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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Madeleine Gray <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >This is a bit reminiscent of the humiliation of relics - yes, that was my thought, as well. >It was also a commonplace in secular life - eg Oliver Cromwell was exhumed and hanged after the Restoration in 1660. (Lots of other examples - just can't call them to mind!) mmmmm...French Revolution ? there are two interelated elements at work here, seems to me : 1) --the very real belief in the "living" (as it were) presence of the saint, which is what makes the humiliation of the relics "work" ; b) --the desire to desecrate the memory of the person (Cromwell, the kings buried in St. Denis, etc.). which is not to say that there wasn't something of the first dynamic at work in the second --i.e., that by destroying the relics of the dispised personage one also puts an end to his Ju-Ju. a similar phenomenon to be seen in the actions of iconoclasts --esp. those who can't do a thorough job because they are under some kind of time constraint : the face (esp. the eyes) can be destroyed/scratched out to "deanimate" the image. which is to say that the iconoclast may *believe* in the power of the image just as much as the iconolater. i rather suspect that this kind of belief survived, at least in vestigial form, up to our own benighted epoch, and that soldiers who use, say, church mural paintings as target practice (targeting the eyes) have it not too far from the front of their minds that they are not just aiming at a small target but also at a very significant one. just a thought. best from here, christopher ********************************************************************** 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