Introduction
Childhood
Youth
Marriage
Death
Conclusion
Glossary
Bibliography
This reviewer heartily agrees with Sparks's call to discard the
artificial divide, perpetuated by modern historians, between
'sacred and profane, religious and secular,' as well as between
'good men' and 'believers,' in favor of a more modulated and
contextualized consideration of religion as lived, practiced, and
believed in an individual, familial, and social context.
*SPECULUM*
[P]resents convincing insights into the known facts about the
Cathar heresy in southern France's Languedoc region.
*JOURNAL OF RELIGION*
Sparks' bottom-up history unearths the Cathar beliefs and practices
that rhythmed the everyday life of men and women in Languedoc from
their birth to their death, and in doing so, exposes the complex
social networks that sustained the Cathar faith and its
leaders.
*CONFRATERNITAS*
[A]n excellent, original book on a much discussed but still
important topic of the European Middle Ages. As it covers most of
the inquisitorial records of the Languedoc prior till 1320s it is
also a compulsory reading and reference for those studying heresy
and inquisition of the southern France-and wholeheartedly
recommended to anyone interested in religion, laity, and life cycle
in the Middle Ages.
*COMITATUS*
Sparks' book provides a valuable survey of religious practice in
the Languedoc, clearly demonstrating the impact that crusade and
inquisition had on religious life and illustrating religious life
in the Languedoc in all its messy complexity.
*THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW*
This is a well-researched and nicely written book which collates a
wealth of detail to offer a fresh perspective on the social and
religious history of thirteenth and fourteenth-century France. In a
historiography recently marked by debates over definition, and more
recently ethics, Chris Sparks offers a diplomatic and cordial
intervention.
*H-FRANCE*
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