Priests’ Books and the Popularisation of the Contemplative Life in England, 1300–1550

Descripción del proyecto

Repensar la contemplación medieval

En la Edad Media, la contemplación se consideraba el culmen de la experiencia religiosa, una conexión íntima con el amor divino destinada a los verdaderos devotos. ¿Pero cómo accedía las personas corrientes a este tipo de espiritualidad? Con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el proyecto PopLatin examinará los libros de texto de latín que los sacerdotes utilizaban para educar a sus congregaciones. Esos textos desmenuzaban complejas enseñanzas contemplativas, haciéndolas accesibles al ciudadano de a pie y cuestionando la idea de que el latín era solo para la élite. El equipo de PopLatin ofrece una nueva perspectiva de la espiritualidad laica medieval e ilustra cómo los sacerdotes popularizaron conceptos religiosos mucho antes de la Reforma. Dicho método transforma nuestra comprensión de la literatura medieval, la fe y el modo en que se compartía la cultura.

Objetivo

PopLatin aims to write a new history of lay contemplative spirituality in the Middle Ages. Medieval people understood ‘contemplation’ as the highest religious experience: a revelation of divine love that could only occur, rarely, for those most committed to God. PopLatin offers a novel account of medieval contemplative spirituality by focusing on sources that scholars have largely overlooked: namely, the Latin textbooks that medieval priests used to teach their congregations. Latin priests’ books popularised famous medieval writers by transforming their teachings into more accessible forms, which priests then used to instruct their parishioners orally. The premise of PopLatin is that these neglected sources offer a new history of lay contemplative spirituality in the Middle Ages. By showing, counter-intuitively, that Latin was a language of popularisation through texts like these, PopLatin offers a radically revised view of what literature and beliefs ordinary laypeople could access during the centuries before the European Reformation. These objectives will be achieved through: literary analysis of four case studies, to establish how these Latin texts popularised the contemplative teachings of medieval authorities; analysis of material evidence, to show how priests communicated the teachings in their books to laypeople; survey of Latin priests’ literature, assisted by AI, to contextualise my research in wider trends; and literary analysis of the influence of Latin priests’ books on writers more famous today, to establish their importance for cultural history. This fellowship will enhance my career aim of securing a permanent academic position. It offers experience of a structured research project, which will ultimately form the basis of my next monograph, with one-to-one mentorship from a leading expert. It will develop my portfolio of teaching and public engagement, and enable me to contribute my knowledge of medieval Latin literature to research activities at UiB.