Elf queens and holy friars : fairy beliefs and the medieval church /

Elf Queens and Holy Friars offers a detailed account of the church's attempts to suppress or redirect belief in such things as fairy lovers, changelings and alternative versions of the afterlife. That the church took these fairy beliefs so seriously suggests that they were ideologically loaded,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Green, Richard Firth, 1943- (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2016]
Series:Middle Ages.
Subjects:
Description
Summary:Elf Queens and Holy Friars offers a detailed account of the church's attempts to suppress or redirect belief in such things as fairy lovers, changelings and alternative versions of the afterlife. That the church took these fairy beliefs so seriously suggests that they were ideologically loaded, and this fact makes a huge difference in the way we read medieval romance, the literary genre that treats them most explicitly. The war on fairy beliefs increased in intensity toward the end of the Middle Ages, becoming finally a significant factor in the witch-hunting of the Renaissance.
Physical Description:285 pages ; 24 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9780812248432
0812248430