Joyce E. Salisbury

Covering courtship, disclosure, diversity, and public implications, 14 essays (three reprinted) discuss such topics as erotic magic, nakedness, a physician's attitude about sex, boy-love, saints and sex, and the politics of sodomy, as they were manifested in medieval Europe and the Middle East. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A Book of Essays

Sex in the Middle Ages

10 Women Who Ruled the Renaissance

36 Great Women Before 1400

Warriors, Queens, and Intellectuals

Dennis Sherman

This history of Western civilization covers the period from the first cultures of the Middle East to the dawn of the age of science in the eighteenth century.

A Mid-length Narrative History

The West In The World

In The Blood of Martyrs Joyce E. Salisbury chronicles the many spectacles of violent martyrdom that took place during the first three centuries of the Christian era, describing the role of martyrdom in the development of the early Church, as well as its continuing influence on many of today's ideas. Salisbury shows through the engaging stories of the martyrs introduced in each chapter, how their legacy continues to shape contemporary ideas. Discussing modern martyrdom the book elicits deep lessons for the present from the ancient past and outlining the possibility of a religious future without violence. In The Blood of Martyrs, Salisbury brings to life this tumultuous time in late antiquity and sheds invaluable light on religious violence, modern martyrs, and self-sacrifice.

Unintended Consequences of Ancient Violence

The Blood of Martyrs

Originally published in 1993, The Medieval World of Nature looks at how the natural world was viewed by medieval society. The book presents the argument that the pragmatic medieval view of the natural world of animals and plants, existed simply to serve medieval society. It discusses the medieval concept of animals as food, labour, and sport and addresses how the biblical charge of assuming dominion over animals and plants, was rooted in the medieval sensibility of control. The book also looks at the idea of plants and animals as not only pragmatic, but as allegories within the medieval world, utilizing animals to draw morality tales, which were viewed with as much importance as scientific information. This book provides a unique and interesting look at the everyday medieval world.

The Medieval World of Nature

Perpetua's Passion studies the third-century martyrdom of a young woman and places it in the intellectual and social context of her age. Conflicting ideas of religion, family and gender are explored as Salisbury follows Perpetua from her youth in a wealthy Roman household to her imprisonment and death in the arena.

The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman

Perpetua's Passion

Praise for the first edition: "...a brave and fascinating exploration of an area that has so far been rather neglected by both historical and literary critics. The Beast Within provides extremely valuable information on the legal and cultural background of the human-animal relationship..." -- Studies in the Age of Chaucer This important book offers a unique exploration of the use of and attitude towards animals from the 4th to the 14th centuries. The Beast Within explores the varying roles of animals as property, food and sexual objects, and the complex relationship that this created with the people and world around them. Joyce E. Salisbury takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, weaving a historical narrative that includes economic, legal, theological, literary and artistic sources. The book shows how by the end of the Middle Ages the lines between humans and animals had blurred completely, making us recognise the beast that lay within us all. This new edition has been brought right up to date with current scholarship, and includes a brand new chapter on animals on trial and animals as human companions, as well as expanded and updated discussions on fables and saints, and a new section on âe~bestial humansâe(tm). This important and provocative book remains a key work on the historical study of animals, as well as in the field of environmental history more generally, and also provides crucial context to ongoing debates on animal rights and the environment.

Animals in the Middle Ages

The Beast Within

Originally published in 1991. Covering courtship, disclosure, diversity, and public implications, the essays here discuss topics such as erotic magic, nakedness, physicians’ attitudes about sex, boy-love, saints and sex, and the politics of sodomy, as they were manifested in medieval Europe and the Middle East.

This startling study of early Christian attitudes toward sexuality begins with an account of the different stances adopted by the Church—from the Early Fathers' view that sex and the female body were irredeemably unholy, to Augustine's contention that sex was natural, but lust was evil. While the Church Fathers struggled to reach consistent theoretical conclusions, the underlying conflation of 'women' with 'sex' meant that patristic statements on chastity, virginity and marriage effectively read as ecclesiastical law governing women's conduct. Joyce Salisbury explains the relationship between Church doctrine and the position of women by placing these official views alongside an ascetic tradition which resisted the constraints imposed by sexual intercourse. Through an examination of texts of female and popular authorship, and the extraordinary lives of seven women saints—including the transvestites Castissima and Pelagia—she presents a markedly different picture of sexual and social roles. For many of these women, celibacy became a form of emancipation. Church Fathers, Independent Virgins bears witness to the entrenched power of the Church to oppress, the continuing power of women to overcome, and the enduring effects of medieval sexual attitudes.

Church Fathers, Independent Virgins

An extensive and fascinating collection of stories featuring both famous and everyday women, giving a well-rounded view of the lives of women in the ancient world. * Entries including women from myth, religion, and legend including Eve, Aphrodite, the earth goddess Gaea, Helen of Troy, and Isis * Entries arranged by categories such as Greece, Rome, Christian, and Northern Europe for ease of research * Many rare and revealing images including a procession of virgin martyrs, ca. A.D. 560 * Photographs of ancient sculptures including a Minoan snake goddess, ca. 1600 B.C.; numerous maps of ancient Greece and Mesopotamia; and a depiction of the Hellenistic monarchies * Genealogical charts of the Herodian family, the family of Augustus, and the Julio-Claudian house

Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World

Compulsively readable, Rome’s Christian Empress is the first full-length work to give this fascinating and complex ruler her due.

Galla Placidia Rules at the Twilight of the Empire

Rome's Christian Empress

Cover -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Introduction. A Forgotten Empress -- 1 The "Most Noble" Princess: 379-395 -- 2 Orphan Princess in Stilicho's Shadow: 395-408 -- 3 Held Hostage by the Goths: 408-412 -- 4 Queen of the Visigoths: 411-416 -- 5 Wife and Mother in Ravenna: 416-424 -- 6 Empress of the Romans: 424-437 -- 7 The Empress Mother and Her Children: 438-455 -- Epilogue. The Fall of the Western Empire: 455-476 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.

Joyce E. Salisbury

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