| The
King's Body
Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early
Modern Europe
Sergio Bertelli
Translation by R. Burr Litchfield
September | 2001 | 7 x 10 inches
History, History - European
Hardback: $51.95 TR
ISBN-10: 0-271-02102-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-271-02102-7
Paperback: $34.95 SH
ISBN-10: 0-271-02344-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-271-02344-1
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"Relying on minute details and exhaustive research, Bertelli demonstrates
that from the early Middle Ages up through the 17th century the
centrality of the sovereign provided the key element in maintaining
the order of society. . . . In rich detail, Bertelli looks at sacred
rituals surrounding birth, enthronement and death that defined
kingship, showing that in the Middle Ages the modern distinction
between the political and the religious did not exist."—Publishers
Weekly
"Bertelli shows that kings in the European tradition were truly
sacred in ways that need to be taken seriously. Following in the
footsteps and expanding the work of Ernst Kantorowicz, Bertelli
changes the way we understand premodern kingship, government, and
society."—Guido Ruggiero, Penn State University
The
King's Body offers a unique and up-to-date overview of a central
theme in European history: the nature and meaning of the sacred rituals
of kingship. Informed by the work of recent cultural anthropologists,
Sergio Bertelli explores the cult of kingship, which pervaded the
lives of hundreds of thousands of subjects, poor and rich, noble and
cleric. His analysis takes in a wide spectrum, from the Vandal kings
of Spain and the long-haired kings of France, to the beheaded kings
of England and France, Charles I and Louis XVI.
Bertelli explores the multiple meanings of the rites related to
the king's body, from his birth (with the exhibition of his masculinity)
to the crowning (a rebirth) to his death (a triumph and an apotheosis).
We see how particular occasions such as entrances, processions,
and banquets make sense only as they related directly to the king's
body. Bertelli also singles out crowd-participatory aspects of sacred
kingship, including the rites of violence connected with the interregnum
(perceived as a suspension of the law) and the rites of expulsion
for a tyrant's body, emphasizing the inversion of crowning rituals.
First published in Italy in 1990, The King's Body has been
revised and updated for English-speaking readers and expertly translated
from the Italian by R. Burr Litchfield. Deftly argued and amply
illustrated, this book is a perfect introduction to the cult of
kingship in the West; at the same time, it illuminates for modern
readers how strangely different the medieval and early modern world
was from our own.
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