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Royal Books and Holy Bones

Essays in Medieval Christianity

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Royal Books and Holy Bones

By: Eamon Duffy
Narrated by: Eamon Duffy
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About this listen

Bloomsbury presents Royal Books and Holy Bones written and read by Eamon Duffy.

In these vivid and approachable essays Eamon Duffy engages with some of the central aspects of Western religion in the thousand years between the decline of pagan Rome and the rise of the Protestant Reformation.

In the process he opens windows on the vibrant and multifaceted beliefs and practices by which medieval people made sense of their world: the fear of death and the impact of devastating pandemic, holy war against Islam and the invention of the blood libel against the Jews, provision for the afterlife and the continuing power of the dead over the living, the meaning of pilgrimage and the evolution of Christian music. Duffy unpicks the stories of the Golden Legend and Yale University’s mysterious Voynich manuscript, discusses the cult of ‘St’ Henry VI and explores childhood in the Middle Ages.

In this highly listenable collection Eamon Duffy once more challenges existing scholarly narratives and sheds new light on the religion of Britain and Europe before and during the Reformation.

©2018 Eamon Duffy (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Christianity Europe History Medieval Religious Studies Middle Ages Nonfiction

Critic reviews

It is 26 years since Eamon Duffy changed the way that readers of history looked at England on the eve of the Reformation, through his The Stripping of the Altars. Many of the essays here also challenge easy assumptions. All of them are written with a clarity and fluency, humour and humanity that make reading them a pleasure. (Christopher Howse)
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Most relevant
Having read and enjoyed two of Duffy’s books, I jumped at this one and have relished, once admin, the depth and breadth - the detail of his scholarship.
This is a collection of essays and reviews covering most aspects of mediaeval Catholicism and spirituality: to mention just a few highlights, his back story of The Golden Legend , Lucas Cranach, the development of church music - far more detailed than anything I received at RCM- and the piece about codices, much of this was new to me.
Disregard the perfectly honest warning about recording quality: the informality of the author’s delivery comes across like a seminar; you’re in the room with him.
Anyone who knows Duffy’s work will be bound to love this book, and for anyone who doesn’t, it will serve as the best introduction to a brilliant and occasionally surprisingly humorous scholar whose work has helped bring about a balance among the various interpretations of the English reformation.

The very best in reformation scholsrship

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