Medieval Life Cycles

Continuity and Change

Edited by Isabelle Cochelin Edited by Karen Smyth

Book cover: Medieval Life Cycles

Extent: 380, 380 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Medieval Studies

Series: International Medieval Research

Series volume number: 18

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(May 2013)

ISBN: 9782503540696

Price: $138.00

In stock

The essays in this collection present new research into a variety of questions on birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, and old age, ordered in a more or less chronological manner according to the lifecycle. The volume exposes attitudes and representations of the lifecycle from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the


The essays in this collection present new research into a variety of questions on birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, and old age, ordered in a more or less chronological manner according to the lifecycle. The volume exposes attitudes and representations of the lifecycle from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the Middle Ages as being full of inconsistencies as well as definitive categories, and of variation and stasis. This attests to the fact that medieval conceptions and representations of the stages of life and their interrelationships are much more nuanced and less idealized than is usually credited. Medieval conceptual, mental, artistic, cultural, and sociological processes are scrutinized using various approaches and methods that cross disciplinary boundaries. What is emphasized across the volume is that there were varying, context-dependent rhythms of continuity and change in every stage of life in the medieval period. The volume’s selection of authors is international in scope and represents some of the leading current scholarship in the field.

  • Edited by Isabelle Cochelin
  • Edited by Karen Smyth