From Words to Deeds: The Effectiveness of Preaching in the Late Middle Ages (Sermo)

"Preaching is a method of exhorting the practice of virtues and the performance of one's duties. If people are not moved to act, preachers become obsolete. Because of this, preachers in the Middle Ages understood the importance of ensuring that their words were heeded and disseminated. The focus of this volume is the relationship, whether direct or indirect, between what was preached and what was achieved. The articles in this collection present a range of studies, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century and, while focused on Italy, also give a broad European perspective. The volume investigates both the tools employed by preachers and the pragmatic aims and outcomes of their sermons. It does this by exploring the various oratorical and gesticular techniques employed by preachers, as well as their methods of preparing themselves to deliver their message and preparing their audiences to receive it. Furthermore, the volume considers both hypothetical and concrete relationships between preachers' words and civic policies and the behaviours of groups or individual citizens, as well as the question of how and when words were translated into actions."--Page 4 de la couverture Front Matter ("Editorial Board", "Title Page", "Copyright Page", "Table of Contents", "Illustrations", "Acknowledgements"), p. i Free Access Introduction: From Words to Deeds—Reflections on the Efficacy and Effects of Preaching, p. 1 Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102300 Faire en disant : Aspects performatifs de la prédication à l’automne du Moyen Âge, p. 21 Letizia Pellegrini https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102301 From Ears to Hand, from Hand to Heart: Writing and Internalizing Preaching in Fifteenth-Century Florence, p. 47 Shunji Oguro https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102302 ‘We Have Made It for Learning’: The Fifteenth-Century Florentine Religious Play Lazero ricco e Lazero povero as a Sermon in the Form of Theatre, p. 65 Pietro Delcorno https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102303 The Challenges of Chiara of Rimini: From Deeds to Words, p. 99 Elisa Tosi Brandi https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102304 Mendicant Preachers as Disseminators of Anti-Jewish Literary Topoi: The Case of Luca da Bitonto, p. 117 Jussi Hanska https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102305 Effects of Synodal Preaching at the Councils of Constance, Pavia‐Siena, and Basel, p. 139 Alberto Cadili https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102306 Preaching, Magic, and Witchcraft: A Feedback Effect?, p. 153 Marina Montesano https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102307 Preaching Peace in Fifteenth-Century Italian Cities: Bernardino da Feltre, p. 171 Yoko Kimura https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102308 Franciscan Preaching in Germany and the Low Countries c. 1450–1550, p. 185 Bert Roest https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102309 Biographies of the Franciscan Observance: Texts Narrating the Deeds, p. 209 Ippolita Checcoli https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102310 When Words Alone are Not Enough: A Franciscan Preacher Facing a Reluctant Audience in Fifteenth‐Century Italy, p. 225 Mara Ioriatti https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102311 Francesco Panigarola and ‘i frutti delle prediche’, p. 237 Fabio Giunta https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.1.102312 Back Matter ("Index", "Titles in Series"), p. 247 "Preaching is a method of exhorting the practice of virtues and the performance of one's duties. If people are not moved to act, preachers become obsolete. Because of this, preachers in the Middle Ages understood the importance of ensuring that their words were heeded and disseminated. The focus of this volume is the relationship, whether direct or indirect, between what was preached and what was achieved. The articles in this collection present a range of studies, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century and, while focused on Italy, also give a broad European perspective. The volume investigates both the tools employed by preachers and the pragmatic aims and outcomes of their sermons. It does this by exploring the various oratorical and gesticular techniques employed by preachers, as well as their methods of preparing themselves to deliver their message and preparing their audiences to receive it. Furthermore, the volume considers both hypothetical and concrete relationships between preachers' words and civic policies and the behaviours of groups or individual citizens, as well as the question of how and when words were translated into actions."--Back cover