Royal Books and Holy Bones
Essays in Medieval Christianity
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to Cart failed.
Please try again later
Add to Wish List failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Please try again
Unfollow podcast failed
Please try again
LIMITED TIME OFFER
3 months free
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Royal Books and Holy Bones
Narrated by:
Eamon Duffy
Buy for $17.44
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
-
Narrated by:
-
Eamon Duffy
-
By:
-
Eamon Duffy
Bloomsbury presents Royal Books and Holy Bones written and read by Eamon Duffy.
In these vivid and approachable essays Eamon Duffy engages with some of the central aspects of Western religion in the thousand years between the decline of pagan Rome and the rise of the Protestant Reformation.
In the process he opens windows on the vibrant and multifaceted beliefs and practices by which medieval people made sense of their world: the fear of death and the impact of devastating pandemic, holy war against Islam and the invention of the blood libel against the Jews, provision for the afterlife and the continuing power of the dead over the living, the meaning of pilgrimage and the evolution of Christian music. Duffy unpicks the stories of the Golden Legend and Yale University’s mysterious Voynich manuscript, discusses the cult of ‘St’ Henry VI and explores childhood in the Middle Ages.
In this highly listenable collection Eamon Duffy once more challenges existing scholarly narratives and sheds new light on the religion of Britain and Europe before and during the Reformation.
Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
It is 26 years since Eamon Duffy changed the way that readers of history looked at England on the eve of the Reformation, through his The Stripping of the Altars. Many of the essays here also challenge easy assumptions. All of them are written with a clarity and fluency, humour and humanity that make reading them a pleasure. (Christopher Howse)
People who viewed this also viewed...
To give one example for illustration: In the essay on family life / childhood, he talks about how there was a time in recent scholarship when medieval families were presented as cold, relentlessly public communes where children were treated as miniature adults, put to work as soon as they were able and for whom their parents had no emotional bond or investment. A series of books later argued against this stereotype, showing that family life and childhood is not a social construct, but a human constant, even in the Middle Ages. Duffy largely embraces this conclusion, but makes qualifying remarks about the books that have argued for the thesis, noting several defects in their argument that limit the scope of the conclusion that can be drawn.
Duffy is widely respected as one of the greatest contemporary historians of medieval England. He reads the book himself, which is, in my view, a plus. He has a very pleasant voice and pronounces everything how he himself intended it to be pronounced. The Audible description says the audio quality isn't good, but I beg to differ. There were one or two times where I could hear him turning the page, but I'd say it was better audio quality and narration than many of the books I've listened to on Audible.
Few slices of medieval history
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.