Truth and the Heretic: Crises of Knowledge in Medieval French LiteratureIn the Middle Ages, the heretic, more than any other social or religious deviant, was experienced as an imaginary construct. Everyone believed heretics existed, but no one believed himself or herself to be a heretic, even if condemned as such by representatives of the Catholic Church. Those accused of heresy, meanwhile, maintained that they were the good Christians and their accusers were the false ones. Exploring the figure of the heretic in Catholic writings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as well as the heretic's characterological counterpart in troubadour lyrics, Arthurian romance, and comic tales, Truth and the Heretic seeks to understand why French literature of the period celebrated the very characters who were so persecuted in society at large. Karen Sullivan proposes that such literature allowed medieval culture a means by which to express truths about heretics and the epistemological anxieties they aroused. The first book-length study of the figure of the heretic in medieval French literature, Truth and the Heretic explores the relation between orthodoxy and deviance, authority and innovation, and will fascinate historians of ideas and literature as well as scholars of religion, critical theory, and philosophy. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
Béatris de Planissoles and the Heretics of Montaillou | 17 |
The Secrecy of the Manichaeans and Cathars | 47 |
Heresy Secrecy and Troubadour Lyric | 84 |
The Singularity of Noble Heretics | 115 |
Heresy Singularity and the Romance of Tristan | 151 |
Common terms and phrases
accused Adémar de Chabannes Albigensian Crusade Anonymous Augustine authors Autier Azalaïs barons Béatris believe Bernard Gui Béroul Bertomieu bishop Cathar Catharisme Christian Church Clergue conceal courtly love Crusade David von Augsburg depicted Description of Heresies doctrine ecclesiastical Etienne de Bourbon fabliau fabliaux faith Fanjeaux Farai un vers friars Guibert of Nogent Guilhem Guillaume Pelhisson Guillelma heresy Heresy at Orléans hereticorum heretics heterodox Holy Hystoria ibid inquisitors Jean lady Languedoc leper literary littérature lords lovers Manichaeans Medieval médiévale Middle Ages Montaillou Montanhagol Montségur Moyen Age Occitan Occitania orthodox Paris Peire perceive Peter Pierre poem poets Prades Tavernier preach quia quod Raimon Rogier Raimon VI Registre Richeut Roman de Renart Romance of Tristran Rutebeuf Saint-Père de Chartres Samson secret sect social speak texts Toulouse trans translation modified Tristan and Iseut trobar clus troubadours Trubert truth University Press Valdès Wakefield and Evans Waldensians William Pelhisson words writes XIIe siècle XIIIe