Indulgences in Late Medieval England
Passports to Paradise?

This book presents a history of indulgences (or pardons) in late medieval England.

R. N. Swanson (Author)

9780521881203, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2007

594 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm, 1.07 kg

'Swanson's impressively extensive study seeks to dispel the myths surrounding pardoners and the undulgences (pardons) they sold … this is a difficult topic superbly handled by a master of the field. What Swanson provides in [this book is not so much a rehabilitation of the pardon in history, more a reassessment - and a highly detailed and long-overdue one at that. This will be the seminal text on the subject for a long time to come.' The Journal of Church History

Indulgences played a major role in medieval 'strategies for eternity', easing the journey through Purgatory to Heaven after death. However, theological attacks during the Reformation and the subsequent Protestant rejection of indulgences have given them a poor reputation, compounding the effect of the fourteenth-century satires by Chaucer and Langland of the pardoners who ensured their widespread distribution. This book examines indulgences in late medieval England and it offers an extensive and authoritative re-evaluation of their role in England's religious, social and economic life between 1300 and the Reformation. R. N. Swanson traces their importance to devotional life, their contribution to charitable and economic structures and the complex tale of their disappearance under Henry VIII. This is a major contribution to the religious history of late medieval England and will be essential reading for scholars of medieval history, religious studies and the Reformation.

Introduction
1. Doctrine and development
2. Pardons for every occasion
3. Nooks, crannies, needles, haystacks - the sources
4. The practicalities of pardons
5. A pardoner there was ...
6. Devotion and veneration
7. Indulgences debated
8. Responses and appreciations
9. Indulgences in England's economy
10. Into oblivion: the reign of Henry VIII
11. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]