medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Cecilia,
Augustine Thompson throws considerable light on this matter in his _Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325_ (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005), pp. 160-71, esp. 169-70. See (Google Books preview):
http://tinyurl.com/ylp8jew
Best,
John Dillon
On Monday, October 19, 2009, at 6:29 pm, Cecilia Gaposchkin wrote:
> Hello all,
> I'm just now catching up on this thread, and it catches my attention because
> I have just been reading some miracle and pilgrimage stories, and everyone
> is always pledging candles, and giving candles, and buying candles - candles
> of quite enormous proportions: candles the length of the tomb, candles
> the
> length of a sick son, candles the length and shape of a lame leg, and
> so
> forth - to the shrine.
>
> When, as a graduate student, I used to lecture at the Cloisters, I had
> some
> pithy and almost certainly inaccurate line about the desire for light
> in
> churches, the "donations" of candles and [ahem, this is where it becomes
> methodologically dubious], and appearance of stained glass with Gothic
> architecture and the "desire" for "light".
>
> I'm not really asking for an explanation of that crazy argument. But rather,
> if we're talking about medieval lighting, can anyone talk abit about the
> function/economics/aesthetics/and/osprituality of the "candle" in the
> medieval churches. It seems alot of people were spending alot of
> money -
> even money they didn't have much of - on candles.
>
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