What is it about?
The visions of Constance, a widow who lived in the small Occitan-speaking town of Rabastens near Albi, survive only in a single Catalan-language manuscript. This book is a case-file, providing details of her condemnation to silence by the inquisitor and archbishop, as well as of letters that she dictated from prison. Was the choice of a vernacular language part of the attempt to silence a political voice in a troubled period? The chapter compares her case to other visionaries' publishing strategies in the same period.
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Why is it important?
The manuscript sheds light on how societies try to contain the circulation of subversive writings, especially when they treat a fine line between perceived truth and falsity.
Perspectives
I am interested in the resonance of this case for modern debates about the circulation and containment of political writings.
Professor Dr Catherine Leglu
University of Luxembourg
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Silencing through Translation between Occitan, Latin, and Catalan: the Revelations of Constance de Rabastens (fl. ca. 1384–1386), January 2026, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004741317_008.
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