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The Most Traversed Bridge: A Reconsideration of Elite and Popular Religion in Late Medieval Ireland*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Salvador Ryan
Salvador Ryan*
Affiliation:
St. Patrick’s College, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland
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Extract

Recent years have witnessed the study of late medieval religion change and develop almost beyond recognition. In particular, the phenomenon of ‘popular’ or ‘traditional’ religion has increasingly been placed under the microscope. A succession of studies has questioned the view that an unbridgeable chasm existed between the religious sensibilities of the privileged echelons of society (the higher clergy and members of the nobility) and those of the lower social orders. The apparent sea-change in our understanding of how many expressions of belief and devotion were shared across a wide social spectrum has led, however, to more questions than answers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 42: Elite and Popular Religion , 2006 , pp. 120 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2006

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Footnotes

*

I wish to acknowledge the support of the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences in providing me with a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship during the tenure of which this article was completed.

References

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126

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