Fictions of Evidence : Witnessing, Literature, and Community in the Late Middle Ages /
Throughout the Middle Ages, witnessing was a crucial way religious and legal “truths” were understood and produced. Religious and secular officials alike harnessed the power of testimony to assert doctrinal, political, or legal responsibilities. Swearing an oath, testifying in court, and signing a d...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Columbus :
Ohio State University Press,
[2013]
|
| Series: | Book collections on Project MUSE.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Full text available: |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Throughout the Middle Ages, witnessing was a crucial way religious and legal “truths” were understood and produced. Religious and secular officials alike harnessed the power of testimony to assert doctrinal, political, or legal responsibilities. Swearing an oath, testifying in court, and signing a deposition were common ways to shape and discipline both devotional and legal communities. In this book, the author traces depictions of witnessing in a wide range of late medieval texts and shows how witnessing practices formed and reformed, policed and challenged medieval communities. Through close study of texts like the Man of Law’s Tale and Piers Plowman alongside sermon exempla, common law statutes, and pastoral treatises, this book argues that vernacular literature was a vital site of criticism and dissent. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (256 pages). |
| ISBN: | 9780814270189 |
| Access: | Open Access |