Miracle Accounts as Teaching Aids and Learning Tools: Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogus Miraculorum as a Mirror of Everyday Life and the History of Mentality
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Albrecht Classen
Abstract
Undoubtedly, Caesarius of Heisterbach’s collection of miracle stories, his Dialogus miraculorum (ca. 1225), reflects in many ways medieval mentality at large, mirroring a very devout mind-set, fear of God and the devil, and a strong belief in the mediating power of the Virgin Mary and the many saints. We make it too easy for us, however, when we read these stories simply as religious messages with little relevance for our study of medieval society at large. Behind the religious discourse, we can recognize a potent pedagogical project to get the young novices involved in the monastic discourse, to offer insights into the transcendence of all life, hence into God’s involvement in human existence, and also to reflect on many ordinary aspects in human life. This paper does not intend to dismiss or ridicule the strongly Catholic worldview expressed here, and it also does not want to reconfirm any belief in miracles; instead the purpose is to provide a careful but selective reading across the entire body of tales which can reveal how the narrative discourse could be utilized for universal didactic purposes and how that discourse was predicated on the concrete reality behind the fictional account. In particular, as we will observe, in the background of many of these miracle stories we can discover much information about medieval mentality, everyday culture, emotions, and faith, historical events, major figures, but also the life of ordinary and poor people. Caesarius reflected both on mysticism and dreams, on divine visions and experiences, on life and death, and also on natural catastrophes.
Abstract
Undoubtedly, Caesarius of Heisterbach’s collection of miracle stories, his Dialogus miraculorum (ca. 1225), reflects in many ways medieval mentality at large, mirroring a very devout mind-set, fear of God and the devil, and a strong belief in the mediating power of the Virgin Mary and the many saints. We make it too easy for us, however, when we read these stories simply as religious messages with little relevance for our study of medieval society at large. Behind the religious discourse, we can recognize a potent pedagogical project to get the young novices involved in the monastic discourse, to offer insights into the transcendence of all life, hence into God’s involvement in human existence, and also to reflect on many ordinary aspects in human life. This paper does not intend to dismiss or ridicule the strongly Catholic worldview expressed here, and it also does not want to reconfirm any belief in miracles; instead the purpose is to provide a careful but selective reading across the entire body of tales which can reveal how the narrative discourse could be utilized for universal didactic purposes and how that discourse was predicated on the concrete reality behind the fictional account. In particular, as we will observe, in the background of many of these miracle stories we can discover much information about medieval mentality, everyday culture, emotions, and faith, historical events, major figures, but also the life of ordinary and poor people. Caesarius reflected both on mysticism and dreams, on divine visions and experiences, on life and death, and also on natural catastrophes.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Miracles, Wonders, and Human Existence Globally and in the Pre-Modern Age: Also an Introduction 1
- (False) Miracles, Doctors and the potentia of Saints in the Gaul of Gregory of Tours 107
- Apostle’s Miracles and Kings’ Authority in West Francia (ca. 850–ca. 1050) 127
- Fecundity, Motherhood and Healing Karāmāt (Miracles): A Comparative Study of Sayyidah Nafīsah and Christian Women Saints 161
- Intertextuality and the Transcendental Miracle of Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s Risālat al-Ghufrān (The Epistle of Forgiveness) (1033 C.E.) 189
- The Miracles of Solomon: A Comparative Study of Al-Thaʿlabī’s Qiṣaṣ Al-Anbiyāʾ and “The City of Brass,” a Tale in the Arabian Nights Collection 215
- Miracle Accounts as Teaching Aids and Learning Tools: Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogus Miraculorum as a Mirror of Everyday Life and the History of Mentality 241
- The Ultimate Miracle: Revival of the Dead in Alfonso X’s Cantigas de Santa Maria 275
- Miracle of Miracles: Improbable Choices and Impossible Outcomes in Dante’s Paradiso 299
- Miraculosa gratia: Discerning the Spirit, Discerning the Body in the Liber of Angela of Foligno and in the Vita of Clare of Montefalco 337
- Miraculous Revelation in the Middle English Pearl 375
- The Miracles of the Immaculate Conceptions in the St. Anne’s Legend and the Middle English Joseph of Aramathie 405
- “Many ferlis han fallen in a fewe ȝeris”: Debt, Obligation, Godly Presence, and Grasping the Miraculous in Piers Plowman 427
- Margery Kempe and Miracles: Guarding Understanding and Interpretation of Experience 459
- Where Has God Gone in the Vernacular Renderings of Lanfranc’s Chirurgia magna? 477
- Non vidit, sed firmiter credit – The Many Roles of Jews in Christian Miracle Narratives 505
- “Never of Myselff”: Failure and Interiority in Malory’s “The Healing of Sir Urry” 555
- Between Wonders and Miracles. The Use and Abuse of Natural Substances in the Healing Rituals of Late Medieval and Early Modern Popular Culture 581
- Between Wonder and Science: Alchemy in Augurello’s Mini-Epic Chryrsopoeia (1515) 619
- “Miraculous Light” – Natural Phenomena and Divine Salvation in the Medieval and Early Modern World 647
- Biographies of the Contributors
- Index
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Miracles, Wonders, and Human Existence Globally and in the Pre-Modern Age: Also an Introduction 1
- (False) Miracles, Doctors and the potentia of Saints in the Gaul of Gregory of Tours 107
- Apostle’s Miracles and Kings’ Authority in West Francia (ca. 850–ca. 1050) 127
- Fecundity, Motherhood and Healing Karāmāt (Miracles): A Comparative Study of Sayyidah Nafīsah and Christian Women Saints 161
- Intertextuality and the Transcendental Miracle of Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s Risālat al-Ghufrān (The Epistle of Forgiveness) (1033 C.E.) 189
- The Miracles of Solomon: A Comparative Study of Al-Thaʿlabī’s Qiṣaṣ Al-Anbiyāʾ and “The City of Brass,” a Tale in the Arabian Nights Collection 215
- Miracle Accounts as Teaching Aids and Learning Tools: Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogus Miraculorum as a Mirror of Everyday Life and the History of Mentality 241
- The Ultimate Miracle: Revival of the Dead in Alfonso X’s Cantigas de Santa Maria 275
- Miracle of Miracles: Improbable Choices and Impossible Outcomes in Dante’s Paradiso 299
- Miraculosa gratia: Discerning the Spirit, Discerning the Body in the Liber of Angela of Foligno and in the Vita of Clare of Montefalco 337
- Miraculous Revelation in the Middle English Pearl 375
- The Miracles of the Immaculate Conceptions in the St. Anne’s Legend and the Middle English Joseph of Aramathie 405
- “Many ferlis han fallen in a fewe ȝeris”: Debt, Obligation, Godly Presence, and Grasping the Miraculous in Piers Plowman 427
- Margery Kempe and Miracles: Guarding Understanding and Interpretation of Experience 459
- Where Has God Gone in the Vernacular Renderings of Lanfranc’s Chirurgia magna? 477
- Non vidit, sed firmiter credit – The Many Roles of Jews in Christian Miracle Narratives 505
- “Never of Myselff”: Failure and Interiority in Malory’s “The Healing of Sir Urry” 555
- Between Wonders and Miracles. The Use and Abuse of Natural Substances in the Healing Rituals of Late Medieval and Early Modern Popular Culture 581
- Between Wonder and Science: Alchemy in Augurello’s Mini-Epic Chryrsopoeia (1515) 619
- “Miraculous Light” – Natural Phenomena and Divine Salvation in the Medieval and Early Modern World 647
- Biographies of the Contributors
- Index
