The Devil's World

Exploring the relationship of heresy, dissent and society in the 12th and 13th Centuries, this is a thorough examination of the threat that heresy presented to both Church and lay powers.

'Issues of religious doctrine and beliefs are once more at the forefront of political and cultural conflicts around the world. Andrew Roach's interesting book can help us understand our modern world better, and should have a wide appeal to non-specialist readers'

Paul Ormerod, author of the best-selling 'Death of Economics' and 'Butterfly Economics'

Preface

Introduction

1. The Monopoly, 900-1135
2. Markets, Troubadours, Universities and Heretics
3. A World of Choices: Organised Heresy in Easter and Western Europe
4. Nails to Drive out Nails: The Albigensian Crusade, Fourth Lateran Council, Dominic Gusman and Francis of Assisi
5. Competing for Souls: From the Death of Francis to the fall of Montsegur
6. Restricting Choice: The Inquisition and the Decline of the Cathars
7. The Decline of the Holy Men: 1244-1300
8. Women and Heresy
9. Just as there are Seventy Two Tongues...': The Decline of Organised Heresy

Further Reading

Abbreviations

• Covers the ways the Church chose to deal with heresy, including the founding of the friars and the establishment of the Inquisition
• Through a close study of heresy the book delivers insights to students on other key issues in the medieval world such as; the role and status of women, the growth of towns, the extension of literacy, the transfer of intellectual ideas, travel and communication and the everyday lives of ordinary people.

Andrew Roach is currently a Lecturer in History at the University of Glasgow. In the early 1990s he wrote economic predictions for the Henley Centre for Forecasting. Besides articles on Catharism and the Inquisition he has written on early censorship, Occitan identity, and, in conjunction with an econophysicist, heresy and scale-free network theory.

Expert Reviews

Runner-up, General History Book of the Year, Ancestors Magazine

'Issues of religious doctrine and beliefs are once more at the forefront of political and cultural conflicts around the world. Andrew Roach's interesting book can help us understand our modern world better, and should have a wide appeal to non-specialist readers'

Paul Ormerod, author of the best-selling 'Death of Economics' and 'Butterfly Economics'

'fascinating new study....a refreshing look at the church of the high middle ages'

Morning Star

'a well written work. And as with the best academic texts the footnotes are a joy in themselves. '

Ancestors Magazine

'...a stimulating contribution to Longman's excellent Medieval World series...a scholarly and cogently assembled work that succeeds in making an important contribution to the history of medieval heresy.'

Jonathan Phillips, The Times Higher Education Supplement, July 7 2006

‘Medieval Europe was a market-place whose principal commodity was religion. Because heresy meant choice, it was as subject to market forces as to the terrors of the devil or the Inquisition. Catharism was a lifestyle rather than a frightening secret society. This is the controversial argument sustained with great lucidity throughout this book. It is original, accessible and scholarly, as well as being an excellent guide to the most recent research.’

Michael Clanchy FBA, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London

‘Here, in Andrew Roach's nuanced reconstruction, is a clear and objective analysis of the way the close relationship between social and economic change and religious dissent worked in real life, devoid of the ideological baggage which has so often distorted such interpretations in the past.’

Malcolm Barber, Professor of Medieval European History, University of Reading

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