Description
Book SynopsisHagiography and the History of Latin Christendom, 500–1500 shows the historical value of texts celebrating saints—both the most abundant medieval source material and among the most difficult to use. Hagiographical sources present many challenges: they are usually anonymous, often hard to date, full of topoi, and unstable. Moreover, they are generally not what we would consider factually accurate. The volume’s twenty-one contributions draw on a range of disciplines and employ a variety of innovative methods to address these challenges and reach new discoveries about the medieval world that extend well beyond the study of sanctity. They show the rich potential of hagiography to enhance our knowledge of that world, and some of the ways to unlock it. Contributors are Ellen Arnold, Helen Birkett, Edina Bozoky, Emma Campbell, Adrian Cornell du Houx, David Defries, Albrecht Diem, Cynthia Hahn, Samantha Kahn Herrick, J.K. Kitchen, Jamie Kreiner, Klaus Krönert, Mathew Kuefler, Katherine J. Lewis, Giovanni Paolo Maggioni, Charles Mériaux, Paul Oldfield, Sara Ritchey, Catherine Saucier, Laura Ackerman Smoller, and Ineke van ‘t Spijker. See inside the book.
Trade Review"Bilan bienvenu des avancés de la recherche dans le domaine des textes hagiographiques, souvent anonymes et mal datés, mais qui nous renseignent sur la ville, la violence, l’autre, le monachisme ... et l’évolution de l’idéal de sainteté qui reflète l’évolution de la société.Les chapitres écrits par les spécialistes qui résument leurs travaux s’organisent dans des thématiques: création des textes, développement des pratiques, efforts des hagiographes pour moraliser la politique, place des cités et de l’environnement". Anne Wagner, in Francia Recensio, 2020 | 3. "In this book, Samantha Kahn Herrick offers a brief and invaluable introduction to modern critical encounters with the genre [of hagiography], starting with Hippolyte Delehaye, and collecting insights from Marc Bloch, Peter Brown, Patrick Geary, and Felice Lifschitz, to set a platform for the chapters to follow. The book doesn’t disappoint in showcasing current trends in the study of the hagiography of Latin Christendom, understood in its broadest sense, from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries. [...] A strong theme of the book is that medieval politics was in considerable part a liturgical phenomenon, a fact that only increases our need to engage with this vast literature as evidence for political history, as well as ecclesiastical history and the history of religious cultures. In all three areas, the book makes a satisfying contribution." Simon Yarrow, in The Medieval Review, 23.03.21. See the full review here.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Notes on Contributors Introduction Samantha Kahn Herrick Part 1 Creating and Transmitting Texts 1 Constructing the Text: a Comparative Study of Two Saints’ Lives Written c.1200 Helen Birkett 2 From “Real Life” to Saint’s Life: Biography and Hagiography in the Vitae of Bernardino of Siena and Vincent Ferrer Laura Ackerman Smoller 3 Understanding Pictorial Hagiography (with Comments on the Illustrated Life of Wandrille) Cynthia Hahn 4 Saints’ Lives on the Move: the Circulation of Apostolic Legends Samantha Kahn Herrick 5 Thirteenth-Century Legendae Novae and the Preaching Orders: a Communication System Giovanni Paolo Maggioni Part 2 Constructing Religious Life, History and the Self 6 Vita Vel Regula: Multifunctional Hagiography in the Early Middle Ages Albrecht Diem 7 Bishops, Monks and Priests: Defining Religious Institutions by Writing and Rewriting Saints’ Lives (Francia, 6th–11th centuries) Charles Mériaux 8 Singing the Lives of the Saints: Hagiographical-Historical Intersections in Music and Worship Catherine Saucier 9 “Impressed by Their Stamp”: Hagiography and the Cultivation of the Self Ineke van ’t Spijker Part 3 Power and Violence 10 Gaul’s Insiders: Hagiography and Entitlement Jamie Kreiner 11 St Gerald of Aurillac, Sex and Violence in Medieval Hagiography Mathew Kuefler 12 The Unconvincing Martyrdom of William Longsword, Norman Count of Rouen (r. 928–42) David Defries 13 Hagiography, Relics and Secular Politics in Western Europe 6th–13th Centuries Edina Bozóky Part 4/b> Urban Life and the Natural World 14 Hagiography and Inter-Urban Rivalry: the Vita of St Eucharius, First Bishop of Trier, and Its Use in “Political” Quarrels during the Tenth Century Klaus Krönert 15 Hagiography and Urban Life: Evidence from Southern Italy Paul Oldfield 16 Hagiography and the Exotic: “Foreign Saints” in High Medieval Lucca Adrian Cornell du Houx 17 Environmental History and Hagiography Ellen Arnold Part 5/b> Gender, Health and Beauty 18 Hagiography, Gender, and the Power of Social Norms Emma Campbell 19 A King, Not a Servant: the Prose Life of St Katherine of Alexandria and Ideologies of Masculinity in Late Medieval England Katherine J. Lewis 20 Health, Healing, and Salvation: Hagiography as a Source for Medieval Healthcare Sara Ritchey 21 The Beautiful Dead: Materiality, Resurrection and the Aesthetics of Holy Corpses J.K. Kitchen Hagiography Index
