medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
John Dillon wrote:
>
> In my naivete, I had supposed that there might at some point have
> been a scholarly examination of the question quite apart from the
> calendar changes of 1969 and 2001. That supposition was reinforced
> by W.'s previously mentioned entry in the new _Oxford Dictionary of
> National Biography_, which latter (surprising though this may seem to
> some) makes no reference to the Roman Calendar or to the RM when it
> flatly gives 20. January as the date of Wulfstan's death. And,
> curiously enough, those modern calendrical considerations are -- now
> that I have had the time to look this up -- absent as well from Emma
> Mason's discussion of the matter in her _St Wulfstan of Worcester_,
> c._1008-1095_ (Basil Blackwell, 1990), pp. 256-57, esp. her lengthy
> note 5 on the latter page.
>
> Assuming that Mason's view that W. actually died in the early hours of
> 20. January was not widely held previously, the RM's placing of W.'s
> feast on this day (as inferred from the German and Italian sites based
> upon the revision of 2001) will have been decided on later than 1969.
> In all likelihood, it is an example of the new RM's being guided in
> part -- and as indicated in some of its promotional material -- by
> current scholarship. Whether or not we agree with the scholarship in
> this instance, the general procedure is laudable.
Just as the liturgical day in the mediaeval period didn't start when one
might have supposed, so the civil day didn't either. I can't now remember
whether the night counted as the day before or the day after - but they
certainly didn't have the modern problem whereby twins born a few minutes
either side of midnight are born on different days.
From your account, it is obvious that the RM is following Mason, as is the
ODNB (I don't have ready access to the ODNB, but the online version allows
you to also look at the original DNB entry as well). Naturally, the RC
Church in England is having no truck with the new date, and is commemorating
Wulfstan on the date his feast has always been celebrated - they wouldn't
want to be laughed at by Anglicans, for one thing.
John Briggs
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|