04640nam 2200769Ia 450 991045343740332120210525030309.097866120872021-282-08720-71-4008-2602-010.1515/9781400826025(CKB)1000000000548159(EBL)445475(OCoLC)298104969(SSID)ssj0000084710(PQKBManifestationID)11123950(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000084710(PQKBWorkID)10169328(PQKB)10537180(MiAaPQ)EBC445475(OCoLC)899265057(MdBmJHUP)muse36351(DE-B1597)446437(OCoLC)979578330(DE-B1597)9781400826025(Au-PeEL)EBL445475(CaPaEBR)ebr10284088(CaONFJC)MIL208720(EXLCZ)99100000000054815920030721d2004 uy 0engurun#---|u||utxtccrProving woman[electronic resource] female spirituality and inquisitional culture in the later Middle Ages /Dyan ElliottCourse BookPrinceton, NJ Princeton University Pressc20041 online resource (366 p.)Description based upon print version of record.0-691-11860-4 0-691-05956-X Includes bibliographical references (p. [305]-331) and index.Front matter --Contents --Acknowledgments --Abbreviations --Introduction --Chapter One. Sacramental Confession as Proof of Orthodoxy --PART 1. Women as Proof of Orthodoxy --Chapter Two. The Beguines: A Sponsored Emergence --Chapter Three. Elisabeth of Hungary: Between Men --PART 2. Inquisitions and Proof --Chapter Four. Sanctity, Heresy, and Inquisition --Chapter Five. Between Two Deaths: The Living Mystic --PART 3. The Discernment of Spirits --Chapter Six. Clerical Quibbles --Chapter Seven. John Gerson and Joan of Arc --Conclusion --Bibliography --IndexAround the year 1215, female mystics and their sacramental devotion were among orthodoxy's most sophisticated weapons in the fight against heresy. Holy women's claims to be in direct communication with God placed them in positions of unprecedented influence. Yet by the end of the Middle Ages female mystics were frequently mistrusted, derided, and in danger of their lives. The witch hunts were just around the corner. While studies of sanctity and heresy tend to be undertaken separately, Proving Woman brings these two avenues of inquiry together by associating the downward trajectory of holy women with medieval society's progressive reliance on the inquisitional procedure. Inquisition was soon used for resolving most questions of proof. It was employed for distinguishing saints and heretics; it underwrote the new emphasis on confession in both sacramental and judicial spheres; and it heralded the reintroduction of torture as a mechanism for extracting proof through confession. As women were progressively subjected to this screening, they became ensnared in the interlocking web of proofs. No aspect of female spirituality remained untouched. Since inquisition determined the need for tangible proofs, it even may have fostered the kind of excruciating illnesses and extraordinary bodily changes associated with female spirituality. In turn, the physical suffering of holy women became tacit support for all kinds of earthly suffering, even validating temporal mechanisms of justice in their most aggressive forms. The widespread adoption of inquisitional mechanisms for assessing female spirituality eventuated in a growing confusion between the saintly and heretical and the ultimate criminalization of female religious expression.WomenReligious lifeHistoryChurch historyMiddle Ages, 600-1500MysticismHistoryMiddle Ages, 600-1500Women mysticsEuropeHeresyHistoryTo 1500InquisitionElectronic books.WomenReligious lifeHistory.Church historyMysticismHistoryWomen mysticsHeresyHistoryInquisition.270.5/082Elliott Dyan1954-845302MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910453437403321Proving woman2392255UNINA