Ecclesia maledicens

In seeming contrast to the Christian ban on cursing, medieval documents reveal the existence of an 'Ecclesia maledicens,' which publicly staged the spiritual and social effects of ecclesiastical excommunication. Christian Jaser focuses on the symbolic, rhetorical and gestural intellectual workshop of the ecclesiastical power to curse and excommunicate, thereby reflecting the changing practices, functions and media contexts. For terminological and methodological reasons, it is necessary to distinguish ritual from ceremonial forms of excommunication, each of which creates realities and meanings of its own. On this basis, Christian Jaser traces the historical genesis of these performative modes of excommunication to the late medieval papal court, where they were transformed into a key event for the representation of universal demands for disciplinary action.