Taming the Tongue in Late Medieval Iberia

Drawing on a diverse set of documentary sources — including pastoral treatises, legal texts, exempla, and mirrors for princes — this book explores the value attributed to the act of speaking the truth in Iberian society during the late Middle Ages. It analyses the development of a ‘discipline of speech’ aimed at correcting the sins of the tongue, revealing how care with words became a vehicle for devotion, an instrument for the practice of virtue, and a way of professing the Christian faith in daily life.

To frame this objective, the study focuses on recommendations directed at advocates, sorcerers, and priests. Considering the moral and social scales for assessing virtue and sin at the time, the book highlights the profound distinctions in the positions of these figures. While the priest’s speech was regarded as the most elevated, serving as a bridge to unite with Christ, and the advocate’s discourse was guided by a commitment to earthly justice, the speech of the sorcerer was among the most harshly condemned. The words of sorcerers were seen as an open door to heresy and damnation, denounced as a departure from doctrine and the materialization of deceit.

Introduction

1. Vigilance over the Tongue

2. Oath, Perjury, and the Sins of the Deceitful

3. Defense and praevaricatio

4. The Words of Sorcerers, Diviners, and Idolaters

5. The Words of Priests

Closing Remarks

Bibliography