Saints and Sanctity
Issue 10 (May 2007) | Issue Editors: Celia Chazelle & Deanna Forsman
Letter from the Editor
Articles—Themed
Relics, Religious Authority, and the Sanctification of Domestic Space in the Home Gregory of Tours: An Analysis of the Glory of the Confessors 20
Dennis Quinn, Cal Poly Pomona
Abstract: This article examines Gregory of Tours' Glory of the Confessors 20 in order to describe how the establishment of an oratory in the bishop's own house served both to provide the bishop with a locus for domestic religiosity and to solidify his position as the rightful bishop of Tours. It also suggests an historical relationship between domestic relic cult in Merovingian Gaul and pre-Christian Roman domestic cult.
Miracle Stories and the Primary Purpose of Adomnán's Vita Columbae
Sara E. Ellis Nilsson, Gothenburg University
Abstract: Scholars argue about the purpose of Adomnán's Vita Columbae, viewing it as either political, didactic or an endorsement of Iona scholarship. Although the vita is based on hagiographical models, it is not merely a re-production. In addition to the evidence presented by the analysis of the miracle stories, it is maintained that Adomnán wrote his work for the monks on Iona; therefore, the argument for a didactic purpose is the strongest.
Preserving the Body Christian: The Motif of "Recapitation" in Ireland's Medieval Hagiography
Máire Johnson, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
Abstract: This paper argues that Ireland's medieval hagiographers adapted and transcended the saga motif of beheading with that of 'recapitation.' Firmly rooted in the power of confession and penance, the motif depicts the Church preserving itself intact, particularly from brigandage.
Boniface's Booklife: How the Ragyndrudis Codex Came to be a Vita Bonifatii
Michel Aaij, Auburn University Montgomery
Abstract: For over a millennium, Bonifacian iconography has been dominated by the image of a sword piercing a book. Originating in the eighth-century Utrecht vita, the standard account of Boniface trying to ward off the Frisian sword with a book was consolidated in the eleventh century by Otloh of St. Emmeram, who connected the Utrecht narrative to the Ragyndrudis Codex, a valuable codex now in Fulda, close to the saint's cult center. The codex's outside, though, does not correspond with standard hagiography; neither do its (mainly anti-Arian) contents correspond with Boniface's dual goal of conversion and church reform. Nonetheless, the tortured book is a fitting image of a man devoted to his mission; the questionable identification is appropriate since so many questions remain on Boniface's life and death—whether he lived the life of an effective missionary who indeed was the Apostle of the Germans, whose many letters allow us to glimpse the interior life of a radically different man, whether he died as the result of a heathen robbery, Frisian guerilla, or even Frankish conspiracy. The Ragyndrudis Codex has become a Bonifacian vita, and if this metonymy is a clever ploy by an eleventh-century monk to strengthen Fulda's legal and financial status, it has proven no less effective to the believer.
Tradition and Transformation in the Cult of St. Guthlac in Early Medieval England
John R. Black, Moravian College
Abstract: Analysis of the variations introduced into the hagiographic corpus, both textual and iconographic, for a saint's cult over the course of the medieval era demonstrates the vitality of that corpus, reveals the cultural significance of the variations introduced, and offers insights into (re)conceptualizations of sainthood. Such analysis elucidates, for example, the 'evolution' of St. Guthlac from ascetic solitary to promoter and defender of a wealthy religious establishment.
Articles—General
The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland
Bethany Fox, University of Helsinki
Abstract: This article focuses on the region between the Firth of Forth to the north and the River Tees to the south, to gather together those names identified by past scholars as possibly p-Celtic, providing a new assessment as to whether each contains p-Celtic elements. With the identification of eighty-four names probably containing p-Celtic elements, and forty-five further possible examples, it emerges that p-Celtic toponyms in the region are more numerous than has usually been assumed. Moreover, there is reason to think that the distribution of p-Celtic names is historically significant: generally speaking, the distribution of the earliest identifiable Old English place-names (those ending in -hām and -ingahām) is mutually exclusive of p-Celtic names. The most obvious interpretation of the evidence in this study is a synthesis of mass-migration and elite-takeover models. Large-scale Anglian cultural influence, and therefore implicitly settlement, seems likely along the major river valleys south of the Lammermuir and Moorfoot hills (following the Tyne, Tees, Alne and Tweed), with slower diffusion of influence elsewhere. It seems likely that p-Celtic speech survived longest in the area between the Lammermuir and Moorfoot hills, a supposition supported by archaeological evidence. The study takes the opportunity of online publication to develop new strategies for presenting place-name evidence, including a full appendix of data hyperlinked to the main text, and an interactive distribution map (implemented by Alaric Hall).
Trade, Gift-giving and Romanitas: A Comparison of the Use of Roman Imports in Western Britain and Southern Scandinavia
Thomas Green, Exeter College
Abstract: Superficial comparison of Roman artifacts found in Southern Scandinavia with those of Britain demonstrates that different items were valued in the two areas. However, the Roman artifacts in both areas can be viewed as high-status luxury items. The essay argues that a comparison of the distribution of Roman artifacts in Britain and Scandinavia sheds light on their use and value within the respective importing societies. High-status Roman goods were used by local elite in both Britain and Scandinavia to help bolster their claims to authority and power.
Translated Texts
The Revelatio Ecclesiae de Sancti Michaelis and the Mediterranean Origins of Mont St.-Michel
John Charles Arnold, State University of New York-Fredonia
Abstract: This translation of the ninth-century Revelatio ecclesiae de Sancti Michaelis makes available in English the unique account of the origins of the great Norman attraction of Mont St.-Michel. Believed founded by Autpertus bishop of Avranches in 708, the emergence of the pilgrim shrine owed to connections with the Mediterranean world rather than Celtic or insular influences.
Columns
The Forum
Howard M. Wiseman, School of Science, Griffith University, Australia
Electronic Medievalia
Daniel Paul O'Donnell, University of Lethbridge
Continental Business
Michel Aaij, Auburn University Montgmory
History by Biography
Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, 1207-2007
Michel Aaij, Auburn University Montgomery
Reviews
Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of King Arthur. Reviewed by Linda Malcor.
Thomas A. Bredehoft, Early English Metre. Reviewed by Daniel O'Donnell.
Magnús Fjalldal, Anglo-Saxon England in Icelandic Medieval Texts. Reviewed by Craig R. Davis.
Carolyne Larrington, Women and Writing in Medieval Europe: A Sourcebook. Reviewed by Mary P. Richards.
Francis Pryor, Britain AD: A Quest for Arthur, England and the Anglo-Saxons. Reviewed by Howard M. Wiseman.
In Memoriam
William L. Petersen [At the Society of Biblical Literature]
Magnus Magnusson [At the BBC]
Navigating This Issue
This issue utilizes simple javascripts to enhance navigation. The scripts do not add any information to users' computers (ie cookies, etc). All email addresses are encoded via javascript to prevent remote address harvesting (and hopefully cut down on spam). If you wish to email a member of the Editorial Board or an author, please enable javascripts for this site.
Each page of the issue has a "print-friendly" version, which can be accessed through the "Print" function of the browser.
This site experiences difficulties when viewed through Netscape Navigator on machines running on Mac OS 9. However, the pages view fine on either Internet Explorer or Safari.
Legal Notices
All files in this issue are offered to Internet users free of charge under the following conditions: Internet users may maintain one electronic copy and one print copy of the file for use by members of the user's household. Permission to otherwise duplicate any of these files without the author's written consent is expressly denied.
All artwork on this site is copyrighted to the credited artist, and permission must be obtained from that person before the art may be used elsewhere. All uncredited artwork is believed to be in the public domain. If this is incorrect, please email the Editor-In-Chief and proper credit will be given or the artwork will be removed at once, whichever is the preference of the artist and/or the artist's legal representatives. If an image is in the public domain, feel free to download it and upload it to your own site. Please do not link directly to the image.
Staff For This Issue
- Larry J. Swain, Editor-in-Chief
- Michelle Ziegler, Publisher
- Celia Chazelle, Issue Editor
- Deanna Forsman, Issue Editor; Webdesign & Layout
- Brad Eden, Book Review Editor
- William Schipper, Archivist
©2007 The Heroic Age. All rights reserved.