The Psalms were an important part of the education, daily life, and spiritual development of medieval clerics and monks, and they had a significant impact on lay culture as well. The Place of the Psalms in the Intellectual Culture of the Middle Ages surveys their influence, giving a unique window into the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional culture of the period.

The Psalms were an important part of the education, daily life, and spiritual development of medieval clerics and monks, and they had a significant impact on lay culture as well. The Place of the Psalms in the Intellectual Culture of the Middle Ages surveys their influence, giving a unique window into the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional culture of the period.

An urgently needed guide to understanding medieval music to be used as a text for the university undergraduate, graduate students in music and interdisciplinary medieval studies, and for the professional musicologist and medievalist. This book will also be appreciated by everyone interested in early music. Nancy van Deusen's The Cultural Context of Medieval Music addresses the mental landscape surrounding music that, especially, was sung and experienced in the Middle Ages. Largely anonymous in its composition, and apparently lacking the motivation of fame and commerce, music within a well thought-out system of education served a purpose that goes far beyond casual entertainment or personal professional advancement. Offering experience through performance, music exemplified the basic principles not only of the material and possible measurements of the visible world—such as of objects, relationships, and movement—but also of the invisible materials of sound and time, making it an ideal medium for working with unseen substances such as concepts, imaginations, and ideas. St. Augustine in the late fourth century reinforced the importance of music for the process of learning when he wrote that nothing could be truly understood without music. This book shows how this, in fact, is the case—a message of great relevance today.

Annie Sutherland explores the many versions of the vernacular psalms which circulated in the late Middle Ages, raising questions about interactions between Latinity and vernacularity in the period and situating the translated psalms in a literary and theoretical context.

Quedlinburg Abbey was one of the oldest and most prestigious women's religious communities in medieval Germany. This essay collection conveys the abbey’s illustrious history, political importance, and cultural significance through studies on, among others, its architecture, rich treasury, and its abbatial effigies.

Rome and Religion in the Medieval World provides a panoramic and interdisciplinary exploration of Rome and religious culture. The studies build upon or engage Thomas F.X. Noble’s interest in Rome, especially his landmark contributions to the origins of the Papal States and early medieval image controversies. Scholars from a variety of disciplines offer new viewpoints on key issues and questions relating to medieval religious, cultural and intellectual history. Each study explores different dimensions of Rome and religion, including medieval art, theology, material culture, politics, education, law, and religious practice. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including manuscripts, relics, historical and normative texts, theological tracts, and poetry, the authors illuminate the complexities of medieval Christianity, especially as practiced in the city of Rome itself, and elsewhere in Europe when influenced by the idea of Rome. Some trace early medieval legacies to the early modern period when Protestant and Catholic theologians used early medieval religious texts to define and debate forms of Roman Christianity. The essays highlight and deepen scholarly appreciation of Rome in the rich and varied religious culture of the medieval world.

"This book ... began as a doctoral thesis"--Page v.