In an elegantly written book, Field (Univ. of Vermont) takes readers through the complexities of politics and personal ambitions to better understand Philip IV's relationships with Boniface VIII, the Templars, and the Jews.
(Choice) With this engaging and thought-provoking study of the political and spiritual intersections between the thirteenth-century Capetian royal family and contemporary Flemish and French female mystics, seers, and ascetics, Sean L. Field solidifies his standing as one of the leading scholars of women and sanctity in medieval France. This work, like his earlier work, is an extraordinarily comprehensive and erudite work of scholarship.
(AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW) Courting Sanctity is compulsively readable, a tour de force in its integration of religious and political histories.
(SPECULUM) Courting Sanctity will cement Sean Field's reputation as one of our leading contemporary authorities on the later Capetians. This is not only a thoroughly convincing study but a notable pleasure to read, being exceptionally well written. It combines meticulous source analysis with a lightness of prose that reminded me of Sir Steven Runciman at his best. Courting Sanctity is, in short, that rarest of beasts: a good academic book.
(The Medieval Review) Courting Sanctity is a handsome volume with a beautifully edited text, as well as that rarest of pleasures for the readeractual notes at the bottom of the page. It also boasts a splendid bibliography and a useful index. Once again, we benefit from Field's ability to conceptualize complicated historical events and to lay them for us out in lucid prose.
(Royal Studies Journal)
