The Cult of the Saints
in the Barbarian Kingdoms:
A Bibliography
Compiled by Thomas Head
Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
Contents:
1) General historical studies; 2) General
studies of religious history; 3) General hagiographic
studies; 4) Italy; 5) Iberia;
6) Gaul / Francia; 7) England;
8) Celtic world.
General historical studies.
The brief overview of J.M Wallace-Hadrill, The Barbarian West, A.
D. 400-1000 (London 1952 and reprints) is still useful. Judith Herrin,
The Formation of Christendom (Princeton, 1987) focuses on the development
of eastern and western Christianities. A good set of textbook surveys exist
on the kingdoms of Gaul, Iberia, and Italy: Edward James, The Origins
of France: From Clovis to the Capetians, 500-1000 (London, 1982); Chris
Wickham, Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society, 400-1000
(London, 1981); Roger Collins, Early Medieval Spain. Unity in Diversity,
400-1000 (London, 1983). Each of these works contains an excellent
annotated bibliography. For more focused treatments, see Herwig Wolfram,
History of the Goths (Berkeley, 1979); Giovanni Tabacco, The
Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy. Structures of Political Rule
(Cambridge, 1989); Raymond van Dam, Leadership and Community in Late-Antique
Gaul (Berkeley, 1985); Patrick Geary, Before France and Germany.
The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World (Oxford, 1988);
Ian Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751 (London, 1994). For
Anglo-Saxon England, see either the massive survey by Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon
England, third edition (Oxford History of England, 2; Oxford, 1971),
or, more briefly Peter Hunter Blair, Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England,
second edition (Cambridge, 1977). Several collections of essays have focused
on the seventh century as a period of major cultural change in the west:
Caratteri del scolo VII in occidente, 2 vols. (Settimane di studio
del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 5; Spoleto, 1958); The
Seventh Century: Change and Continuity, eds. Jacques fontaine and J.
N. Hillgarth (London, 1992); The Age of Sutton Hoo: The Seventh Century
in Northwest Europe, ed. Martin Carver (Woodbridge, 1992). The yearly
volumes of "Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto
medioevo" (Spoleto, 1954-present) each focus on a particular theme
in early medieval history, contain articles in French, English, and German
in addition to Italian, and are an excellent way of keeping up on developments
in the field.
General studies
of religious history.
Particularly useful are several volumes from the estimable Spoleto conferences:
La chiese nei regni dell'Europa occidentale e i loro rapporti con Roma
sino all'800, 2 vols. (Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi
sull'alto medioevo, 7; Spoleto, 1960) and La conversione al Cristianesimo
nell'Europa dell'alto medioevo (Settimane di studio del Centro italiano
di studi sull'alto medioevo, 14; Spoleto, 1967). Also see La città
nell'alto medioeveo (Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi
sull'alto medioevo, 6; Spoleto, 1959) on the urban context, important for
many developing relic cults.
General hagiographic studies.
The treatment of hagiography and the cult of saints in the later fifth,
sixth, and seventh centuries has tended to be highly specific as to region,
saint, or author. The general remarks of Hanns Leo Mikoletzky on the cult
of saints in "Sinn und Art der Heiligung im frühen Mittelalter,"
Mitteilungen des Instituts for österreichischen Geschichtsforschung,
57 (1949), 83-122 still retain their value and interest. See also the interesting
agenda set by Sofia Boesch Gajano, "La littérature hagiographique
comme source de l'histoire ethnique, sociale, et économique de l'Occident
européen entre l'antiquité et moyen âge," XX
Congrès international des sciences historique (Bucharest, 1980),
177-81. A good introduction to the vitae of the period may be found
in Walter Berschin, Biographie und Epochenstil im lateinischen Mittelalter,
II: Merovingische Biographie. Italien, Spanien und die Inseln im frühen
Mittelalter (Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie
des Mittelalters, 9; Stuttgart: A. Hiersemann, 1986). Claudio Leonardi
has charted changing models of sanctity in Latin hagiography in "Dalla
santità 'monastica' alla santità 'politica'," Concilium,
15 (1979), pp. 1540-53; "I modelli dell'agiografia latina dall'epoca
antica al Medioevo," in Passaggio dal mondo antico al Medioevo:
da Teodorico a Gregorio Magno (Atti dei Convegni Lincei, 45; Rome,
1980), pp. 435-76, and "Modelli di santità tra secolo V e VII,"
Santi e demoni nell'alto medioevo occidentale (secoli V-XI), 2 vols.
(Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 36;
Spoleto, 1989), pp. 261-84. Alessandro Barbero has followed an interesting
theme through early medieval lives in Un santo in famiglia: vocazione
religiosa e resistenze sociali nall'agiografia latina medievale (Sacro/santo,
6; Turin: Rosenberg and Sellier, 1991).
There are three useful collections of articles which focus on various
aspects of sanctity in the early middle ages: Sofia Boesch Gajano, (ed.),
Agiografia altomedioevale (Bologna, 1976) (which has an interesting
introduction and very valuable bibliography on pp. 7-48); Santi e demoni
nell'alto medioevo occidentale (secoli V-XI), 2 vols. (Settimane di
studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 36; Spoleto, 1989);
Jacques Fontaine and Jocelyn Hillgarth (eds.), Le septième siècle:
Changements et continuités / The Seventh Century: Change and Continuity
(London, 1992). All will henceforth be cited in short title.
A significant number of early medieval lives were devoted to female
saints, and that hagiography has recently received much attention. The
most ambitious scholarly project concerning these lives is that of Jane
Tibbets Schulenburg. Her many essays will soon be published as: . For a
general survey of the sources and scholarship, see her "Saints' Lives
as a Source for the History of Women, 500-1100," in Medieval Women
and the Souces of Medieval History, ed. Joel Rosenthal (Athens: University
of Georgia Press, 1990), pp. 285-320. Other general surveys include: Marie-Louise
Portmann, Die Darstellung der frau in der Geschichtsschreibung des früheren
Mittelalters (Basel, 1958); Antonella Del'Innocenti, "Agiografia
femminile nel VI secolo," Biografia e agiografia nella letteratura
cristiana antica e medievale, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo (Pubblicazioni
dell'Istituto di Scienze Religiose in Trento, 15; Bologna: EDB, 1990).
For general bibliography on women in the early middle ages, see Frauen
im Frümittelalter: Eine ausgewahlte kommentierte Bibliographie
(Frankfurt, 1990).
Some studies which take a thematic approach to hagiography of the early
middle ages include: Adele Simonetti, "Santi cefalofori altomedievale,"
Studi medievali, third series, 28 (1987): 67-121; Michel Lauwers,
"La mort et le corps des saints. La scène de la mort dans les
Vitae du haut Moyen Age," Le Moyen Age, 94 (1988): 21-50; Lisa
Bitel, "In visu noctis: Dreams in European Hagiography and Histories,
450-900," History of Religions, 31 (1991), pp. 38-59.
One important relic cult to develop in the early middle ages did not
focus on the relics of a saint, but rather on those alleged to be from
the cross of Christ. See Stephan Borgehammar, How the Holy Cross Was
Found: From Event to Medieval Legend, with an Appendix of Texts (Bibliotheca
theologiae practicae, 47; Stockholm, 1991).
Italy.
For an overview of hagiography in Italy during this period see Claudio
Leonardi, "L'agiografia latina dal Tardantico all'Altomedioeveo,"
La cultura in Italia fra Tardo Antico e Alto Medioeveo. Stato e prospettive
delle ricerche (Rome, 1981). Reginald Grégoire, "Aspetti
culturalli della letteratura agiografica toscana," in Atti del
5 Congresso internazionale di studi sull'Alto Medioeveo (Spoleto, 1973),
pp. 569-625 provides an exemplary and full study of one region for the
early middle ages.
One of the most significant developments in this region is that of the
cults of city patrons. The best general introduction is Alba Maria Orselli,
"Il santo patrono cittadino fra Tardo Antico e Alto Medioevo,"
in La cultura in Italia fra Tardo Antico e Alto Medioeveo. Stato e prospettive
delle ricerche (Rome: Herder, 1981), pp. 361-98. The most substantial
work in the field remains the same author's L'Idea e il culto del santo
patrono cittadino nella letteratura latina cristiana (Bologna: Zanichelli,
1965) [partially reprinted in: Agiografia altomedioevale, pp. 85-104],
but also see Gian Piero Bognetti, "I 'Loca Sanctorum' e la storia
della chiesa nel regno dei Longobardi," in Agiografia altomedioevale,
pp. 105-43. For regional studies, see: Gian Piero Bognetti, "Le origini
della consacrazione del vescovo di Pavia da parte del Pontefice Romano
e la fine dell'Arianesimo presso i Longobardi," reprinted in L'età
longobarda (Milan, 1966), 1:143-217; Alba Maria Orselli, "La città
altomedievale e il suo santo patrono: (ancora una volta) il 'campione'
pavese," Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in italia, 32 (1978),
pp. 1-69; Alba Maria Orselli, "Immagine e miti di san Petronio nella
tradizione bolognese," in La Bisilica di S. Petronio in Bologna
(Bologna, 1983), pp. 41-52; San Procolo e il suo culto. Una questione
di agiografia altomedievale bolognese (Bologna, 1989); and the studies
collected in La coscienza cittadina nei Comuni italiani del Duecento
(Todi, 1972). Jean-Charles Picard has added much to the understanding of
city patrons in his study of the development of the cult and memoria
of local bishops: Le souvenir des évêques. Sépultures,
listes épiscopales et culte des évêques en Italie du
Nord, des origines au Xe siècle (Rome, 1988). Hans Conrad Peyer,
Stadt und Stadtpatron im mittelalterlichen Italien (Zurich, 1955)
takes up these topics in a later time period. [Note: a full reprinting
of Alba Maria Orselli's work, including the monograph mentioned at the
head of this paragraph, may be found in: L'Immaginario religioso della
città medievale (Ravenna, 1985)]. A model edition and study
of a hagiographic text from the Lombard period is provided in Karl Schmid
(ed.), Vita Walfredi und Kloster Monteverdi. Toskanisches Mönchtum
zwischen langobardischer und fränkischer Herrschaft (Bibliothek
des deutschen historischen Instituts in Rom, 73; Tübingen, 1991).
One of the traditionally most important texts from fifth-century Italy
was Eugippius' Life of St. Severinus. For a good summary of the
traditional view, see Marc van Uytfanghe, "Eléments évangéliques
dans la structure et la composition de la 'Vie de saint Séverin'
d'Eugippius," Sacris Erudiri, 21 (1972-3), pp. 147-59 and "La
Bible dans la 'Vie de saint Séverin'," Latomus, 33 (1974),
pp. 324-52. For a complete revisionist deconstruction, see Friedrich Lotter,
Severinus von Noricum. Legende und historische Wirklichkeit. Untersuchungen
zur Phase des Uebergangs von spätantiken zu mittelalterlichen Denk-
und Lebensforumen (Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters, 12;
Stuttgart, 1976). But also see van Uytfanghe's response in "Les avatars
contemporains de l''Hagiologie'. A propos d'un ouvrage récent sur
saint Séverin du Norique," Francia 5 (1977), pp. 639-71.
An English translation of the text may be found in Eugippius, The Life
of Saint Severinus, trans. George W. Robinson (Cambridge, Mass., 1914).
The most renowned hagiographer of early medieval Italy was Gregory the
Great. A fine introduction to his work may be found in Carole Straw, Gregory
the Great: Perfection in Imperfection (Berkeley, 1988). More specifically
on his hagiography, see Joan Petersen, The Dialogues of Gregory the
Great in Their Late Antique Cultural Background (Toronto, 1984). The
best edition of that work is: Grégoire le Grand, Dialogues,
ed. Adalbert de Vogüé, 2 vols. (Sources chrétiennes,
251 and 260; Paris, 1978-9). Other interesting analyses include: Baudouin
de Gaiffier, "Les héros des Dialogues de Grégoire le
Grand inscits au nombre des saints," Analecta Bollandiana 83
(1965), pp. 53-72; Giorgio Cracco, "Uomini di Dio e uomini di chiesa
nell'alto Medioevo. Per una reinterpretazione dei "Dialogi" di
Gregorio Magno," Richerche di Storia sociale e Religiosa, 12
(1977), pp. 163-202; Sofia Boesch Gajano, "Dislivelli culturalli e
mediazioni cclesiastiche nei "Dialogi" di Gregorio Magno,"
Quadeni Storici, 14 (1979), pp. 398-415; John McCulloh, "The
Cult of Relics in the Letters and Dialogues of Pope Gregory the
Great: A Lexicographical Study," Traditio, 32 (1976), 145-84;
Adalbert de Vogüé, "Benoît, modèle de vie
spirituelle d'après le deuxième livre des Dialogues de saint
Grégoire," Collectanea Cisterciensia, 38 (1976), 147-57;
Gregorio Penco, "Sulla strutture dialogica dei Dialoghi di S. Gregorio,"
Benedictina, 33 (1986): 329-35. William McCready, Signs of Sanctity:
Miracles in the Thought of Gregory the Great (Toronto: Pontifical Institute
of Mediaeval Studies, 1989) provides a misguided attempt to question the
authenticity of Gregory's belief in the miraculous. For specific comparisons
to other important hagiographers of the barbarian kingdoms, see Owen Chadwick,
"Gregory of Tours and Gregory the Great," Journal of Theological
Studies, 50 (1949), 38-49 and Paul Meyvaert, "Bede and Gregory
the Great," in Benedict, Gregory, Bede, and Others (London:
Variorum, 1977), 1-26. For a full bibliography of scholarly works on Gregory
the Great, see Robert Godding, Bibliografia di Gregorio Magno (1890/1989)
(Rome: Città Nuova, 1990).
Iberia.
The best introduction is C. Garcia Rodriguez, El culto de los santos
en la Espana romana y visigota (Madrid, 1966), as well as the relevant
sections of Fernando Vallejo, La hagiografía como género
literario en la edad media. Tipología de dece "Vidas"
individuales castellanas (Ovideo, 1989). Relatively little exists in
English of an analytic nature on hagiography in Visigothic Spain, but see
Jacques Fontaine, "King Sisebut's Vita Desiderii and the Political
Function of Visigothic Hagiography," and Roger Collins, "Mérida
and Toldeo: 550-585," in Edward James (ed.), Visigothic Spain:
New Approaches (Oxford, 1980), pp. 93-129 and 189-222. For a guide
to the extensive literature in Spanish, see Roger Collins, Early Medieval
Spain: Unity in Diversity, 400-1000 (London, 1983), pp. 280-2. On various
primary sources, see: Angel Fabrega Grau, Pasionario hispanico (siglos
VII-XI) (Barcelona, 1955); El pasionario hispanico: introduction,
edicion critica y traduccion (Seville, 1987); Joseph Garvin (ed. and
trans.), The "Vitas sanctorum patrum Emeritensium": Text,
Translation, with and Introduction and Commentary (Washington, 1946);
but see now the new edition by A. Maya Sanchez (ed.), Vitas SS Patrum
Emeretensium (Corpus Christianorum, 116; 1992); Sister Consuelo Maria
Aherne, Valerio of Bierzo: An Ascetic of the Late Visigothic Period
(Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1949); Valerio
of Bierzo, La vida de San Fructuoso de Braga. Estudio y edicion critica,
ed. Manuel Diaz y Diaz (Braga, 1974); Charles Lynch, Saint Braulio,
Bishop of Saragossa (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America
Press, 1938); Sister Athanasius Braegelmann, Life and Writings of Saint
Ildephonsus of Toledo (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America
Press, 1942).
Gaul / Frankland.
The religious life of late Roman Gaul was dominated by Martin of Tours,
while his hagiographer was to set the standard guide for later practitioners
of the genre. Clare Stancliffe provides a thorough examination of the work
of Sulpicius Severus in Saint Martin and His Hagiographer: History and
Miracle in Sulpicius Severus (Oxford, 1983). Aline Rousselle, Croire
et guérir. La foi en Gaule dans l'Antiquité tardive (Paris,
1990) presents a sensitive and provocative reading of the transition from
Roman to Christian culture in Gaul, and of the role of Martin and his cult
in that transition. A summary of her argument may be found in "From
Sanctuary to Miracle-Worker: Healing in Fourth-Century Gaul," in Ritual,
Religion, and the Sacred, ed. Robert Forster and Orest Ranum (Baltimore,
1982), pp. 95-127. The cult of Martin would continue to play a role of
central importance in the Merovingian kingdom. Raymond Van Dam has charted
the changing "Images of Saint Martin in Late Roman and Early Merovingian
Gaul," Viator, 19 (1988), pp. 1-27. Also see the studies of
the development of the cult of Martin by Peter Brown and Raymond Van Dam
cited below, as well as the narrowly focused but useful J. van den Bosch,
Capa, basilica, monasterium et le culte de Saint Martin de Tours: Etude
lexicologique et semasiologique (Studia ad sermonem Latinum Christianum
pertinentia, 13; Utrecht, 1959) and Christian Lelong, "Le Tombeau
de saint Martin," Bulletin de la Société archéologique
de Touraine, 42 (1988), pp. 91-138. For the development of that cult beyond
Tours, see Eugen Ewig, "Die Martinskult im Frühmittelalter,"
Archiv für mittelrheinischen Kirchengeschichte, 14 (1962),
pp. 11-30 [reprinted in Spätantikes und frankisches Gallien,
2 vols. (Beihefte der Francia, 3; 1979), 2:371-92]; Eugen Ewig, "Le
culte de Saint Martin à l'époque franque," Revue
d'histoire de l'Eglise de France, 47 (1961), pp. 1-18; [reprinted in
Spätantikes und frankisches Gallien, 2 vols. (Beihefte der
Francia, 3; 1979), 2:355-71]; Etienne Delaruelle, "La spiritualité
des pèlerinages à Saint-Martin de Tours du Ve au Xe siècles,"
in Pellegrinaggi e culto dei Santi in Europa fino alla Ia crociata
(Convegni del centro di studi sulla spiritualità medievale, 4; Todi,
1963), pp. 199-244. Sharon Farmer's exemplary study of twelfth-century
social history, Communities of St. Martin: Legend and Ritual in Medieval
Tours (Ithaca, 1991), studies the function of Martin's cult in a later
period.
Other members of the Gallo-Roman nobility continued to be important
as saints for many generations: A. Reyne and D. Bréhier, Saint
Eutrope, Eveque d'Orange au V siècle (Avignon, 1991); Walter
Goffart, "The Conversions of Avitus of Clermont and Similar Passages
in Gregory of Tours," in "To See Ourselves as Others See Us".
Christians, Jews, "Others" in Late Antiquity, ed. J. Neusmen
and E. S. Frerichs (Chico, CA, 1985), pp. 473-497.
It was the Franks who adopted orthodox Christianity and its notions
of sanctity most quickly among the Germanic peoples. The best general introduction
to religion in Frankland has been provided by J. M. Wallace-Hadrill in
The Frankish Church (Oxford, 1983), but also see the perceptive
analyses of Yitzhak Hen, Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, A.D.
481-751 (Leiden, 1995). Both works range widely and have much to say
about hagiography in particular. More specifically on monasticism, see
the foundational work of Friedrich Prinz, Frühes Mönchtum
in Frankreich. Kultur und Gesellschaft in Gallien, den Rheinlanden und
Bayern am Beispiel der monastischen Entwicklung (4. bis 8. Jahrhundert)
(Munich, 1965). Cyril Vogel has traced one aspect of religious life from
hagiographic sources in "La Discipline pénitentielle en Gaule
des origines au IXe siècle, le dossier hagiographique," Revue
des Sciences Religieuses, 30 (1956), pp. 1-26 and 157-86.
The foundation of the modern study of Merovingian hagiography was laid
by Léon van der Essen, Étude critique et littéraire
sur les vitae des saints mérovingiens de l'ancienne Belgique
(Conférences d'histoire et de philologie, 17; Louvain, 1907). But
the essential foundation of all recent studies is the remarkable work of
Frantisek Graus, Volk, Herrscher und Heiliger im Reich der Merowinger.
Studeien zur Hagiographie der Merowingerzeit (Prague, 1965). A thoughtful
synthesis and overview may be found in Walter Berschin, Biographie und
Epochenstil im lateinischen Mittelalter, Volume 2: Merowingische Biographie:
Italien, Spanien und die Inselm im frühen Mittelalter (Stuttgart:
Hiersemann, 1988). Important methodological reflections on the use of hagiographic
evidence for the general history of this period include Frantisek Graus,
"Hagiographische Schriften als Quellen der 'profanen' geschichte,"
in Fonti medievali e problematica storiografica. Atti del congresso
internazionale tenuto in occasione del 90o anniversario della fondazione
dell'Istituto storico italiano (1883-1973) (Rome, 1976), pp. 375-96;
Friedrich Prinz, "Gesellschaftsgeschichtliche Aspekte frühmittelalterlicher
Hagiographie," Zeitschrift für Literatur, Wissenschaft und
Linguistik, 3.2 (1973), pp. 17-36; Paul Fouracre, "Merovingian
History and Merovingian Historiography," Past and Present 127
(1990), pp. 3-38. Specifically on the very important issue of hagiographic
forgeries, see Ian Wood, "Forgery in Merovingian Hagiography,"
in Fälschungen im Mittelalter, 5 vols. (MGH, Scriptores, 33;
Hanover, 1988), 5:369-84. On the use of biblical and other topoi in the
composition of Merovingian hagiography (and much else besides), see the
work of Marc van Uytfanghe: "La Bible dans les Vies de saints mérovingiennes,"
Revue d'histoire d'église de France, 62 (1976), pp. 103-12;
"La controverse biblique et patristique autour du miracle, et ses
répercussions sur l'hagiographie dans l'Antiquité tardive
et le haut Moyen Age latin," in Evelyne Patlagean and Pierre Riché
(eds.), Hagiographie, cultures et sociétés. IVe-XIIe siècles.
Actes du Colloque organisé à Nanterre et à Paris (2-5
mai 1979) (Paris, 1981), pp. 205-33; "Modèles bibliques
dans l'hagiographie," in Pierre Riché and Guy Lobrichon (eds.),
Le Moyen Age et la Bible (Bible de tous les temps, 4; Paris, 1984),
pp. 449-88; "Le culte des saints et l'hagiographie face à l'écriture:
Les avatars d'une relation ambiguë," Santi e demoni nell'alto
medioevo occidentale, pp. 155-202. All of this is summarized in Stylisation
biblique et condition humaine dans l'hagiographie mérovingienne
cited above.
The two most prominent hagiographers of Merovingian Gaul were Gregory
of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus. The literature on each is enormous.
On Gregory, in addition to the works of Brown and Van Dam above, see Giselle
de Nie, Views from a Many-Windowed Tower: Studies of Imagination in
the Works of Gregory of Tours (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1987). Judith George,
Venantius Fortunatus (Oxford, 1992) provides a reliable guide to
this author, also see her earlier "Portraits of Two Merovingian Bishops
in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus," Journal of Medieval History,
13 (1987), p. 189-205.
The fullest study of Merovingian vitae written after the deaths
of Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus is provided in Marc Van Uytfanghe,
Stylisation biblique et condition humaine dans l'hagiographie mérovingienne
(600-750) (Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen,
Letteren, en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Letteren, 120;
Brussels, 1987). Now also see the studies and translations included in
Paul Fouracre and Richard Gerberding, Late Merovingian France: History
and Hagiography, 640-720 (Manchester, 1996). The impact of Irish monks
and their spirituality on Frankish notions of sanctity and the cult of
saints is studied by some of the essays collected in Columbanus and
Merovingian Monasticism, ed. H. B. Clarke and Mary Brennan (Oxford,
1981); Jean-Michel Picard (ed.), Ireland and Northern France AD 600-850
(London, 1991); Irland und Europa. Die Kirche im Frühmittelalter
/ Ireland and Europe. The Early Church, ed. Próinséas
Ní Chatháin and Michael Richter (Stuttgart, 1984). For the
development of some specific hagiographi traditions in the later Merovignian
period, see: Ian Wood, "Saint Wandrille and its Hagiography,"
in Ian Wood and Graham Loud (eds.), Church and Chronicle in the Middle
Ages: Essays Presented to John Taylor (London, 1991), pp. 1-15; Robert
Folz, "Tradition hagiographique et culte de Saint Dagobert, roi des
Francs," Moyen Age, 69 (1963), 17-35; Karl Firsching, Die
deutschen Bearbeitungen der Kilianslegende unter besonderer Berücksichtigung
deutscher Legendarhandschriften des Mittelalters (Würzburg, 1973).
One of the most important themes in later Merovingian sanctity and hagiography
was that of the "noble saint." For studies of the adelsheilige,
see Friedrich Prinz, "Heiligenkult und Adelherrschaft im Spiegel Merowingischer
Hagiographie," Historische Zeitschrift, 204 (1967), pp. 528-44;
Hagen Keller, "Adelheiliger und pauper Christi in Ekkeberts Vita sancti
Haimeradi," in J. Fleckenstein and Karl Schmid (eds.), Adel und
Kirche. Gerd Tellenbach zum 65. Geburtstag (Freiburg, 1968), pp. 307-23;
Friedrich Prinz, "Aristocracy and Christianity in Merovingian Gaul:
An Essay," in Karl Bosl, ed., Gesellschaft, Kulture Literatur.
Beiträge L. Wallach gewidmet (Stuttgart, 1975), pp. 153-165; Friedrich
Prinz, "Der Heilige und seine Lebenswelt Uberlegungen zum gesellschafts
und kulturgeschichtlichen Aussagewert von Viten und Wundererzählungen,"
Santi e demoni nell'alto, [see above] pp. 285-312; Karl Bosl, "Adelsheilige.
Idealtypus und Wirklichkeit. Gesellschaft und Kultur im merowingerzeitlichen
Bayern des 7-8 Jahrhunderts," in Clemens Baur, ed., Speculum historiale.
Geschichte im Spiegel von Geschichtsshreibung und Geschichtsdeutung. Festschirft
für J. Spörl (1965), pp. 167-187; Lellia Ruggini, "The
Crisis of the Noble Saint: The Vita Arnulfi," in The Seventh
Century [see above]. pp. 116-48.
Many of these noble Frankish saints were female. Marie-Louise Portmann
provided the first thorough study of Merovingian hagiography of female
saints in Die Darstellung der frau in der Geschichtsschreibung des früheren
Mittelalters (Basel, 1958). Suzanne Wemple has since used that hagiography
to study the general history of Women in Frankish Society (Philadelphia,
1981), further refined in "Female Spirituality and Mysticism in Frankish
Monasteries: Radegund, Balthild and Aldegund," Medieval Religious
Women, Volume 1: Distant Echoes, ed. John Nichols and Lillian Shank
(Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1984), pp. 39-53. JoAnn McNamara
has explored that same hagiography as a source for the history of women's
monasticism in "A Legacy of Miracles: Hagiography and Nunneries in
Merovingian Gaul," in Women of the Medieval World, eds. Julius
Kirschner and Suzanne Wemple (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985), pp. 36-52
and elsewhere. On the liturgical life of those convents, see G. Muschol,
Famula Dei, Zur Liturgie in merowingischen Frauenklostern (Beiträge
zur Geschichte des älten Mönchtums und des Benedikitertums, Veröffenlichugen
des Abt-Herwegen-Instituts Maria Laach, 41; Münster, Aschendorff,
1994). Janet Nelson has provided compelling suggestions concerning this
hagiographic literature in "Les femmes et l'évangelisation,"
Revue du Nord, 68 (1986), pp. 480-81, "Women and the Word in
the Earlier Middle Ages," in W. J. Shiels and Diana Wood (eds.), Women
in the Church (Studies in Church History, 27; Oxford, 1990), and "Perceptions
du pouvoir chez les historiennes du Haut Moyen Age," in Les Femmes
au Moyen Age, ed. Michel Rouche (Paris, 1990), pp. 77-85. Perhaps the
most important of these Frankish female saints was Radegund. See F. E.
Consolino, "Due agiografi per una regina: Radegonda di Turingia tra
Fortunato e Baudonivia," Studi storici, 29 (1988), pp. 143-59;
Sabine Gäbe, "Radegundis: sancta, regina, ancilla. Zum Heiligkeitsideal
der Radegundisviten von Fortunat und Baudonivia," Francia,
16 (1989):1-30; Jean Leclercq, "La sainte Radegonde de Venance Fortunat
et celle de Baudovinie," in "Fructus Centesimus": Mélanges
offerts à Gérard J. M. Batelink, ed. A. A. R. Bastiaensen
(Instrumenta Patristica, 19; Steenbrughe: Kluwer, 1987), pp. 207-216; Claudio
Leonardi, "Fortunato e Baudonivia," in Aus Kirche und Reich.
Studien zu Theologie, Politik und Recht im Mittelalter, ed. Hubert
Mordek (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbeke, 1983), pp. 23-32; Cristina Papa, "Radegund
e Bathilde: modele di santità regia feminile nel regno merovingia,"
Benedictina, 36 (1989): 13-33. To put Radegund into context, see
Robert Folz, Les saintes reines du moyen âge en occident (VIe-XIIIe
siècles) (Subsidia hagiographica, 76; Brussels). On another
Frankish royal female saint, see Robert Folz, "Tradition hagiographique
et culte de sainte Bathilde, reine des Francs," Comptes rendues
de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (1975), pp.
369-385.
Many of the Frankish saints earned their reputation for sanctity in
part because of their contributions to the efforts of Christianization
along the borders of the Merovingian kingdoms. On this process more generally,
see La Christianisation des pays entre Loire et Rhin, IVe-VIIe siècles,
ed. Pierre Riché (Revue d'Histoire de l'Eglise de France,
62, 1976); Nancy Gauthier, L'évangelisation des pays de la Moselle
(Rouen, 1980); Alain Dierkens, "Quelques aspects de la christianisation
du pays mosan à l'époque mérovingienne," La
Civilisation mérovingienne dans le Bassin Mosan (1985). On the
role of women in the processof conversion, see Janet Nelson, "Les
femmes et l'évangelisation," Revue du Nord, 68 (1986),
pp. 480-81 and Felice Lifshitz, "Des femmes missionnaires: L'exemple
de la Gaule Franque," Revue de l'histoire ecclésiastique,
83 (1988), pp. 5-33. On the use of art in the conversion process, see Herbert
Kessler, "Pictorial Narrative and Church Mission in Sixth-Century
Gaul," Studies in the History of Art, 16 (1985), pp. 75-91.
On specific missionary saints, see Arnold Angenendt, Monachi Peregrini.
Studien zu Pirmin und den monastischen Vorstellungen des frühen Mittelalters
(Munich, 1972); Eugen Ewig, "Die ältesten mainzer Patrozinien
und die Frühgeschichte des Bistums Mainz," Das erste Jahrtausend,
ed. V. H. Elbern (Düsseldorf, 1961-3), 1:336-43 [reprinted in Spätantikes
und frankisches Gallien, 2 vols. (Beihefte der Francia, 3; 1979), 2:154-70];
J. Semmler, "Pirminius," Mitteilungen des historischen Vereins
der Pfalz, 87 (1989), p. 91-113; H. Anton, "Liutwin-Bischof von
Trier und Gründer von Mettlach (+um 722). Zugleich ein Beitrag zu
dem historischen Wandlungsprozess im ausgehenden siebenten und im frühen
achten Jahrhundert," Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Saargegend,
38/39 (1990/1991), pp. 21-51.
On the role of the cult of relics in Frankish society and religion,
see Peter Brown, "Relics and Social Status in the Age of Gregory of
Tours," in Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Chicago,
1982), pp. 222-50; Raymond Van Dam, Leadership and Community in Late
Antique Gaul (Berkeley, 1985); Raymond Van Dam, Saints and Their
Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, 1993); Ian Wood, "Early
Merovingian Devotion in Town and Country," Studies in Church History,
16 (1979), pp. 61-76; Friedrich Prinz, "Stadtrömisch-italische
Märtyrerreliquien und fränkischer Reichsadel im Maas-Moselraum,"
Historisches Jahrbuch, 87 (1967), 1-25.
It was the city of Tours which provided the context for the cult of
Martin. On that civitas during this period, see Luce Pietri, La
ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: Naissance d'une cité
chrétienne (Rome, 1983). For an illuminating study of another
civitas, see J. Le Maho, "Le groupe épiscopal de Rouen
du IVe au Xe siècle," in Jenny Stratford (ed.), Medieval
Art, Architecture, and Archaeology at Rouen (Oxford, 1993). For a guide
to other civitates, see Nancy Gauthier and Jean-Charles Picard,
Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule des origines
au milieu du VIIIe siècle, 8 vols. (Paris, 1983-present). (1:
Trier [Belgica Prima], ed. Nancy Gauthier; 2: Aix and Embrun [Narbonensis
Secunda et Alpes Maritimae], ed. Yvette Duval et al.; 3: Vienne and Arles,
ed. Jacques Biarre et al.; 4: Lyon [Lugdunensis Prima], ed. Brigitte Beaujard
et al.; 5: Tours [Lugdunensis Tertia], ed. Luce Pietri et al.; 6: Bourges
[Aquitania Prima], ed. François Prevot et al.; 7: Narbonne [Narbonensis
Prima], ed. Paul Albert Fevrier et al.; 8: Sens [Lugdunensis Secunda],
ed. Jean-Charles Picard et al.). The general remarks of Charles Pietri,
"Remarques sur la topographie chrétienne des cités de
la Gaule entre Loire et Rhin," Revue d'histoire de l'église
de France, 62 (1976), pp. 189-204 are still useful. Eugen Ewig, "Kirche
und Civitas in der Merowingerzeit," in La chiese nei regni dell'Europa
occidentale e i loro rapporti con Roma sino All'800, 2 vols. (Settimane
di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 7; Spoleto,
1960), 1:45-71 [reprinted in Spätantikes und frankisches Gallien,
2 vols. (Beihefte der Francia, 3; 1979), 2:1-20] looks at relationship
of city and suburbs from the point of view of ecclesiastical institutions
and remains. On city patrons, see Eugen Ewig, "Die Kathedralpatrozinien
im römischen und im fränkischen Gallien," Historisches
Jahrbuch, 79 (1960), pp. 1-61 [reprinted in Spätantikes und
frankisches Gallien, 2 vols. (Beihefte der Francia, 3; 1979), 2:260-317].
To understand the disposition of relics in the Merovingian kingdoms,
it is essential to understand the archeology of burial practices. The fullest
study of Merovingian burial remain the works of Bailey Young, "Paganisme,
christianisation et rites funéraires mérovingiens,"
Archéologie Médiévale, 7 (1977) and "Exemple
aristocratique et mode funéraire dans la Gaule mérovingienne,'
annales E. S. C., 41 (1986), pp. 386-94. But see now the important
revisions offered in the ongoing research of Bonnie Effros, "Symbolic
Expressions of Sanctity: Gertrude of Nivelles in the Context of Merovingian
Mortuary Custom," Viator, 27 (1996), pp. 1-10 and "Beyond
Cemetery Walls: Early Medieval Funerary Topogrraphy and Christian Salvation,"
Early Medieval Europe, 6 (1997), pp. 1-23. On one specific cult
site, see G. R. Delahaye and P. Huguin, "Le sarcophge de saint Ebregislle
dans les cryptes de Jouarre," Bulletin du Groupement archéologique
de Seine-et-Marne, 27 (1986), pp. 49-58. Guy Halsall has offered an
exemplary model for the employment of archeological evidence, including
burials, for early medieval social history in Settlement and Social
Organization: The Merovingian Region of Metz (Cambridge, 1995). On
the development of funerary rituals, see Frederick Paxton, Christianizing
Death: The Creation of a Ritual Process in Early Medieval Europe (Ithaca,
NY, 1990), a thoughtful reflection on the Christian use and development
of ritual, which, however, emphasizes the Carolingian period.
On the problematic subject of the audience of hagiography, in addition
to the assigned work of van Uytfanghe, see Roger Collins, "Observations
on the Form, Language, and Public of the Prose Biographies of Venantius
Fortunatus in the Hagiography of Merovingian Gaul," in H. B. Clarke
and Mary Brennan (eds.), Columbanus and Merovingian Monasticism
(British Archaeological Reports, 113; London, 1981), pp. 105-31 and Michael
Banniard, "Latin et communication orale en Gaule franque: le témoinage
de la Vita Eligii," in The Seventh Century: Change and Continuity,
pp. 58-79. On the use of the acts of the martyrs in the early middle ages:
Baudouin de Gaiffier, "La Lecture des Actes des marytrs dans la prière
liturgique en Occident. A propos du passionnaire hispanique," Analecta
Bollandiana, 72 (1954), pp. 134-66 and "La Lecture des passions
des martyrs à Rome avant le IXe siècle," Analecta
Bollandiana, 87 (1969), pp. 63-78; Eric Palazzo, "Le role des
Libelli dans la pratique liturgique du haut Moyen Age. Histoire
et typologie," Revue Mabillon, new series, 1 (1990), pp. 9-36.
On the perhaps even more problematic question of the audience of religious
art, see the important remarks of Herbert Kessler, "Pictorial Narrative
and Church Mission in Sixth-Century Gaul," Studies in the History
of Art, 16 (1985), pp. 75-91.
England.
The literature on hagiography and sanctity in Anglo-Saxon England is
enormous. Fortunately David Rollason has provided a comprehensive overview,
with full bibliography, in Saints and Relics in Anglo-Saxon England
(Oxford, 1989). But also consult Antonia Gransden, Historical Writing
in England c. 550 to c. 1307 (London, 1974), pp. 67-104. Further guidance
to the sources may be found in Michael Lapidge, "The Saintly Life
in Anglo-Saxon England," in Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge (eds.),
The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (Cambridge, 1991),
pp. 243-63. Henry Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon
England, third edition (University Park, 1991) provides a useful introduction
to the conversion of England, as well as many interesting observations
on Anglo-Saxon saints both in England and on the continent. See also Arnold
Angenendt, "The Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons Considered Against
the Background of the Early Medieval Mission," Angli e Sassoni
al di qua e al di là del mare, 2 vols. (Settimane di studio
del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 32; Spoleto, 1986), pp.
747-81. For a wide-ranging introduction to the most famous of all Anglo-Saxon
hagiographers, see Peter Hunter Blair, The World of Bede, second
edition (Cambridge, 1990). Also see: C. G. Loomis, "The Miracle Traditions
of the Venerable Bede," Speculum, 21 (1946), pp. 404-418; Bertram
Colgrave, "Bede's Miracle Stories," in Bede: His Life, Time,
and Writing, ed. A. Hamilton Thompson (New York, 1966), pp. 201-229;
Gerald Bonner, Famulus Christi: Essays in Commemoration of the Thirteenth
Centenary of the Birth of the Venerable Bede (London, 1976); Charles
Thomas, Bede, Archaeology, and the Cult of Relics (Jarrow Lecture,
1973; Jarrow, 1974). Gerald Bonner, David Rollason, and Clare Stancliffe
(eds.), Saint Cuthbert, His Cult and His Community to AD 1200 (Woodbridge,
1989) treats one important Anglo-Saxon saint and his cult. On the development
of the cults of Anglo-Saxon royalty, see Susan Ridyard, The Royal Saints
of Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 1988), although it primarily treats
texts composed after the Conquest. Specifically on the cult of the Virgin,
see Mary Clayton, The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Anglo-Saxon England
(Cambridge, 1990). A good introduction to the topic of changing burial
practices may be found in C. J. Arnold, An Archaeology of the Early
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, chapter 4, "The Topography of Belief."
Stephanie Hollis considers much hagiographic evidence in Anglo-Saxon
Women and the Church: Sharing a Common Fate (Woodbridge, 1992). Philip
Rahtz summarizes the tangle of traditions surrounding one of the oldest
of English shrines in English Heritage Book of Glastonbury (Batsford:
English Heritage, 1994). Studies of specific hagiographic traditions include:
Christine Fell, "Saint Aedelthryd: A Historical-Hagiographical Dichotomy
Revisited," Nottingham Medieval Studies, 38 (1994), pp. 18-34.
The Celtic World.
Nora Chadwick, The Age of the Saints in the Early Celtic Church (London,
1961) and Kathleen Hughes, Early Christian Ireland (Ithaca, 1972)
provide good introductions to the piety and hagiography of the Celtic lands.
For more scholarly detail, one can consult Richard Sharpe, Medieval
Irish Saints' Lives (Oxford, 1991) on Ireland, Elissa Henken, The
Welsh Saints: A Study in Patterned Lives (Woodbridge, 1991) on Wales,
and Bernard Merdrignac, Recherches sur l'hagiographie armoricaine du
VIIème au XVème siècle: 1, Les saints bretons, témoins
de dieu ou témoins des hommes? and 2, Les hagiographes et leurs
publics en Bretagne au moyen âge (Saint Malo, 1985-86) on Brittany.
For a comprehensive guide to the sources, see Michael Lapidge and Richard
Sharpe, A Bibliography of Celtic-Latin Literature, 400-1200 (Dublin,
1985). Maire Herbert, Iona, Kells, and Derry: The History and Hagiography
of the Monastic Familia of Columba (Oxford, 1988) studies one of the
most important groups of monastic hagiography. Lisa Bitel, Isle of the
Saints (Ithaca, 1991) makes innovative use of hagiographic sources
to consider the wider religious history of early Ireland. On the idea of
the miraculous in Irish hagiography, consult Jean-Michel Picard, "The
Marvellous in Irish and Continental Saints' Lives of the Merovingian Period,"
in H. B. Clarke and Mary Brennan (eds.), Columbanus and Merovingian
Monasticism (British Archaeological Reports, 113; London, 1981), pp.
91-104 and Clare Stancliffe, "The Miracle Stories in Seventh-Century
Irish Saints' Lives," in The Seventh Century, pp. 87-111. On
relics and shrines, see Charles Doherty, "Some Aspects of Hagiography
as a Source for Irish Economic History," Peritia, 1 (1982),
pp. 300-28; Charles Doherty, "The Use of Relics in Early Ireland,"
in Irland und Europa. Die Kirche im Frühmittelalter / Ireland and
Europe. The Early Church, ed. Próinséas Ní Chatháin
and Michael Richter. 2 vols. (Stuttgart, 1984), 2:89-104; A. T. Lucas,
"The Social Role of Relics and Reliquaries in Ancient Ireland,"
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 116 (1986),
pp. 5-37; Wendy Davies, "Property Rights and Property Claims in Welsh
vitae of the Eleventh Century," in Evelyne Patlagean and Pierre
Riché, eds., Hagiographies, cultures, et sociétés.
IVe-XIIe siècles (Paris, 1981), pp. 515-33. Some interesting
recent articles include: P. O Riain, "St Abban: the Genesis of an
Irish Saint's Life," Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress
on Celtic Studies (1988), pp. 159-70; P. O'Riain, "Sainte Brigitte:
paradigme de l'abbesse celtique?," La Femme, ed. Michel Rouche
et al. (Maubeuge, 1989), pp. 27-32; Thomas O'Loughlin, "Adomnan the
Illustrious," Innes Review, 46 (1995), pp. 1-14.
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