medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
For St Anne & childbirth, see:
Gibson, Gail McMurray
Saint Anne and the religion of childbed. Some East Anglian texts and
talismans.
in:
Interpreting Cultural Symbols. Saint Anne in Late Medieval Society. Ed.
Kathleen ASHLEY and Pamela SHEINGORN. Pp. x, 243. Athens, Ga.:
University of Georgia Press, 1990, 95-110.
On Mary:
A Middle English prayer to ease childbirth [article]
Richards, Mary P.
Notes and queries, New series, vol. 225, no. 4, (1980).
Miller, Julia I.
Miraculous Childbirth and the Portinari Altarpiece.
Art Bulletin 77, 2 (June 1995): 249-261.
Also the mention of "Sancta Maria in presepio" in D.C. Skemer, "Amulet
rolls and female devotion in the late Middle Ages," Scriptorium 55 (2001):
197-227 at p. 225.
In general:
Elsakkers, Marianne.
In Pain You Shall Bear Children (Gen. 3:16):
Medieval Prayers for a Safe Delivery
in:
Women and Miracle Stories: A Multidisciplinary Exploration.
Edited by Anne-Marie Korte.
Studies in the History of Religions, Vol. 88. Brill, 2001.
Pages 179-207.
Tom Izbicki
At 12:32 PM 9/28/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> > Anne of Austria prayed at the shrine of Radegund and
> > the result was Louis XIV. I know she's much too late
> > for this period but the reputation of Radegund in this
> > domain may have been established long before Anne's
> > petition. I *believe* her votive plaque is still in
> > place.
> > MG
>
>My impression is that, by this time, it was common to hedge one's
>bets. Anne of Austria also made pilgrimages to the Holy
>Tunic at Chartres Cathedral, both before conception and afterwards,
>in thanksgiving, and as you wrote a couple of years ago, Marjorie,
>she "must have prayed at every shrine in Europe!" And as Jo Ann
>McNamara added to that discussion, "she blitzed every shrine and
>every person with a reputation for holiness", having masses of relics
>brought to her when giving birth. To add to what
>Christopher has already contributed, Chartres' reputation for aid in
>specifically royal childbirth extends at least as far back as the
>birth of King Philip Augustus. In fact, there were four silver lamps
>in the Chartres treasury that supposedly had appeared miraculously to
>Isabelle de Hainaut, the wife of Philip Augustus, as she knelt in
>prayer before an image of the Virgin in Chartres Cathedral, when for
>the first time she felt a child stirring in her womb (the future
>Louis VIII). By the 17th century, the canons were regularly sending
>out "chemises" that had laid on the reliquary of the Holy Tunic for a
>novena to expectant queens and dauphines. Aid in conception and
>childbirth appears to have been a fairly widespread aspect of Marian
>shrines all over Europe. By the 15th century, even images of the
>Virgin and Child were considered, in fact, to have thaumaturgical
>efficacy in encouraging childbirth, and they were regularly hung in
>bedrooms for this purpose. This is such a fascinating topic that I
>keep thinking that *someone* must have dealt with it in some
>systematic manner, but I've had considerable difficulty in finding
>studies on it. Anyone have references? Cheers,
>Jim Bugslag
>
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Thomas M. Izbicki
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Johns Hopkins University
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