JULIA BARROW wrote:
>This thread of discussion is about the 16th/17th centuries and
onwards, as it's about BCP and the Church of England.
Didn't mean to imply that it wasn't.
I just thought that there *might* be something of use here for medievalists,
given the occassional tenor of the list in general.
Shoulda started a new string, maybe.
>I wasn't extrapolating anything medieval from that and I think that Sharon
Arnoult wasn't doing so either.
Didn't mean to imply that you(s) were.
The thrust of my question
>Do you see cc. 16 & 17 as being much closer to the medieval than to,
say, the 19th c.?
was *intended* to be aimed at our (my) sometimes unfortunate characterisation
of the "Early Modern" period as more "Modern" than "Early" (i.e., "Medieval"),
which characterisation, I have to constantly remind myself, may be largely
fictitious and counter-productive.
This was brought home to me rather graphically when a long-time friend at
Kalamazoo a few years ago recounted a visit he had just made to a
restored "Pilgrim" village (Old Sturbridge?--I can't recall) in New England.
He was quite struck, being a professor of medieval French, by the fact that he
seemed to find himself in what was, in essence, a medieval village, with
half-timbered houses, wattle fences, infield/outfield/three-field agriculture,
etc.
Clearly, the material conditions of life for the overwhelming majortity
of folks were not significantly different in c.17 from those of c.13
(or 9?), and *vastly* different from those of our own (in the "developed"
world at least: just don't cross the Rio Grande).
And, it seems to my naive mind's eye, perhaps even the *spiritual* conditions
of c.17 were, similarly, *essentially* closer to "Medieval" than to "Modern"
(again, at least insofar as the educated classes of the "first world" are
concerned) sensibilities--however much the *relatively* superficial external
manifestations of fundamental belief (e.g., whether the head of your church
was styled Pope or King) might differ.
Hence my "Or, is it?":
>Sharon, I take it that you would agree that extrapolation from Early Modern
data back into the Dark Ages, to the extent that it can be done at all, is a
potentially hazardous and ventursome exercise (?)
>Or, is it?
Best to all from here,
Christopher
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