EHE Book Reviews

Death-Related Experiences Record Type: Review ID: 418
Apparitions in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain Christian, William A., Jr.
This collection of divine apparitions reported in Spain from 1399-1523 is part of a larger study of nearly 100 cases occurring in Spain to date studied by the author. The accounts are based on notarized investigations of church and local authorities, published accounts, and first-hand testimony. Christian has visited most of the villages in which apparitions were reported. Only collective experiences are described, i.e., those witnessed by at least two persons. The book is primarily a series of verbatim accounts of the visions of the common people. Where possible, complete texts are included. Christian does not try to explain them or to explain them away but "to learn from them how people experienced both the world they knew and the world they had to imagine. These were extraordinary moments when the two intersected."(p.9). There are four chapters: Late Medieval Apparitions in Castile; Late Medieval Apparitions in Catalonia; Repression of Apparitions: The Inquisition in La Mancha; and General Themes in the Visions. An appendix contains the Spanish texts.
Publisher Information:	Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981. 10 illus. 3 maps

Web Media Management by Palyne Gaenir of ScienceHorizon.

Apparitions in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain