medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Many thanks, John.
Jim
On 17 Mar 2009 at 23:12, John Dillon wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
>
> Jim,
>
> There's a keys-and-relics miracle in the later Vitae, etc. of St.
> Maurilius of Angers, starting with Arconaldus in the tenth century
> (BHL 5731-5731d; once falsely attrib. to Venantius Fortunatus) and
> including Marbod of Rennes in the early twelfth (BHL 5732; PL 171, cc.
> 1635-48; passage is at col. 1644B-D). For modern French-language and
> English-language versions, see (in French):
> http://carmina-carmina.com/carmina/Mytholosaints/maurille.htm (and in
> English): http://tinyurl.com/cqz4cz
>
> Best,
> John Dillon
>
> On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, at 7:15 pm, Jim Bugslag wrote:
>
> > Meg,
> > I have no doubt you are on to something here. Such seemingly
> > innocuous items as keys and
> > bells and staffs seem to have had a very powerful resonance in the
> > Middle Ages. I haven't made a systematic study of this, but as has
> > been pointed out, St Peter was from a very early time associated
> > with keys, which became his attribute long before attributes of
> > saints were at all common, and I have come across a couple of
> > stories (legends, in hagiographic terms) that involve keys. The
> > first, I am sure, will be of particular interest to you. It
> > involves the foundation legends of Evesham Abbey in the 7th century.
> > St Egwin, who was the bishop of Worcester at the time, was forced
> > to become a hermit on the banks of the Avon, near the future site of
> > Evesham. When called to Rome, he determined to travel as a
> > penitent, and shackled his legs, throwing the key into the Avon
> > before setting out. When he arrived in Rome, he celebrated Mass in
> > St Peter's Basilica and then settled in to a fish dinner. Inside
> > the fish he was eating, he found the key he had thrown in the Avon.
> > On his return, after apparitions of the Virgin Mary, Evesham was
> > founded. I haven't been able to determine yet if the key was among
> > the relics of Evesham, though. Another story involves the church of
> > Notre-Dame la Grande in Poitiers and supposedly took place at the
> > beginning of the 13th century. The mayor of Poitiers had an
> > ambitious clerk who in 1202 found himself in the city of Perigueux,
> > which was then held by the English. He made a deal with the English
> > to deliver Poitiers to them in exchange, I believe, for a pot of
> > wine (obviously, he was a fairly inept traitor!). To this effect,
> > he sneaked into the mayor's bedroom one night, where he usually kept
> > the keys above his bed, but couldn't find them. So, he woke up the
> > mayor and trumped up an excuse for asking him for the keys. But the
> > mayor couldn't find them either. Shortly later, the English were
> > discovered outside the gates of the city, and the mayor prayed to
> > Notre-Dame la Grande to put the city in her care. And when in front
> > of the statue, he saw the keys in her hand. She was afterwards
> > sometimes known as Notre-Dame des Clefs. I doubt whether these are
> > isolated stories, and I wonder whether others have come across
> > similar ones, or of keys that functioned, in recognition of such
> > miracles, as relics. Cheers, Jim
> >
>
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