
A Bishop's Tale
Mathias Hovius Among His Flock in Seventeenth-Century Flanders
Yale University Press
Published on 8. February 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-300-09405-3 (ISBN)
Description
This absorbing book takes us back to the busy, colorful world of a Netherlandish Catholic bishop and his flock during the age of Reformation. It is drawn from a rare journal, one of many kept by Mathias Hovius from 1596 to 1620 while he was Archbishop of Mechelen (part of modern Belgium). Elegantly written, the book focuses not only on the life of Mathias Hovius but also on key events and characters of his time; it portrays "lived religion," so that we see people from all sides getting involved in the constant negotiation of what it meant to be a good Catholic.
Craig Harline and Eddy Put recreate the eventful life and times of Mathias Hovius-a world in which other-believers were outright heretics, the nagging fevers of old age were the result of unbalanced bodily humors, and a corruptible earth rested motionless at the center of the universe while God sat exalted on a throne just beyond the fixed stars. The authors also tell the stories of monks, nuns, priests, millers, pilgrims, peasant women, saints, town and village councils, and ordinary parishioners; each story, fascinating in its own right, illustrates a major theme in the history of the Catholic Reformation. In the end Harline and Put have painted a picture teeming with life and energy.
Craig Harline and Eddy Put recreate the eventful life and times of Mathias Hovius-a world in which other-believers were outright heretics, the nagging fevers of old age were the result of unbalanced bodily humors, and a corruptible earth rested motionless at the center of the universe while God sat exalted on a throne just beyond the fixed stars. The authors also tell the stories of monks, nuns, priests, millers, pilgrims, peasant women, saints, town and village councils, and ordinary parishioners; each story, fascinating in its own right, illustrates a major theme in the history of the Catholic Reformation. In the end Harline and Put have painted a picture teeming with life and energy.
Reviews / Votes
"An elegantly written and absorbing microhistory... It brings to mind The Return of Martin Guerre and The Cheese and the Worms." Carlos M. N. Eire "The most amazing book since Johan Huizinga's Waning of the Middle Ages." Heiko Oberman "The history book of the year - and perhaps simply the book of the year." Russell Hittinger, Weekly Standard "The stories entertain as they educate, offering a close-up of day-to-day Catholicism, village life, and the bawdy humour generated by human frailty and feistiness. A Bishop's Tale is an historical feast." Debra Bendis, Christian Century "Practically every page is as encrusted with detail as a jewelled medieval reliquary." Michael Joseph Gross, Boston Globe "An extraordinary work of historical biography." Amazon.com (2000 Editor's Choice)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
23 b-w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-09405-3 (9780300094053)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Craig Harline is professor of history at Brigham Young University. Eddy Put is senior assistant at the Belgian National Archives and lecturer at the Catholic University of Louvain.