The cheese and the worms : the cosmos of a sixteenth-century miller

The Cheese and the Worms is a study of the popular culture in the sixteenth century as seen through the eyes of one man, a miller brought to trial during the Inquisition. Carlo Ginzburg uses the trial records of Domenico Scandella, a miller also known as Menocchio, to show how one person responded to the confusing political and religious conditions of his time. For a common miller, Menocchio was surprisingly literate. In his trial testimony he made references to more than a dozen books, including the Bible, Boccaccio's Decameron, Mandeville's Travels, and a "mysterious" book that may have been the Koran. And what he read he recast in terms familiar to him, as in his own version of the creation: "All was chaos, that is earth, air, water, and fire were mixed together; and of that bulk a mass formed—just as cheese is made out of milk—and worms appeared in it, and these were the angels." An Account Of The Life And Religious Views Of Domenico Scandella (called Menocchio) Taken From Inquisition Papers In The Udine Archives. Carlo Ginzburg ; Translated By John And Anne Tedeschi. Translation Of: Il Formaggio E I Vermi. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Translation Of: Il Formaggio E I Vermi. Offers a study of culture in the sixteenth century as seen through the eyes of one man, the miller known as Menocchio, who was accused of heresy during the Inquisition and sentenced to death. This book illustrates the confusing political and religious conditions of the time. As frequently happens, this research, too, came about by chance.