Reviews
Ghosts in the Middle Ages: The Living and the Dead in Medieval Society by Jean-Claude Schmitt
marginaliant's review
4.0
A very fascinating book. Schmitt takes a profoundly complicated subject matter and breaks it down systematically in a way that answered almost all of my questions about the "belief" in ghosts in medieval society. Special shout out to the sections which clarified the difference between saintly apparitions and ghosts, the section about the evolution of visual depictions of ghosts, and the section about the "Wild Hunt."
Unfortunately there is very little in this book about what illiterate laypeople *believed* about ghosts. He touches on this so very briefly in the conclusion when he addresses how the concept of an immutable "belief" in ghosts is doesn't hold up to his analysis, but in my view he only satisfies that question insofar as the literate elite were willing to use ghosts for moral/political/social/theological commentary. I am sure this is a complication of what source materials are available, but if I'm going to listen to anyone hazard a guess I'd rather it be JC Schmitt.
This isn't what I would call accessible and readable history for everyone but if you're willing to muddle through it I think it's worth your time.
Unfortunately there is very little in this book about what illiterate laypeople *believed* about ghosts. He touches on this so very briefly in the conclusion when he addresses how the concept of an immutable "belief" in ghosts is doesn't hold up to his analysis, but in my view he only satisfies that question insofar as the literate elite were willing to use ghosts for moral/political/social/theological commentary. I am sure this is a complication of what source materials are available, but if I'm going to listen to anyone hazard a guess I'd rather it be JC Schmitt.
This isn't what I would call accessible and readable history for everyone but if you're willing to muddle through it I think it's worth your time.
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