Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe

by John H. Arnold

Historians have no record of what the people who lived in medieval Europe between 1100-1500 did or did not believe regarding their Christian faith. This penetrating study sifts through the traces of evidence left across Europe to assemble a more complete picture. While religion in medieval Europe was a central part of people's lives and affected even the most mundane aspects of everyday existance, the period was far from uniform as the "Age of Faith". By focusing on lay people, this comprehensive analysis unlocks the multiple meanings of religion, asking how it functioned and what effect it had on the population, revealing the meanings and struggles that lay behind the misleading, commonly held myth of ubiquitous religious life in medieval Europe.

Genres: History, Religion, Medieval, Medieval History, Christianity, Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2005

About the author

John Hugh Arnold (born 1969) is a British historian. Since 2016, he has been the Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge. He previously worked at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he specialised in the study of medieval religious culture. He has also written widely on historiography and why history matters.

Born 28 November 1969, Arnold received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in medieval studies from the University of York. He was professor of medieval history at Birkbeck College, University of London, from 2008. He joined the college as a lecturer in 2001. Before that he was a lecturer at the University of East Anglia. He is a member of the Social History Society and the Medieval Academy of America.

Arnold specialises in the study of medieval religious culture, saying that while he has never been a believer in any religion, "belief" has always fascinated him. In his work he asks "Why do people believe the things they believe? What does 'believing' really mean in practice?" Arnold has also written widely about historiography. In 2008 he wrote a policy paper, Why history matters - and why medieval history also matters, for History & Policy.

Reviews

[Ella]

Read for Concepts and Methods in Medieval History.

Wish this had focused more on unbelief, but the work on belief is incredibly useful for my historiography review.

[Sarah Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

fiiiinally, someone wrote a book on popular religion in the middle ages. and an intelligent thesis driven book. fascinating and clear distinct prose.

[Shona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good introduction to the topic; broad - though for a book on 'belief and unbelief' Arnold spends very little of the book talking about unbelief as such, only a few pages at the very end.