Visions in Late Medieval England SHCT-130-adams_CS2.indd i 11-1-2007 17:02:19 Studies in the History of Christian Traditions Founded by Heiko Oberman† Edited by Robert J. Bast Knoxville, Tennessee In cooperation with Henry Chadwick, Cambridge Scott H. Hendrix, Princeton, New Jersey Paul C.H. Lim, Nashville, Tennessee Eric Saak, Indianapolis, Indiana Brian Tierney, Ithaca, New York Arjo Vanderjagt, Groningen John Van Engen, Notre Dame, Indiana VOLUME CXXX SHCT-130-adams_CS2.indd ii 11-1-2007 17:02:19 Visions in Late Medieval England Lay Spirituality and Sacred Glimpses of the Hidden Worlds of Faith By Gwenfair Walters Adams LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 SHCT-130-adams_CS2.indd iii 11-1-2007 17:02:19 Cover illustration : photograph of clerestory, Ely Cathedral. © Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of Art This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication data Adams, Gwenfair Walters. Visions in late medieval England : lay spirituality and sacred glimpses of the hidden worlds of faith / by Gwenfair Walters Adams. p. cm. — (Studies in the history of Christian traditions, ISSN 1573-5664 ; v. 130) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15606-7 ISBN-10: 90-04-15606-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Visions. I. Title. BV5091.V6A33 2007 248.2’9—dc22 2006051758 ISSN: 1573-5664 ISBN-13: 978 90 04 15606 7 ISBN-10: 90 04 15606 2 Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints BRILL, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. 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Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands SHCT-130-adams_CS2.indd iv 11-1-2007 17:02:19 To my parents Gwyn and Mair Walters And my brother, Meirwyn Walters CONTENTS Preface ................................................................. xi Acknowledgements .................................................... xix Abbreviations .......................................................... xxi Introduction............................................................ 1 Visions,Faith,andtheFaith........................................ 1 Five Key Dynamics of Late Medieval Spirituality................. 4 FocusonLateMedievalEngland .................................. 4 The Teachers and the Taught...................................... 5 Didactic Visions: Past Visions as Teachers ........................ 6 Sources of Didactic Visions ........................................ 7 Sermons.......................................................... 8 Saints’legends.................................................... 10 Religious manuals ................................................ 11 LateMedievalEnglishLayVisions(LMEL)....................... 12 OverviewofBook................................................... 14 Explicit Purposes and Implicit Teachings of the Didactic Visions............................................................ 15 Summary............................................................ 16 Chapter One: Transactions of Satisfaction and Visions of the Otherworld.......................................................... 17 TheSatisfactionTheoryofAtonement............................ 17 ‘Ghost’............................................................... 19 Didactic Visions of Ghosts ......................................... 20 Thenegotiationsofpurgatory’sghosts.......................... 21 Suffrages for the suffering ....................................... 22 Rewardandcoercion............................................ 25 Warnings against ecclesial violations ............................ 28 TheBylandAbbeyGhosts ......................................... 29 TheAdmonitionsofHell’sGhosts................................. 30 Theseriousnessofsinandthecomplexityofpenance......... 30 viii contents Hell-boundghostsonmorality.................................. 35 PeregrinationstotheOtherworlds................................. 36 Mockdoom ...................................................... 36 Enforcedjourneys................................................ 37 Visionaspilgrimage ............................................. 43 VisionaryPilgrimagestotheWorldoftheBiblicalPast........... 48 Summary............................................................ 51 Chapter Two: Reciprocated Devotion and Visitations of the Saints................................................................ 55 Didactic Visions and the Cult of Saints............................ 56 Case Study #1: Visions in the Emerging Cult of King Henry VI 57 SaintasvisionaryinBlacman’stract............................ 58 Saints as visitors: vision as miracle .............................. 63 Cameos by didactic saints in visions of Henry VI .............. 70 Visionsandimagesinthecultsofthesaints.................... 74 ImagesandKingHenryVI’scult............................... 79 ThedemiseofHenryVI’scult.................................. 82 Case Study #2: Visions and the Auto-Hagiography of Margery Kempe............................................................ 83 Imitatio Birgitta: Margery and Bridget of Sweden ............... 85 Summary............................................................ 89 Chapter Three: Spiritual Warfare in Demonic Encounters ......... 91 Demons in the Didactic Visions.................................... 94 Theenemyontheoffensive..................................... 94 Demonsandtheguilty........................................... 95 Demonsandtheinnocent....................................... 97 Meetingtheirmatch............................................. 98 Illegitimate counter-offensivestrategies......................... 100 The Church and magic .......................................... 100 Magic in the visionary accounts................................. 102 Legitimate counter-offensivestrategies.......................... 105 DemonsinLateMedievalEnglishVisions ........................ 112 DemonsandMargeryKempe .................................. 112 A demonandJulianofNorwich ................................ 114 DemonsinYorkshire............................................. 114 WilliamStrantonandEdmundLeversedge .................... 115 Deathbed Battles.................................................... 116 Summary: Limited Demons, EffectivePiety....................... 119 contents ix Chapter Four: Seeing Through the Surface: Vision as Supra-Sacramental Sight ........................................... 121 TheSurfaceandtheDeeperReality .............................. 122 Sacramentsandthedeeperreality.............................. 123 Transubstantiationandthedeeperreality...................... 123 Deeper reality and the scriptures................................ 124 Symbolisminart................................................. 126 Imagesofthesaintsandthedeeperreality..................... 127 Omensandthedeeperreality................................... 128 Numerologyandthedeeperreality............................. 129 Thisworldandthedeeperrealityoftheotherworlds.......... 131 Philosophy and the deeper reality ............................... 131 TheIncarnation ................................................. 132 FaithandtheFaith............................................... 133 Power of the hidden realities .................................... 133 Seeing Through the Surface: Sacramental and Supra-Sacramental Sight ........................................ 134 The language of the visual in visionary experience ............ 134 ThePassion-ategaze............................................. 139 Visionandveneration ........................................... 140 Visionandempathy.............................................. 142 VisualStimulustoRepentance.................................. 145 Repentance as exchange of “privitees” ......................... 145 Vision and judgment............................................. 148 Animationofthecrucifix........................................ 148 Visionandprotectionfromdemons ............................ 150 The eucharistic gaze ............................................. 151 Unbelieving eucharistic sight .................................... 152 Believing eucharistic sight ....................................... 155 Encounters with Christ in the Eucharist ........................ 156 Theconcretizinggaze ........................................... 157 Concretizing of spirit/Spirit .................................... 157 Concretizing of spiritual states .................................. 159 MargeryKempe’svision-izedgaze.............................. 160 When Deeper Reality Becomes the Surface: The Beatific Vision............................................................. 162 Chapter Five: Visions, Power, and the Dynamic of Mediated Revelation........................................................... 165 TheDynamicofMediatedRevelation ............................ 165 x contents Discernment:MedievalDreamandVisionTheories............. 167 Chaucer’sdebate................................................. 167 Macrobian dream theory .......................................