Dismantling the Medieval. Early Modern Perceptions of a Female Convent's Past

Paperback, 247 pages, Size:156 x 234 mm, Illustrations:1 b/w, 14 col., 2 tables col., Language: English. ISBN 9782503593470. Summary Dismantling the Medieval studies the paradoxical relationship of the early modern canonesses of Bouxi res with the medieval past of their institution. While various documentary, material, spatial, and immaterial legacies of that past remained a crucial presence in the convent's narrative of self, the canonesses also used and manipulated them to pursue and justify drastic changes in their organization and lifestyle. Thanks to an unusually rich and varied body of evidence, we are able to reconstruct in unprecedented detail this elite convent's highly flexible memory culture over a period of more than two centuries. Guiding the reader back through time, the book gradually reveals how and why the canonesses' connection to the medieval past lived on throughout many crises and transformations, including even the abbey's dissolution in 1971. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of illustrations List of tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1: 1833 A Gift for an Emperor Chapter 2: 1801 St Gozelin's (Im)mortal Remains Chapter 3: 1784 The Death of a Medieval Convent Chapter 4: 1766 Retooling Religious Space and Identities Chapter 5: 1692 Old and New Memories of Origins Conclusions Appendices Index of people and places