medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
A couple of thoughts in addition to what's been said already:
1. You can get general background and some pointers about Merovingian Gaul
from Peter Brown's _The Cult of the Saints_ (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago
Press, 1981). Similarly, there's a wealth of pertinent information -- and
bibliography -- in Thomas Head's article "The Development of Hagiography
and the Cult of Saints in Western Christendom to the Year 1000" in The Orb at:
http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/hagiography/survey1.htm
with a special section on hagiography in English translation at:
http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/hagiography/btrans1.htm
2. Most of what's been suggested in previous posts has to do chiefly with
northern Europe. But Carolingian Europe has a southern side as well;
discussions of relics, etc. here could be beneficial to your project. You
might have a look at:
a) R. A. Fletcher's chapter 3, "The Early History of the Cult of St.
James," from his _Saint James's Catapult_ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984),
online at:
http://libro.uca.edu/sjc/sjc3.htm
b) Dick Harrison, "The Duke and the Archangel: A Hypothetical Model of
Early State Integration in Southern Italy through the Cult of Saints,"
_Collegium Medievale_, 6.1 (1993), 5-33.
online summary at:
http://www.ukm.uio.no/colmed/z-harris.htm
This deals with the Lombard duchy of Benevento, with its own St. Michael's
mount on the Gargano peninsula, and with Arichis II's transfers of numerous
saints to his church of Santa Sofia in Benevento. After the Carolingian
conquest of the Lombard kingdom Arichis began to style himself prince and
Benevento developed into a more or less autonomous principality; in the 9th
century Benevento gained further important relics when it obtained those of
St. Bartholomew (previously on the Aeolian island of Lipari and said to
have been threatened by the ongoing Muslim conquest of Sicily) and
repatriated the body of St. Januarius from Naples (though J.'s famous blood
relics remained in the latter city).
c) John Mitchell et al., "Cult, Relics and Privileged Burial at San
Vincenzo al Volturno in the Age of Charlemagne: The Discovery of the Tomb
of Abbot Talaricus (817 - 3 October 823)," in _I Congresso Nazionale di
Archeologia Medievale (Pisa 1997)_, Firenze: Edizioni all'insegna del
Giglio, 1997, pp. 315-321.
This is online (in PDF) at:
http://192.167.112.135/NewPages/COLLANE/TESTISAMI/SAMI1/53.PDF
If you're unfamiliar with this imperial monastery in southern Italy, see
Richard Hodges, _Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo
al Volturno_ (London: Duckworth; Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1997).
Best,
John Dillon
At 04:45 AM 2/8/2004 +0000, Grace Wu wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>I'm also a student who's interested in the cult of relics. Geary's Furta
>Sacra is mainly about the periods after 9c. Could anyone please suggest
>me some readings about earlier periods, esp. Merovingian and Carolingian
>Europe, and early Anglo-Saxon England?
>Many thanks!!
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