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E-book
Author Bornstein, Daniel E., author

Title The Bianchi of 1399 : Popular Devotion in Late Medieval Italy / Daniel E. Bornstein
Published Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2019]
©1993

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Description 1 online resource (248 pages)
Contents Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- MAPS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. THE RELIGIOUS CULTURE OF LATE MEDIEVAL ITALY -- 2. THE ORIGINS OF THE BIANCHI -- 3. THE SPREAD OF THE BIANCHI DEVOTION -- 4. SONGS AND SIGNS: THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE BIANCHI -- 5. THE BIANCHI AND THE AUTHORITIES -- 6. THE LEGACY OF THE BIANCHI -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX
Summary In the summer of 1399 a wave of popular devotion swept through Italy from the Alps to Rome. Men, women, and children from city and countryside joined in pious processions lasting nine days. Dubbed "Bianchi" because of their white robes, they listened to sermons, sang hymns, observed dietary restrictions, and prayed for "peace and mercy." Daniel E. Bornstein reconstructs the history of the Bianchi in unparalleled detail, and his conclusions offer new insight into the character of late medieval Christianity. Drawing on a wide range of sources including diaries, hymns, and government reports, Bornstein offers nuanced analyses of both the spiritual and the political dimensions of the movement. After describing the origins of the Bianchi as a movement concerned with the conflict and violence of the age, he traces its spread through Italy, paying particular attention to local variations. Focusing on the relationship between lay participants and ecclesiastical authorities, Bornstein demonstrates that the Bianchi represent what might be called a popular orthodoxy-a spontaneous and deeply sincere rallying to the approved beliefs and traditional practices of the church. In conclusion, he argues that scholars who have assumed a sharp division between lay and clerical religion in the late Middle Ages have misconstrued the development of Christianity in fundamental ways
Notes In English
Online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Nov 2019)
Subject Catholic Church -- Italy -- History
Catholic Church -- History.
SUBJECT Catholic Church fast
Subject Bianchi (Italian religious movement) -- History
Spirituality -- Catholic Church -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500
HISTORY -- Medieval.
Bianchi (Italian religious movement)
SUBJECT Italy -- Church history -- 476-1400. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85068879
Subject Italy
Genre/Form Church history
History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781501733468
150173346X