Eric Jager
About Eric Jager
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Books by Eric Jager
“Blood Royal: A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris” (2014)
On A Chilly November Night In 1407, Louis Of Orleans Was Murdered By A Band Of Masked Men. The Crime Stunned And Paralyzed France Since Louis Had Often Ruled In Place Of His Brother King Charles, Who Had Gone Mad. As Panic Seized Paris, An Investigation Began. In Charge Was The Provost Of Paris, Guillaume De Tignonville, The City's Chief Law Enforcement Officer, And One Of History's First Detectives. As De Tignonville Began To Investigate, He Realized That His Hunt For The Truth Was Much More Dangerous Than He Ever Could Have Imagined. A Rich Portrait Of A Distant World, Blood Royal Is A Gripping Story Of Conspiracy, Crime And An Increasingly Desperate Hunt For The Truth. And In Guillaume De Tignonville, We Have An Unforgettable Detective For The Ages, A Classic Gumshoe For A Cobblestoned Era. The Provost -- The Châtelet -- The Mad King's Brother -- The House In The Rue Vielle Du Temple -- A Cold, Dark Night -- Post Mortem -- A Mass For The Dead -- The Inquiry -- A Break In The Case -- Rival Dukes -- A Confession -- The Justification -- Amende Honorable -- Civil War -- The Scourge Of God. Eric Jager. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 259-313) And Index.
“The Tempter's Voice: Language and the Fall in Medieval Literature” (2006)
Why was the story of Adam, Eve, and the Serpent so important to medieval literary culture? Eric Jager argues that during the Middle Ages the story of the Fall was incorporated into a comprehensive myth about language. Drawing on a wide range of texts, Jager shows how patristic and medieval authors used the Fall to confront practical and theoretical problems in many areas of life and thought-including education, hermeneutics, rhetoric, feudal politics, and gender relations. Jager explores the Fall's meaning for clergy and laity, nobles and commoners, men and women.Among the works Jager discusses are texts by Ambrose, Augustine, the early Christian poet Avitus, and scholastic authors; Old English biblical epics; Middle English spiritual writings; French courtesy books; and the poetry of Dante and Chaucer. Examples from the visual arts are included as well. Jager links medieval interpretations of the Fall to underlying cultural anxieties about the ambiguity of the sign, the instability of oral tradition, the pleasure of the text, and the many rhetorical guises of the tempter's voice. He also assesses the modern and postmodern legacy of the Fall, showing how this myth continues to embody central ideas concerning language.The Tempter's Voice will be essential reading for scholars and students in such fields as medieval studies, literary theory, gender theory, comparative literature, cultural history, and the history of religion.
“The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France” (2005)
in 1386, A Few Days After Christmas, A Huge Crowd Gathers At A Parisian Monastery To Witness What Will Become The Nation's Final "trial By Combat"—a Court-ordered Duel Intended To Let God Determine Which Of The Two Men Was Telling The Truth. The Dramatic True Story Of The Knight, The Squire, And The Lady Unfolds During The Devastating Hundred Years' War Between France And England, As Enemy Troops Pillage The Land, Madness Haunts The French Court, The Great Schism Splits The Church, Muslim Armies Threaten Christendom, And Rebellion, Treachery, And Plague Turn The Lives Of All Into Toys Of Fortune. Bringing To Life A Colorful, Turbulent Age And Three Unforgettable Characters Caught In A Fatal Triangle Of Crime, Scandal, And Revenge, the Last Duel is At Once A Moving Human Drama, A Captivating Detective Story, And An Engrossing Work Of Historical Intrigue. publishers Weekly in 1386, Jean De Carrouges Accused His Former Friend, Jacques Legris, Of Raping His Wife, And The Young King Of France Allowed Their Dispute To Be Resolved In What Was To Be The Last Legally Ordered Judicial Combat In Paris. Jager Deftly Blends This Story With The Background Necessary To Understand It: The Ideas Behind Trial By Combat, The Realities Of 14th-century Marriage, The Complexity Of The Regional And Central Powers In France, And The Personal Rivalries At Court. Jager Describes A Harsh And Violent Era, When Public Executions Were A Form Of Entertainment And Both Commoners And Elites Eagerly Anticipated The Increasingly Rare Duel To The Death. But It Was Also A Time Of Lawyers, Chroniclers And Ceremony. Jager Doesn't Condescend To The People Of Medieval France But Explains The Complicated Logic By Which They Could Believe That A Duel Would Prove Guilt Or Innocence, Pregnancy Could Be Considered Proof That Sex Had Been Consensual, And A Lady Could Be Convicted And Executed As A False Accuser If Her Champion Lost. A Brief History Of The Duel Demonstrates Its Origins In Age-old Military Tradition Rather Than Divine Providence. Jager Acknowledges Where The Definitive Facts Of His Story Are Unknown While Presenting A Riveting Account That Will Satisfy General Readers And Historians Alike. Agent, Glen Hartley For Writers Representatives. (sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
“The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France” (2004)
In 1386, a few days after Christmas, a huge crowd gathers at a Parisian monastery to witness what will become the nation's final "trial by combat"—a court-ordered duel intended to let God determine which of the two men was telling the truth. The dramatic true story of the knight, the squire, and the lady unfolds during the devastating Hundred Years' War between France and England, as enemy troops pillage the land, madness haunts the French court, the Great Schism splits the Church, Muslim armies threaten Christendom, and rebellion, treachery, and plague turn the lives of all into toys of Fortune. Bringing to life a colorful, turbulent age and three unforgettable characters caught in a fatal triangle of crime, scandal, and revenge, The Last Duel is at once a moving human drama, a captivating detective story, and an engrossing work of historical intrigue.
“The Book Of The Heart” (2001)
In today's increasingly electronic world, we say our personality traits are "hard-wired" and we "replay" our memories. But we use a different metaphor when we speak of someone "reading" another's mind or a desire to "turn over a new leaf"—these phrases refer to the "book of the self," an idea that dates from the beginnings of Western culture. Eric Jager traces the history and psychology of the self-as-text concept from antiquity to the modern day. He focuses especially on the Middle Ages, when the metaphor of a "book of the heart" modeled on the manuscript codex attained its most vivid expressions in literature and art.
At a glanceEric Jager
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