medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Greetings all,
I´m wondering if 'degrade' is the correct very to use for removing someone from ecclesiastical status - in this case, a nun, and the word used in my (Icelandic) text is in fact an Icelandicized form of Latin 'degradere' (with appropriate verbal ending, I haven´t looked it up). I´m wondering how we would express this today? The reason for her demotion (could I say she was 'demoted'?) was blasphemy against the pope (in later versions, signing a pact with the devil and sleeping with many men) and afterwards she was burned. All this in 1343, the first example of anyone being burned for anything in Iceland.
Meg