Dreams, Nature, and Practices as Signs of the Future in the Middle Ages

A great number of historical examples show how desperate people sought to obtain a glimpse of the future or explain certain incidents retrospectively through signs that had occurred in advance. In that sense, signs are always considered a portent of future events. In different societies, and at different times, the written or unwritten rules regarding their interpretation varied, although there was perhaps a common understanding of these processes. This present volume collates essays from specialists in the field of prognostication in the European Middle Ages. Contributors are Klaus Herbers, Wolfram Brandes, Zhao Lu, Rolf Scheuermann, Thomas Krümpel, Bernardo Bertholin Kerr, Gaelle Bosseman, Julia Eva Wannenmacher (†), Matthias Kaup, Vincent Gossaert, Jürgen Gebhardt, Matthias Gebauer, Richard Landes. 10 Dreams, Nature, and Practices as Signs of the Future in the Middle Ages 1 10 Dreams, Nature, and Practices as Signs of the Future in the Middle Ages 2 ‎Contents 6 ‎Figures and Tables 8 ‎Figures 8 ‎Tables 8 ‎Introduction: Signs of the Future. (Herbers and Lehner) 10 ‎Part 1. Signs and Dreams 18 ‎1. Dreams, Visions, and Politics in Carolingian Europe (Herbers) 20 ‎2. Dum illum utero gestaret ...: The Premonitory Dreams of Saints’ Mothers in Latin Hagiography (Henriet) 38 ‎3. Sepe verum somniant, qui presunt populis: The Dubious Veracity of Dreams (Schirrmeister) 64 ‎Part 2. Signs and Nature 84 ‎4. The Emblematic Birth of a Monster in the High Middle Ages (Lehner) 86 ‎5. Strange Events and Shaky Ground: On Earthquakes, Matthew Paris and ‘Solid Facts’ (Kamenzin) 104 ‎6. Between Astrological Divination, Local Knowledge and Political Intentions: Prognostics and “Epignostics” Related to Natural Disasters in the Middle Ages (Rohr) 137 ‎Part 3. Practices and Experts 182 ‎7. Analogy at Work in Western Medieval Divination (Rapisarda) 184 ‎8. Hohe Prälaten der römischen Kurie beim Wahrsager (XIII. Jahrhundert) (Bagliani) 199 ‎9. Signs from the Afterlife: Consulting the Dead about the Future in Medieval Times (Heiduk) 215 ‎10. Alternative Losentscheidungsverfahren oder imitationes sortium in Byzanz (Grünbart) 241 ‎11. Al-Ashraf ˁUmar’s Tabṣira: Chapter xxxiv. Rainbows, Shooting Stars, and Haloes as Signs of the Future (Schmidl) 261 ‎Index 320 "A great number of historical examples show how desperate people sought to obtain a glimpse of the future or explain certain incidents retrospectively through signs that had occurred in advance. In that sense, signs are always considered a portent of future events. In different societies, and at different times, the written or unwritten rules regarding their interpretation varied, although there was perhaps a common understanding of these processes. This present volume collates essays from specialists in the field of prognostication in the European Middle Ages. Contributors are Klaus Herbers, Wolfram Brandes, Zhao Lu, Rolf Scheuermann, Thomas Krümpel, Bernardo Bertholin Kerr, Gaelle Bosseman, Julia Eva Wannenmacher , Matthias Kaup, Vincent Gossaert, Jurgen Gebhardt, Matthias Gebauer, Richard Landes"-- Provided by publisher