Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland
The article is also freely available at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse/lse.html Although the New Testament clearly prohibits Christians from taking personal revenge, Christian societies—whether in first-century Palestine, medieval Europe, or contemporary North America—have always found this a difficult...
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ftleicester:oai:lra.le.ac.uk:2381/2998 2023-05-15T16:47:24+02:00 Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland Clark, David 2007-12-06T13:16:29Z http://hdl.handle.net/2381/2998 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse/lse.html en eng School of English, University of Leeds RAE 2007 Leeds Studies in English, 2005, 36, pp.133-156 0075-8566 http://hdl.handle.net/2381/2998 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse/lse.html Article 2007 ftleicester 2019-03-22T20:13:08Z The article is also freely available at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse/lse.html Although the New Testament clearly prohibits Christians from taking personal revenge, Christian societies—whether in first-century Palestine, medieval Europe, or contemporary North America—have always found this a difficult prohibition to observe, and, indeed, individuals and institutions have often cited other parts of the Bible to legitimise vengeful acts. This article considers the changing attitudes to clerical and secular vengeance in medieval Iceland. It adduces evidence from a range of legal, political, and ecclesiastical documents to contextualise a study of the representation of revenge in family and contemporary sagas in the light of ecclesiastical precepts. The analysis points to a growing perception that secular revenge must be tempered with moderation, and that clerics should not involve themselves in acts of vengeance. Within the sagas, religious figures are employed variously as the voice of the Church, and as those implicated in the turmoil of the Sturlunga old. [From introduction] Peer-reviewed Published version Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland University of Leicester: Leicester Research Archive (LRA) |
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University of Leicester: Leicester Research Archive (LRA) |
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The article is also freely available at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse/lse.html Although the New Testament clearly prohibits Christians from taking personal revenge, Christian societies—whether in first-century Palestine, medieval Europe, or contemporary North America—have always found this a difficult prohibition to observe, and, indeed, individuals and institutions have often cited other parts of the Bible to legitimise vengeful acts. This article considers the changing attitudes to clerical and secular vengeance in medieval Iceland. It adduces evidence from a range of legal, political, and ecclesiastical documents to contextualise a study of the representation of revenge in family and contemporary sagas in the light of ecclesiastical precepts. The analysis points to a growing perception that secular revenge must be tempered with moderation, and that clerics should not involve themselves in acts of vengeance. Within the sagas, religious figures are employed variously as the voice of the Church, and as those implicated in the turmoil of the Sturlunga old. [From introduction] Peer-reviewed Published version |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clark, David |
spellingShingle |
Clark, David Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland |
author_facet |
Clark, David |
author_sort |
Clark, David |
title |
Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland |
title_short |
Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland |
title_full |
Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Revenge and Moderation: The Church and Vengeance in Medieval Iceland |
title_sort |
revenge and moderation: the church and vengeance in medieval iceland |
publisher |
School of English, University of Leeds |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2381/2998 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse/lse.html |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
RAE 2007 Leeds Studies in English, 2005, 36, pp.133-156 0075-8566 http://hdl.handle.net/2381/2998 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse/lse.html |
_version_ |
1766037482361585664 |