The latest chapter examines Leopold von Ranke's influence on history and the expertise of the story Kevin Levin touched on yesterday. It begins by inviting us to think about various questions provoked by our investigation of history, and explores the ways these questions have been answered in the past. The article traces trends in medieval speech through which specific opinions and beliefs are voiced as a challenge, and the linguistic and social contexts within which the. Arnold argued that one of the reasons for the change in society and the history he wrote was the changing nature of Christianity. Rather than concentrating on a specific period of history, it discusses the theory of history in a general way. In each area of dissent anticlerical, sceptical, disputational and rebellious a wider cultural context is explored, demonstrating that the language of dissent is not limited to ‘Lollardy’ at the same time however it is argued that it is precisely through the voicing and reception of such wider referents that a heretical movement comes to exist. This article examines the evidence from the entire range of surviving Lollard trials, and argues that we can see consciously ‘dissenting’ speech alongside the standard theological positions associated with (and perhaps imposed upon) Lollardy.

more Recent work on medieval heresy has emphasized the ‘constructedness’ of heresy by orthodox power, thus undermining the coherence of heretical sects and tending to suggest that those tried as heretics were essentially unwitting victims.

Recent work on medieval heresy has emphasized the ‘constructedness’ of heresy by orthodox power.

History by John H. Arnold