Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church

300 Pages·2016·3.11 MB·English

by  Richard Firth Green

Elf Queens and Holy Friars
THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
ELF QUEENS
AND HOLY FRIARS
Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church
Richard Firth Green
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia
Copyright © 2016 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for
purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book
may be reproduced in any form by any means without
written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
www . upenn . edu / pennpress
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
A Cataloging- in- Publication record is available from
the Library of Congress
isbn 978-0-8122-4843-2
For Sharon, still my fairy queen
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Th e elf- queene, with hir joly compaignye,
Daunced ful ofte in many a grene mede.
Th is was the olde opinion, as I rede;
I speke of manye hundred yeres ago.
But now kan no man se none elves mo,
For now the grete charitee and prayeres
Of lymytours and othere hooly freres,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Th is maketh that ther ben no fayeryes.
— Chaucer, Th e Wife of Bath’s Tale
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Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. Believing in Fairies 11
Chapter 2. Policing Vernacular Belief 42
Chapter 3. Incubi Fairies 76
Chapter 4. Christ the Changeling 110
Chapter 5. Living in Fairyland 147
Postscript 194
Notes 207
Bibliography 253
Index 277
Acknowl edgments 287