Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century

Description

Towards the end of the twelfth century, powerful images of laughing kings and saints began to appear in texts circulating at the English royal court. At the same time, contemporaries began celebrating the wit, humour, and laughter of King Henry II (r.1154-89) and his martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Thomas Becket (d.1170). Taking a broad genealogical approach, Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century traces the emergence of this powerful laughter through an immersive study of medieval intellectual, literary, social, religious, and political debates. Focusing on a cultural renaissance in England, the study situates laughter at the heart of the defining transformations of the second half of the 1100s. With an expansive survey of theological and literary texts, bringing a range of unedited manuscript material to light in the process, Peter J. A. Jones exposes how twelfth-century writers came to connect laughter with spiritual transcendence and justice, and how this connection gave humour a unique political and spiritual power in both text and action. Ultimately, Jones argues that England's popular images of laughing kings and saints effectively reinstated a sublime charismatic authority, something truly rebellious at a moment in history when bureaucracy and codification were first coming to dominate European political life. Cover Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Contents Abbreviations Introduction: Laughter and Power in Medieval Europe 1: The Making of Powerful Laughter, c.1100–1200 Theology The Monasteries Satire Philosophy Rhetoric Medical Literature 2: Powerful Laughter in Twelfth-Century Narrative Risus Mysticus: The Laughing Prophecies of Edward the Confessor (d.1066) Risus Blasphemus: The Sudden Death of William II (d.1100) Risus Regalis: William Rufus Redacted and Revised 3: Laughter and Power at Henry II’s Court Cultivating a Sense of Humor Laughter as a Political Weapon “Through Laughing, Telling the Truth” 4: Thomas Becket, The Laughing Saint Becket’s Life and Transformation Saint Thomas’s Afterlife Becket as a Type of Laughing Saint 5: Henry II, the Laughing King The King’s Sovereign Laughter Law Politics and Diplomacy The Church The King’s Supernatural Laughter The King’s Two Laughs Conclusion: Between Laughing Saint and Laughing King APPENDIX: Henry’s Courtiers Bibliography Primary Sources Manuscripts Printed Primary Sources Secondary Works General Index