'That peace shall always dwell among them and true love be upheld’:Charity, the Seven Works of Mercy, and Lay Fellowship in Late Medieval and Early Reformation England.

[摘要] This study utilizes legal documents, literature, religious drama, art, and material culture in a two-fold examination of the gendering of the Christian virtue of charity as effected through the works of mercy. First, it explores charity as a ;;religious ideology” imagined by clerics, who sought to shape lay conduct through a catechetical program that both implicitly and explicitly advocated different methods of charitable living for men and women. By situating clerical pedagogy within medieval gender theories, this dissertation considers how the clergy adapted their teachings on charity to accommodate men’s and women’s social roles. Second, focusing on Lincolnshire, it investigates the different ways men and women responded to this clerical educational initiative in their religious practices and in daily life. By foregrounding the central role women played in the practice of the works of mercy, and considering ecclesiastical mechanisms of control and uniformity in conversation with the varying responses of the laity (reception and practice), this project demonstrates that late medieval catechesis had deeper social resonance than scholars have hitherto allowed.Charity was a fundamental component of medieval Christian doctrine, essential to understanding medieval piety. Therefore, this dissertation’s assessment of the effects clerical didactic efforts had on ordinary English men and women as they practiced their religion sheds light on a crucial aspect of medieval culture. It considers the influence of the clergy’s educational program by examining the laity’s performance of charity through an investigation of their charitable bequests, the corporate behavior of parish guilds, and sanctions against disobedience found in ecclesiastical and civic court records. By thus addressing the relationship between prescription and action between 1388 and 1534, this study traces evolving interpretations of a key Christian value, charity, at a crucial time in Christian history. In addition, this dissertation explores the gendered conceptions of charity that complicated the relationship between religious instruction and practice.While gendering charity gave women’s work a spiritual imperative and religious significance, it simultaneously reinforced traditional gender roles. Finally, a focus on the local contexts of lay catechetical appropriation demonstrates that pre-Reformation religious education affected laypeople more profoundly than earlier Reformation scholars had imagined.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] History (General)

[关键词] Medieval Religious Pedagogy and Practice;History (General);Humanities;History