LEADER 04067nam 2200685 450 001 9910460657503321 005 20210427010043.0 010 $a1-5017-0217-3 010 $a1-5017-0218-1 024 7 $a10.7591/9781501702181 035 $a(CKB)3710000000501924 035 $a(EBL)3426014 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001551580 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)16168980 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001551580 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)14812234 035 $a(PQKB)11523968 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3426014 035 $a(DE-B1597)481735 035 $a(OCoLC)951648848 035 $a(OCoLC)999360382 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781501702181 035 $a(OCoLC)1227051294 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse78576 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3426014 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr11091022 035 $a(OCoLC)919104816 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000501924 100 $a20150907h20062003 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|nu---|u||u 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aDiscerning spirits $edivine and demonic possession in the Middle Ages /$fNancy Caciola 205 $aCornell paperbacks. 210 1$aIthaca, New York ;$aLondon, [England] :$cCornell University Press,$d2006. 210 4$dİ2003 215 $a1 online resource (352 p.) 225 1 $aConjunctions of Religion & Power in the Medieval Past 300 $aIncludes index. 311 $a0-8014-4084-X 311 $a0-8014-7334-9 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tList of Illustrations --$tPreface --$tList of Abbreviations --$tIntroduction --$tPart I. "A Protracted Disputation" --$t1. Possessed Behaviors --$t2. Ciphers --$tPart II: Spiritual Physiologies --$t3 . Fallen Women and Fallen Angels --$t4. Breath, Heart, Bowels --$tPart III. Discernment and Discipline --$t5. Exorcizing Demonic Disorder --$t6. Testing Spirits in the Effeminate Age --$tIndex 330 $aTrance states, prophesying, convulsions, fasting, and other physical manifestations were often regarded as signs that a person was seized by spirits. In a book that sets out the prehistory of the early modern European witch craze, Nancy Caciola shows how medieval people decided whom to venerate as a saint infused with the spirit of God and whom to avoid as a demoniac possessed of an unclean spirit. This process of discrimination, known as the discernment of spirits, was central to the religious culture of Western Europe between 1200 and 1500. Since the outward manifestations of benign and malign possession were indistinguishable, a highly ambiguous set of bodily features and behaviors were carefully scrutinized by observers. Attempts to make decisions about individuals who exhibited supernatural powers were complicated by the fact that the most intense exemplars of lay spirituality were women, and the "fragile sex" was deemed especially vulnerable to the snares of the devil. Assessments of women's spirit possessions often oscillated between divine and demonic interpretations. Ultimately, although a few late medieval women visionaries achieved the prestige of canonization, many more were accused of possession by demons. Caciola analyzes a broad array of sources from saints' lives to medical treatises, exorcists' manuals to miracle accounts, to find that observers came to rely on the discernment of bodies rather than seeking to distinguish between divine and demonic possession in purely spiritual terms. 410 0$aConjunctions of religion & power in the medieval past. 606 $aDiscernment of spirits$xHistory of doctrines$yMiddle Ages, 600-1500 606 $aWomen in Christianity$xHistory$yMiddle Ages, 600-1500 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aDiscernment of spirits$xHistory of doctrines 615 0$aWomen in Christianity$xHistory 676 $a235/.2/082 700 $aCaciola$b Nancy$f1963-$01026360 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910460657503321 996 $aDiscerning spirits$92441236 997 $aUNINA