Ritual, Myth and Magic in Early Modern Europe - University of Reading

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D.Watt, Secretaries of God: Women Prophets in Late Medieval and Early Modern
England (1997)
H.Dobin, Merlin’s Disciples: Prophecy, Poetry and Power in Renaissance England (1990)
R.Popkin, ‗Predicting, prophecying, divining and foretelling from Nostradamus to
Hume‘, History of European Ideas, 5 (1984),117-135.
Seminar 6 : Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory
Summary
Over the last few weeks we have looked in detail at the rituals and beliefs of the living
– attitudes to the supernatural, popular religion, the liturgical year, and communal
festivities. Over the next few weeks we will consider the place and the role of the
dead in the culture of early modern Europe. Popular and learned views on death, the
afterlife, and ghosts were an important part of religious culture, and like most aspects
of religion in this period, were redefined or remodelled as a consequence of religious
change. Late medieval sermon literature, both orthodox and heterodox, pulled no
punches in its representations of the afterlife, and particularly the pains that would be
suffered by the souls condemned to Hell, or making their passage through Purgatory.
Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory loomed large in the popular consciousness – as we can
see from the popularity of literary works such as Dante‘s Divine Comedy. The
geography of the afterlife was mapped out in detail, helped not just by literary
creativity but also by accounts of visions, warnings from the dead, and the theology
propounded by the church. This model, and the theology that underpinned it, came
under attack during the Reformation, and it was traditional teaching on Purgatory that
took the brunt of the assault. Alongside our study of traditional beliefs, we will
consider the impact that the Reformation had upon attitudes to the afterlife, and the
nature of the attack on traditional modes of thought.
Seminar Preparation
What picture did the people of early modern Europe have of the afterlife?
How did the geography of the afterlife change in this period?
Did general attitudes to the afterlife change in this period?
Which had the greater impact upon popular beliefs and actions – heaven hell, or purgatory?
Were attitudes to the afterlife more influenced by fear or by hope?
Are popular and elite views of the afterlife different?
Was there any difference between medieval views of heaven and those of the early
modern period?
How strong was the fear of Hell?
Why did purgatory loom so large in the popular imagination?
Why did the doctrine of purgatory become so controversial in this period?
Source texts for discussion