Supernatural Encounters
Supernatural Encounters The belief in the reality of demons and the restless dead formed a central facet of the medieval worldview. Chroniclers, hagiographers, sermon writers, satirists, poets, and…
Specifikacia Supernatural Encounters
Supernatural Encounters
The belief in the reality of demons and the restless dead formed a central facet of the medieval worldview. Chroniclers, hagiographers, sermon writers, satirists, poets, and even medical practitioners utilised the cultural 'text' of the supernatural encounter in many different ways, showcasing the multiplicity of contemporary attitudes to death, disease, and the afterlife. Whether a pestilent-spreading corpse mobilised by the devil, a purgatorial spirit returning to earth to ask for suffrage, or a shape-shifting demon intent on crushing its victims as they slept, encounters with supernatural entities were often met with consternation and fear.
Focusing primarily on material from In this volume, Stephen Gordon explores the ways in which conflicting ideas about the intention and agency of supernatural entities were understood and articulated in different social and literary contexts.