Jean-Claude Schmitt (born 4 March 1946 in Colmar) is a prominent French

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

, the former student of

Jacques Le Goff Jacques Le Goff (1 January 1924 – 1 April 2014) was a French historian and prolific author specializing in the Middle Ages, particularly the 12th and 13th centuries. Le Goff championed the Annales School movement, which emphasizes long-term t ...

, associated with the work of the Annales School. He studies the socio-cultural aspects of medieval history in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and has made important contributions in his use of

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and art historical methods to interpret history. His most significant work has dealt with the relationships among elites and laymen in medieval life, particularly in the realm of religious culture, where he has focused on

idea In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of bei ...

s and topics such as superstition, the occult and

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

in order to flesh out the differing world-views of the lay

peasantry A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

and the

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

al elites who attempted to define religious practice. He has contributed numerous

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...

s, articles and encyclopedia entries on these and related topics. He has also written widely on the cult of saints, the idea of adolescence,

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

s and

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

s, and preaching. Among Schmitt's best known works translated in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

are ''The Holy Greyhound'' (1983), about the strange cult of a holy

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

in medieval

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and ''Ghosts in the Middle Ages'' (1998) about notions of

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, the afterlife and

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

visions in medieval culture. Both works are considered important examples of "

historical anthropology Historical anthropology is a historiographical movement which applies methodologies and objectives from social and cultural anthropology to the study of historical societies. Like most such movements, it is understood in different ways by differe ...

," or the use of methods and approaches borrowed from

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and other

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

s to investigate the past. Schmitt has argued that this has helped correct for the tendency among medievalists in the past to focus on elites, political institutions and narrative history to the exclusion of the lower classes and their less well-documented

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

s of life. Until 2014 Schmitt was Director of Studies at the

École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

and directed the society of professional historians, Groupe d'Anthropologie Historique de l'Occident Médiéval.

Select bibliography

*''Le Saint Lévrier. Guinefort, guérisseur d’enfants depuis le XIIIe siècle'' (Flammarion, 1979) *''La Raison des gestes dans l’Occident médiéval'' (Gallimard, 1990) *''Les Revenants: les vivants et les morts dans la société médiévale'' (Gallimard, 1994) *(Editor) ''L’Histoire des jeunes en Occident'' (Seuil, 1996) *''Le corps, les rites, les rêves, le temps : Essais d’anthropologie médiévale'' (Gallimard, 2001). * (Contributing editor) ''Dictionnaire raisonné de l'Occident médiéval'' *''La Conversion d’Hermann le juif : Autobiographie, histoire et fiction'' 2004

External links

J-C Schmitt, "Social rhythms in the Middle Ages"
(report of a lecture, Oxford, 2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitt, Jean-Claude People from Colmar 1946 births Living people 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians French medievalists French scholars École Nationale des Chartes alumni Academic staff of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America