Shaping Society Through Text: A Contextual Analysis of "Prior Geoffrey of the Temple, on the Books of Maccabees".

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the interplay between society and text; how does text shape society and how does society shape text? A case study is found in the text: ‘’Prior Geoffrey of the Temple, on the Books of Maccabees’’ which deals with the Maccabees and simony. As such this thesis asks the question of how Geoffrey was inspired to write about simony in the Crusader States. This thesis is a source of information on simony, and the religious developments in the Crusader States