirth have been studied extensively in recent decades, infertility has received less historical attention, especially for the pre-modern period. This collection makes steps towards filling this gap. The introduction offers some insights on the significance of the history of infertility to scholarship on gender relations and the construction of gendered identities, midwifery and reproductive medicine, and…
Men and Infertility in Late Medieval English Medicine
The history of male reproductive disorders in the Middle Ages has been comparatively neglected compared to the history of women’s medicine. This article explores the ways the subject was discussed in a sample of widely circulated medieval Latin medical texts and examines how this information was adapted in English translations and recipe collections aimed at a wider audience which included medical practitioners. It argues that the possibility of …
Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance
Medieval literature contains a rich treasure trove of magic and of marvellous, supernatural events: magical swords, rings, and other objects, fairy ladies, the Christian marvels of the Grail, and m
Witch Beliefs and Witch Trials in the Middle Ages
Medical Magic and the Church in Thirteenth-Century England
This paper examines the discussions of ‘magical’ cures found in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century English pastoral manuals (texts designed to teach the clergy how to preach and hear confessions). It discusses these writers' attitudes to spoken and written charms and non-verbal amulets, and compares them with a selection of charms and amulets found in contemporary medical texts. The paper discusses the reasons why authors of pastoral manual…
Law and the Illicit in Medieval Europe – Edited by Ruth Mazo Karras, Joel Kaye and E. Ann Matter
Lay religion and pastoral care in thirteenth century England
This paper examines the extent of lay religious knowledge and observance in thirteenth century England, using a series of short manuscript treatises on confession inspired by the De modo confitendi of Robert Grosseteste (d.1253). These works have not been much used to study lay religion but their lists of suggested questions to ask penitents in confession tell us much about their authors’ views of lay religion and their aspirations for it. The fi…
Agreements to Return from the Afterlife in Late Medieval Exempla
One of the ways in which medieval Christians thought about the links between this life and the afterlife was by telling ghost stories – a topic which has attracted the attention of several historians. In these stories, a dead person often appears to a living relative or friend and asks them to give alms or to perform other good works on their behalf, in order to speed up their passage to heaven. The dead person usually appears spontaneously, alth…
The Demonology of William of Auvergne
The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England – By Beth Allison Barr
Jean Fernel's “On the Hidden Causes of Things”
Magic and Impotence
There has been a great deal of scholarship on medieval magic published in the last twenty years. This article discusses the author's recent book, Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages , and surveys how it fits into other recent research on medieval magic. This recent research has taken three directions in particular: research on the medieval origins of the early modern witch‐hunts; on the contents and circulation of magical texts in medieval Eur…
Danger, Stupidity, and Infidelity’
One of the places in which medieval churchmen tackled questions of discipline and diversity was in their writing on magic. Magic appeared in many different kinds of ecclesiastical writing, including canon law, theology, and the records and manuals of the inquisition. Some of these sources have been well studied; in particular, historians have often attempted to trace the medieval origins of the early modern witch-hunts in theology and inquisition…
My Quest for the Middle Ages
This book is based on a series of interviews of the French medievalist Jacques Le Goff, conducted by the journalist Jean-Maurice de Montremy in 2002. In these interviews, Le Goff offers a synthesis of his work as a historian, and talks about how he came to write history in the way that he does. The first chapter opens with Le Goff's discovery of the middle ages in 1936, when he read Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, and goes on to discuss his studies and e…
Satan Heretique
Journal Article Satan Hérétique: Histoire de la Démonologie (1280-1330) Get access Satan Hérétique: Histoire de la Démonologie (1280–1330). By Alain Boureau (Paris: Odile Jacob, 2004; pp. 320. Eur 25.90). Catherine Rider Catherine Rider Christ's College, Cambridge Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume CXXII, Issue 498, September 2007, Pages 1025–1027, https://doi.org/10.1093…
Elite and Popular Superstitions in the Exempla of Stephen of Bourbon
‘When I was preaching against sorcery and hearing confessions...’. With these words, the thirteenth-century Dominican friar Stephen of Bourbon recalled how in a village in the Auvergne he had found a group of women venerating a dog as a saint. He then went on to describe how he had preached against the cult and persuaded the local lord to demolish the dog’s woodland shrine. Thanks to a detailed study by Jean-Claude Schmitt, this encounter between…
Lay religion and pastoral care in thirteenth century England
This paper examines the extent of lay religious knowledge and observance in thirteenth century England, using a series of short manuscript treatises on confession inspired by the De modo confitendi of Robert Grosseteste (d.1253). These works have not been much used to study lay religion but their lists of suggested questions to ask penitents in confession tell us much about their authors’ views of lay religion and their aspirations for it. The fi…
Introduction
Although the history of pregnancy and childbirth have been studied extensively in recent decades, infertility has received less historical attention, especially for the pre-modern period. This collection makes steps towards filling this gap. The introduction offers some insights on the significance of the history of infertility to scholarship on gender relations and the construction of gendered identities, midwifery and reproductive medicine, and…
The medieval biological clock? Gendered reproductive aging in medieval western medicine
This paper examines discussions of women's and men's reproductive aging in a series of western European medical texts written in the period 1100-1300. It uses the modern image of the biological clock to explore how far physicians in earlier periods understood reproductive aging to be a process of slow decline before a final age at which fertility ended (menopause for women, or a less defined 'old age' for men), and how far they viewed women's rep…
Men and Infertility in Late Medieval English Medicine
The history of male reproductive disorders in the Middle Ages has been comparatively neglected compared to the history of women’s medicine. This article explores the ways the subject was discussed in a sample of widely circulated medieval Latin medical texts and examines how this information was adapted in English translations and recipe collections aimed at a wider audience which included medical practitioners. It argues that the possibility of …
Agreements to Return from the Afterlife in Late Medieval Exempla
One of the ways in which medieval Christians thought about the links between this life and the afterlife was by telling ghost stories – a topic which has attracted the attention of several historians. In these stories, a dead person often appears to a living relative or friend and asks them to give alms or to perform other good works on their behalf, in order to speed up their passage to heaven. The dead person usually appears spontaneously, alth…
Danger, Stupidity, and Infidelity’
One of the places in which medieval churchmen tackled questions of discipline and diversity was in their writing on magic. Magic appeared in many different kinds of ecclesiastical writing, including canon law, theology, and the records and manuals of the inquisition. Some of these sources have been well studied; in particular, historians have often attempted to trace the medieval origins of the early modern witch-hunts in theology and inquisition…
Elite and Popular Superstitions in the Exempla of Stephen of Bourbon
‘When I was preaching against sorcery and hearing confessions...’. With these words, the thirteenth-century Dominican friar Stephen of Bourbon recalled how in a village in the Auvergne he had found a group of women venerating a dog as a saint. He then went on to describe how he had preached against the cult and persuaded the local lord to demolish the dog’s woodland shrine. Thanks to a detailed study by Jean-Claude Schmitt, this encounter between…
Elite and Popular Superstitions in the Exempla of Stephen of Bourbon
‘When I was preaching against sorcery and hearing confessions...’. With these words, the thirteenth-century Dominican friar Stephen of Bourbon recalled how in a village in the Auvergne he had found a group of women venerating a dog as a saint. He then went on to describe how he had preached against the cult and persuaded the local lord to demolish the dog’s woodland shrine. Thanks to a detailed study by Jean-Claude Schmitt, this encounter between…
Magic and Impotence
There has been a great deal of scholarship on medieval magic published in the last twenty years. This article discusses the author's recent book, Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages , and surveys how it fits into other recent research on medieval magic. This recent research has taken three directions in particular: research on the medieval origins of the early modern witch‐hunts; on the contents and circulation of magical texts in medieval Eur…
Danger, Stupidity, and Infidelity’
One of the places in which medieval churchmen tackled questions of discipline and diversity was in their writing on magic. Magic appeared in many different kinds of ecclesiastical writing, including canon law, theology, and the records and manuals of the inquisition. Some of these sources have been well studied; in particular, historians have often attempted to trace the medieval origins of the early modern witch-hunts in theology and inquisition…
My Quest for the Middle Ages
This book is based on a series of interviews of the French medievalist Jacques Le Goff, conducted by the journalist Jean-Maurice de Montremy in 2002. In these interviews, Le Goff offers a synthesis of his work as a historian, and talks about how he came to write history in the way that he does. The first chapter opens with Le Goff's discovery of the middle ages in 1936, when he read Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, and goes on to discuss his studies and e…
Satan Heretique
Journal Article Satan Hérétique: Histoire de la Démonologie (1280-1330) Get access Satan Hérétique: Histoire de la Démonologie (1280–1330). By Alain Boureau (Paris: Odile Jacob, 2004; pp. 320. Eur 25.90). Catherine Rider Catherine Rider Christ's College, Cambridge Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume CXXII, Issue 498, September 2007, Pages 1025–1027, https://doi.org/10.1093…
Jean Fernel's “On the Hidden Causes of Things”
Agreements to Return from the Afterlife in Late Medieval Exempla
One of the ways in which medieval Christians thought about the links between this life and the afterlife was by telling ghost stories – a topic which has attracted the attention of several historians. In these stories, a dead person often appears to a living relative or friend and asks them to give alms or to perform other good works on their behalf, in order to speed up their passage to heaven. The dead person usually appears spontaneously, alth…
The Demonology of William of Auvergne
The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England – By Beth Allison Barr
Law and the Illicit in Medieval Europe – Edited by Ruth Mazo Karras, Joel Kaye and E. Ann Matter
Lay religion and pastoral care in thirteenth century England
This paper examines the extent of lay religious knowledge and observance in thirteenth century England, using a series of short manuscript treatises on confession inspired by the De modo confitendi of Robert Grosseteste (d.1253). These works have not been much used to study lay religion but their lists of suggested questions to ask penitents in confession tell us much about their authors’ views of lay religion and their aspirations for it. The fi…
Medical Magic and the Church in Thirteenth-Century England
This paper examines the discussions of ‘magical’ cures found in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century English pastoral manuals (texts designed to teach the clergy how to preach and hear confessions). It discusses these writers' attitudes to spoken and written charms and non-verbal amulets, and compares them with a selection of charms and amulets found in contemporary medical texts. The paper discusses the reasons why authors of pastoral manual…
Witch Beliefs and Witch Trials in the Middle Ages
Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance
Medieval literature contains a rich treasure trove of magic and of marvellous, supernatural events: magical swords, rings, and other objects, fairy ladies, the Christian marvels of the Grail, and m
Introduction
Although the history of pregnancy and childbirth have been studied extensively in recent decades, infertility has received less historical attention, especially for the pre-modern period. This collection makes steps towards filling this gap. The introduction offers some insights on the significance of the history of infertility to scholarship on gender relations and the construction of gendered identities, midwifery and reproductive medicine, and…
Men and Infertility in Late Medieval English Medicine
The history of male reproductive disorders in the Middle Ages has been comparatively neglected compared to the history of women’s medicine. This article explores the ways the subject was discussed in a sample of widely circulated medieval Latin medical texts and examines how this information was adapted in English translations and recipe collections aimed at a wider audience which included medical practitioners. It argues that the possibility of …
The Routledge History of Medieval Magic
The Landscape of Pastoral Care in Thirteenth-Century England, by William H. Campbell
For many years, scholars of the medieval English church and of medieval religion more broadly have viewed the thirteenth century as a crucial period. The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, bringing together many of the new developments already occurring in theology, canon law and lay religious practice, sought (among other things) to improve the education of the clergy and the pastoral care of the laity, with rulings on clerical education and confes…
Contesting Orthodoxy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
This book originated in a conference in 2010, and brings together, under the editorship of Louise Nyholm Kallestrup and Raisa Maria Toivo, an international group of scholars to investigate the many different ways in which religious orthodoxy might be contested in the later medieval and early modern periods. The thirteen chapters are divided into three sections, on ‘Heresy’, ‘Magic’ and ‘Witchcraft’, and they interpret these concepts very broadly …
Magic in Malta
In this volume, a microhistorical approach is employed to provide a transcription, translation, and case-study of the proceedings (written in Latin, Italian and Arabic) of the Roman Inquisition on Malta’s 1605 trial of the ‘Moorish’ slave Sellem Bin al-Sheikh Mansur, who was accused and found guilty of practising magic and teaching it to the local Christians. Through both a detailed commentary and individual case-studies, it assesses what these p…
The medieval biological clock? Gendered reproductive aging in medieval western medicine
This paper examines discussions of women's and men's reproductive aging in a series of western European medical texts written in the period 1100-1300. It uses the modern image of the biological clock to explore how far physicians in earlier periods understood reproductive aging to be a process of slow decline before a final age at which fertility ended (menopause for women, or a less defined 'old age' for men), and how far they viewed women's rep…
Infirmities and invisible ink
This article examines accusations of magic made against enslaved Muslims in Malta over the period 1598-1608. In this period numerous enslaved Muslims were accused of magic before the Roman Inquisition, and the surviving records describe these accusations and magical practices in detail. This article explores the types of magic Muslims were accused of, and why they seem to have been attractive to Christians as magical practitioners. It employs a s…
Textual Magic
Infertility and the Margins of Society
The history of infertility is a rapidly growing field but the relationship between infertility and religion remains under-studied. This article investigates the ways in which religious writers in the European Middle Ages thought about infertility, focusing (in keeping with the theme of ‘margins and peripheries’) on how far these sources presented reproductive disorders as leading people to be marginalized or stigmatized. It examines several key s…
History (17 works) · History (17 works) · Art (15 works) · Medieval Literature and History (13 works) · Classics (10 works) · Literature (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Classics (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works)