Instructing the Soul, Feeding the Spirit and Awakening the Passion: Holy Writ and Lay Readers in Medieval Europe

Abstract

The oeuvre and the biography of Belcari, presenting the intriguing combination of lay and religious elements that indicate the possibility of the contiguity of Holy Writ and lay readers in the Late Middle Ages, will in this contribution act as a starting point for an analysis of the active use and readership of the Holy Writ in late medieval Europe. This article aims to contribute to the reconstruction of the laity's various routes to accessing the Scriptures and of the impact of the presence and the circulation of vernacular Bible translations in the formation of late medieval religious lives and identities. The three different approaches described by Belcari - the learning process directed at developing the ability to decode the biblical text, the sensual experience of the message, and the moral interpretation of the Writ - will be used as guidelines to the discussion. Keywords:Belcari; Holy Writ; lay readers; medieval europe; Scriptures