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Work in the Middle Ages, between heaven and hell Volume 95, issue 5, Mai 2019

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Author
Agrégé d’histoire et doctorant contractuel en histoire médiévale, Sorbonne Université, France
* Correspondance

This article, which disseminates historical research, seeks to offer some suggestions that might allow us to understand the nature of work in the Middle Ages and to think about it in relation to our current world. In terms of conceptions of work, contrary to what one might think, medieval people did not consider their labor as a punishment inflicted on humanity due to original sin. It was, rather, a valued activity in the sense that the laboratores—those men and women who worked—contributed to the good order of society, just as God had intended. The different iconographic representations of work activities thus highlight the fact that these were imbued with a religious dimension. Thus, work sometimes became a tool of domination in the hands of the authorities, and at other times an instrument of negotiation for workers.

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