medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

From: Elaine Beretz <[log in to unmask]>

> The idea of “property of the saints” was a natural outgrowth of notions
of holy places, and is implicit in discussions of asylum, sacred precincts,
etc. That sacralized geography seemed to take on overtones of lordship in the
“feudal age”...

> In this regard (well, in all regards, since it is a superb book) I recommend
Dominique Iogna-Prat, La Maison-Dieu: Une histoire monumentale de l’Église
au Moyen Âge (v. 800-v. 1200) (Paris, 2006). 


thanks for that one, Elaine.

i know her work and i'm sure this will be worth a good look.

> Recently, I’ve come across the notion that saints were lords, with all the
attendant political – and military -- power and the property to exert that
power, in two specific cases. 

> 1) As a ploy to reclaim church property that had been alienated to the
laity. On this, see esp. Reinhold Kaiser, “Quêtes itinérantes avec des
reliques pour financer la construction des églises (XIe – XIIe
siècles),”  Le Moyen Âge 101/2 (1995): 205-25...

and, thanks for that one, which i have noted but not yet seen.

> 2) The rather more theatrical incident in which Louis le Gros does fealty to
Saint Denis [and the eponymous monastery, of course] for the Vexin, and
receives the vexillum as a token of that pledge. Lindy Grant has a great
discussion, with a deft sorting of previous scholarship: Abbot Suger of
St.-Denis: Church and State in Early Twelfth-century France (London and New
York, 1998), 

another good one.

"theatricality" aside, it is clear from the opening (30) chapters of his De
Administratione [which Kaiser might well cite] that S. actually thought in
terms of the property he was dealing with as abbot as *belonging to the saint*
(and, in a way, only incidentally (as it were) to the institution (i.e., the
abbey and the monks who served the saint there).

at least, that's how i read the sections on 

--Argenteuil (3): http://ariadne.org/cc/sources/suger1.html#3argenteuil

It was written there [the foundation charter of the monastery of Argenteuil]
that, in the time of King Pepin, this abbey belonged to St. Denis...

...in qua continebatur quod a tempore Pipini regis beati Dyonisii abbatia
extiterat.


--The Vexin (4): http://ariadne.org/cc/sources/suger1.html#4vexin

The Vexin, between the Oise and the Epte, is, according to the immunities of
the church, a fief belonging to St. Denis.

Vilcassini siquidem, quod est inter Isaram et Ettam, nobilem comitatum, quem
perhibent immunitates ecelesiæ proprium beati Dyonisii feodum...


--In the Yvelines (13): http://ariadne.org/cc/sources/suger1.html#13yvelines

The possessions of St. Denis which includes Le Mesnil-St-Denis, Dampierre and
other villas....

Possessionem beati Dyonisii in qua continetur Mesnile Sancti Dyonisii et Domna
Petra, et ceteræ villæ.... 


We also regained the hunting [rights] in the forest of Yvelines, within the
limits of the land which they [some local hoodlums] had usurped from St.
Denis. 

Nec minus etiam venationem Ivelinæ, infra metas terræ quam beato Dyonisio
multis temporibus abstulerant, recuperavimus. 


--Fains & Vergonville (20): http://ariadne.org/cc/sources/suger1.html#20fains

...it was said that this property belonged of old to St. Denis...

...dicebatur quippe quod beati Dyonisii antiquo tempore...extiterat... 


--Essonnes (23): http://ariadne.org/cc/sources/suger1.html#23essonnes

The bourg of Essonnes, on the Essonne river, belonged to Saint Denis, it
having been given to the Holy Martyrs through the liberality of [our] ancient
kings...

Axonem burgum quidem Sancti Dyonisii super fluvium Issonam antiqua regum
liberalitate sanctis martyribus collatum...



--Mareuil (27): http://ariadne.org/cc/sources/suger1.html#27mareuil

However, St. Denis possessed another [piece of land], poor and abandoned for a
long time...

Erat autem quædam altera beati Dyonisii a multis jam temporibus destituta et
in solitudinem redacta...


---

in none of these cases, as best i can make out (correct me, someone, before i
sin again), is the institution, the *abbey* [ecclesia] of Saint Denis meant
when he says "Sancti[/Beati] Dyonisii" --rather, it is the saint himself which
is intended.

it seem inescapable that, in his mind, the property (and, indeed, all those
who serve it, up to and including the abbot of "his" church) belongs **to the
saint.**

such a notion is, of course, not contradictory to those of your "holy places,"
"asylum," "sacred precincts," or "sacralized geography," but rather is
congruous with them.

> Much in both cases that warrant further research. Dissertations, anyone? 

no, thanks, i'm trying to quit.

c

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