Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, 2011: The Haskins Medal

Abstract

The Haskins Medal for 2011 goes to Caroline Walker Bynum for her book Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond, published in 2007 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. In a disturbing, intriguing, and masterly study of Christ's blood, the author describes the (to us) strange yet logical, emotional yet analytic approaches of theology and devotion. From the late fourteenth century until the early sixteenth century, northern Europe experienced a kind of “blood frenzy,” as Bynum calls it. The material reality and sacrificial effect of the blood shed by Christ's torment and execution provoked intense religious emotion as well as harsh criticism of popular practices. Discussion about the nature and implications of Christ's blood reflected unease over what could be taken as unique remains of Christ's body. Because the blood was an effusion, it was a physical symbol of Christ's suffering that remained on earth after the Resurrection, yet it also could be regarded as c...