The cult of the saints played a vital role in the political life of Italian city states in the Middle Ages. The saints were a unifying force for a city, and brought prestige and power to its rulers, therefore the cult of the saints was bound up with the civic agenda, and worship was politically charged. Laymen - able men of affairs, orthodox and "kirchentreu", increasingly assumed responsibility for ensuring that "celestial guarantees" were obtained for a city's well-being, despite the traditionally powerful influence of the church. This book is therefore not a hagiography, but an intensely political study of an age in which religious experience was seen as part of everyday life, and in which it seemed natural to medieval politicians to involve the saints in politics.
- ISBN10 186064029X
- ISBN13 9781860640292
- Publish Date 31 December 1996
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 9 June 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint I.B. Tauris
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 304
- Language English