Furta Sacra : Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages - Revised Edition

To obtain sacred relics, medieval monks plundered tombs, avaricious merchants raided churches, and relic-mongers scoured the Roman catacombs. In a revised edition of __Furta Sacra__, Patrick Geary considers the social and cultural context for these acts, asking how the relics were perceived and why the thefts met with the approval of medieval Christians. Frontmatter Preface to the 1990 Edition (page ix) Preface (page xi) Abbreviations (page xv) CHAPTER ONE Relics and Saints in the Central Middle Ages (page 3) CHAPTER TWO The Cult of Relics in Carolingian Europe (page 28) CHAPTER THREE The Professionals (page 44) CHAPTER FOUR Monastic Thefts (page 56) CHAPTER FIVE Urban Thefts (page 87) CHAPTER SIX Justifications (page 108) CHAPTER SEVEN Conclusions (page 129) APPENDIX A Critique of Texts (page 135) APPENDIX B Handlist of Relic Thefts (page 149) Notes (page 157) Bibliography (page 185) Index (page 211)