Devils, Women, and Jews

Joan Young Gregg is Professor at New York City Technical College, City University of New York. She is the author of Communication and Culture: A Reading-Writing Text; co-author of The Human Condition: A Rhetoric with Thematic Readings; Past, Present, and Future: A Reading-Writing Text; and Science and Society: A Reading-Writing Text; and editor of Soul Rebels: The Rastafari and To Listen, To Comfort, To Care.

"This book makes available, for the first time, a large body of exempla demonizing the medieval 'other' and forming, thus, medieval vernacular society's mentality regarding the psychology of evil." — Katharina M. Wilson, coeditor of Wykked Wyves and the Woes of Marriage: Misogamous Literature From Juvenal to Chaucer"The very parallels and implications of medieval sermon writers' equation of demons, Jews, and women speaks louder than many a polemic would. The author's analysis of prejudice, medieval theology, and the cultural/psychological/religious gains of 'otherizing' strikes me as spirited, fair-minded, measured, and compelling." — Timea Szell, Barnard College, Columbia University

• Preface 1. Introduction 2. Devils in Medieval Sermon Storie s Exempla about Devils D1. The Devil and St. Macarius in ChurchD2. St. Macarius Defeats the Devil as PhysicianD3. A Devil in the Form of a ToadD4. An Ungrateful SonD5. The Devil Disguised as a PilgrimD6. The Torment of Bishop UdoD7. An Adulterer Punished by the DevilD8. A Usurer Outsmarts HimselfD9. The Vision of a Drunken PilgrimD10. A Sinful Clerk's Cloak of FeathersD11.The Devil and a Knight's CharityD12. A DEvil Bows to the HostD13. The Stone of KnowledgeD14. The Magician and His StudentD15. The Skeptical Knight and the DevilD16. The Devil Who Rode with a KnightD17. The Devil and a Clerk in LoveD18. Pope Sylvester and the DevilD19. The Devil's RecordkeepingD20. The Devil's CompetitionD21. Devils Debate for a Usurer's SoulD22. The Judgment of Peter the Tax CollectorD23. The Devil and St. Lawrence's PotD24. A Pilgrim to St. James Saved from the DevilD25. The Devil Claims a Lecherous PriestD26. The Unrepentant KnightSource Notes to Exempla About Devils 3. Women in Medieval Sermon Stories Exempla about Women W1. A Gown with a Train of DevilsW2. The Lady Who Took Too Long to Get DressedW3. A Knight's Two WivesW4. A Priest's Vision of His MotherW5. A Woman Who Ate Her Husband's EelW6. A Woman Damned for Dying in AngerW7. The Obedience of WivesW8. An Abbess' Severed CorpseW9. A Wife Reveals Her Husband's SecretW10. A Riddle of a King, Wine, and WomenW11. A Woman Leads a Knight into a MurderW12. A Saint's Skeptical WifeW13. The Collier's VisionW14. The Spectre of a Priest's ConcubineW15. A Lecherous Woman Fails to ReformW16. A Bawd's Warning to Her HusbandW17. A Roper's False WifeW18. The Witch and the Cowsucking BagW19. The Witch of BerkeleyW20. St. Bernard Delivers a Woman from a FiendW21. The Devil Seduces a Priest's DaughterW22. A Mother Forgiven for IncestW23. The Temptations of Devils as WomenW24. Women Called "Secular Monks"W25. A Monk and A Saracen's DaughterW26. A False Accusation against St. MacariusW27. A Bishop Tempted by a Demonic Beauty is Saved by St. AndrewW28. The Humble NunW29. A Nun Tears Out Her Eyes to Protect Her ChastityW30. Of A Woman Who Would Rather Drown that Lose Her ChastityW31. Thais, the Harlot Who ReformedW32. The Trials of St. TheodoraW33. An Argument between the Virgin and the DevilW34. The Virgin Helps a Deceived AnchoressW35. The Virgin Defends a Matron against the DevilW36. A Lustful AbbessW37. The Virgin Puts Devils in the StocksSource Notes to Exempla about Women 4. Jews in Medieval Sermon Stories Exempla about Jews J1. A Jew Predicts St. Basil's DeathJ2. Two Tales of St. NicholasJ3. The Jew at the Devil's CouncilJ4. St. Helen and the True CrossJ5. Jews Attack a Christian's CrucifixJ6. Jews Attempt to Rebuild JerusalemJ7. A Jew Falls into a Stinking PitJ8. The Jew Who Would be a BishopJ9. Theophilus, a Jew, and the DevilJ10. Jews Expecting the Messiah Are Deceived by a ClerkJ11. The Canon and the Jew's DaughterJ12. A Jew in ChurchJ13. Parisian Jews Bloody the HostJ14. An Easter Miracle of the Host Converts the JewsJ15. A Jew's Dog Rejects the HostJ16. A Jew Tests The Power of the Host with PigsJ17. A Jew Debates the Virginity of MaryJ18. The Vigin Rescues a Jewish MerchantJ19. The Monk, the Virgin, and the JewJ20. A Jewish Boy Is Saved from a Furnace (The Jew of Bourges)Source Notes to Exempla about Jews Notes Abbreviations Bibliography Index