Book contents
- Imagining the Medieval Afterlife
- Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
- Imagining the Medieval Afterlife
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Imagining the Medieval Afterlife: Introduction
- Part I Chronological Surveys
- Chapter 1 Just Deserts in the Ancient Pagan Afterlife
- Chapter 2 Visions of the Afterlife in the Early Medieval West
- Chapter 3 A Morbid Efflorescence: Envisaging the Afterlife in the Carolingian Period
- Chapter 4 The Afterlife in the Medieval Celtic-Speaking World
- Chapter 5 Anglo-Saxon Visions of Heaven and Hell
- Chapter 6 Otherworld Journeys of the Central Middle Ages
- Chapter 7 Visions of the Otherworlds in the Late Middle Ages, c. 1300–c. 1500
- Part II Theological Perspectives
- Part III Artistic Impressions
- Part IV Notable Authors and Texts
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
Chapter 6 - Otherworld Journeys of the Central Middle Ages
from Part I - Chronological Surveys
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 December 2020
- Imagining the Medieval Afterlife
- Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
- Imagining the Medieval Afterlife
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Imagining the Medieval Afterlife: Introduction
- Part I Chronological Surveys
- Chapter 1 Just Deserts in the Ancient Pagan Afterlife
- Chapter 2 Visions of the Afterlife in the Early Medieval West
- Chapter 3 A Morbid Efflorescence: Envisaging the Afterlife in the Carolingian Period
- Chapter 4 The Afterlife in the Medieval Celtic-Speaking World
- Chapter 5 Anglo-Saxon Visions of Heaven and Hell
- Chapter 6 Otherworld Journeys of the Central Middle Ages
- Chapter 7 Visions of the Otherworlds in the Late Middle Ages, c. 1300–c. 1500
- Part II Theological Perspectives
- Part III Artistic Impressions
- Part IV Notable Authors and Texts
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
Summary
This chapter not only explores the efflorescence of ‘new’ visions that occurred, especially, but not only, in the British Isles, during the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, it also traces the reproduction of early medieval visions too, arguing that the slow evolution of ‘purgatory’ from early medieval origins facilitated their continued use. Change is nonetheless to be found in this period. There was renewed sensitivity to old anxieties about the authenticity of visions. There was a fresh flux of debate about conceptualisations of the afterlife that were so strongly material. And, most especially, new theological and pastoral priorities were imprinted on vision-texts, which were subtly reshaped by shifting thinking about penitence and prayer. The chapter examines some of the most ‘popular’ visions, measured in terms of manuscript circulation, but it also reconstructs something of the range of visionary experiences too, taking into account narratives that were little attended in their day.
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- Imagining the Medieval Afterlife , pp. 99 - 114Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020