{"product_id":"sacred-folly-a-new-history-of-the-feast-of-fools-paperback-softback-9780801479496","title":"Sacred Folly; A New History of the Feast of Fools (Paperback \/ softback) 9780801479496","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eSacred Folly\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA New History of the Feast of Fools\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMax R. Harris (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780801479496\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 17 March 2014\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e336 pages, 1 map - 1 Maps\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 15.5 x 2.1 cm, 0.907 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMax Harris has responded to the challenge laid down by Aimé Chérest more than 150 years ago, to produce fresh ideas on the Feast of Fools... \u003ci\u003e. Sacred Folly\u003c\/i\u003e is a splendid response to Chérest's challenge, clear headed, well structured, based on very wide reading and sensitively handled material. It deserves to be widely read.\u003c\/p\u003e - Jean Dunbabin (Medium Aevum) \u003cp\u003eThe Feast of Fools has provided modern imaginations with a suggestive picture of medieval clerical dissolution. Popular fiction has found the picture irresistible.... What Max Harris's stunning new book, \u003ci\u003eSacred Folly\u003c\/i\u003e, reveals is that the phenomenon has been grossly misrepresented in scholarly literature, too. Harris dismantles prevailing accounts of the Feast of Fools piece by piece, disentangling the historical evidence from the imaginative projections of generations of scholars.... \u003ci\u003eSacred Folly\u003c\/i\u003e puts the historical discussion of the Feast of Fools on an entirely new footing.\u003c\/p\u003e - William Robins (The Journal of Medieval Latin)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor centuries, the Feast of Fools has been condemned and occasionally celebrated as a disorderly, even transgressive Christian festival, in which reveling clergy elected a burlesque Lord of Misrule, presided over the divine office wearing animal masks or women's clothes, sang obscene songs, swung censers that gave off foul-smelling smoke, played dice at the altar, and otherwise parodied the liturgy of the church. \u003c\/b\u003eAfterward, they would take to the streets, howling, issuing mock indulgences, hurling manure at bystanders, and staging scurrilous plays. The problem with this popular account—intriguing as it may be—is that it is wrong.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eSacred Folly\u003c\/i\u003e, Max Harris rewrites the history of the Feast of Fools, showing that it developed in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries as an elaborate and orderly liturgy for the day of the Circumcision (1 January)—serving as a dignified alternative to rowdy secular New Year festivities. The intent of the feast was not mockery but thanksgiving for the incarnation of Christ. Prescribed role reversals, in which the lower clergy presided over divine office, recalled Mary's joyous affirmation that God \"has put down the mighty from their seat and exalted the humble.\" The \"fools\" represented those chosen by God for their lowly status. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe feast, never widespread, was largely confined to cathedrals and collegiate churches in northern France. In the fifteenth century, high-ranking clergy who relied on rumor rather than firsthand knowledge attacked and eventually suppressed the feast. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century historians repeatedly misread records of the feast; their erroneous accounts formed a shaky foundation for subsequent understanding of the medieval ritual. By returning to the primary documents, Harris reconstructs a Feast of Fools that is all the more remarkable for being sanctified rather than sacrilegious.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePrologue: A Letter from Paris\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart I. Before the Feast of Fools\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 1. The Kalends of January\u003cbr\u003e 2. The Holy City of Byzantium\u003cbr\u003e 3. Roman Games\u003cbr\u003e 4. Herod in Germany\u003cbr\u003e 5. Tossing a Ball in a French Cathedral\u003cb\u003ePart II. Shaping the Feast of Fools\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 6. The Feast of the Subdeacons\u003cbr\u003e 7. The Feast of the Ass\u003cbr\u003e 8. The Complaints of Innocent III\u003cbr\u003e 9. The Office of the Circumcision\u003cbr\u003e 10. The Plays of Daniel and Joseph\u003cb\u003ePart III. Supporting the Feast of Fools\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 11. Chapter Support\u003cbr\u003e 12. Rumors of Disorder\u003cbr\u003e 13. A Spirited Defense\u003cbr\u003e 14. Youth Groups, Coal Dust, and Cow Dung\u003cbr\u003e 15. Outside France\u003cb\u003ePart IV. Suppressing the Feast of Fools\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 16. Jean Gerson and the Auxerre Affair\u003cbr\u003e 17. Trouble in St.-Omer and Noyon\u003cbr\u003e 18. Troyes, Sens, and the Council of Basel\u003cbr\u003e 19. Rereading the Letter from Paris\u003cbr\u003e 20. A Durable Feast\u003cb\u003ePart V. Beyond the Feast of Fools\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 21. Festive Societies\u003cbr\u003e 22. Innocents and Fools\u003cbr\u003e 23. King of the Breeches\u003cbr\u003e 24. Our Lady of the Trellis\u003cbr\u003e 25. Mother Fool\u003ci\u003eEpilogue: Orange Peel in Antibes\u003c\/i\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52676611080472,"sku":"9780801479496","price":25.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/sacred-folly-a-new-history-of-the-feast-of-fools-paperback-softback-9780801479496","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}