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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On Sunday, October 12, 2008, at 6:51 pm, John Briggs wrote: > John Dillon wrote: > > On Sunday, October 12, 2008, at 5:27 pm, John Briggs wrote: > >> John Dillon wrote: > >>> On Sunday, October 12, 2008, at 4:19 pm, John Briggs wrote: > >>> > >>>> Deposition of St Wilfrid [What happened to him? Was he struck off > >>>> for being an Anglican?] > >>> > >>> Moved in the RM of 2001 from 12. October to 24. April. According > to > >>> Alan Thacker's entry on W. in the ODNB, his feast on 24. April is > >>> older than than the one on 12. October and probably corresponds > >>> to his actual _dies natalis_. > >> > >> 24 April is his Translation feast. > > > > You're using the present tense. Was 24. April always W.'s > > Translation feast? If so, what are the proofs? > > When I use the present tense, I am generally referring to the end of > the > Middle Ages. As far as I can tell, the April feast was the translation > feast > in the 12th century. I can't find a pre-conquest York calendar. > > > Here's what Thacker says: > > "In pre-conquest England, Wilfrid was commemorated by two feasts, 12 > > October and 24 April. In 709 neither date was a Thursday, the > > death-day which Stephen of Ripon expressly says was kept as Wilfrid's > > feast. Although the October date has traditionally been regarded as > > the main commemoration, marking Wilfrid's death or deposition, the > > April feast is in fact earlier—it alone occurs in the eighth- and > > ninth-century calendars; 24 April was a Thursday in 710, and is > > therefore probably the date of Wilfrid's death. The emphasis on the > > October feast perhaps developed because that in April was likely to > > conflict with Lent and Easter." > > I'm not convinced - Thacker seems to be avoiding the "translation > feast" > issue. (The implication is that the April feast was also the > translation > feast in pre-conquest times.) Also, Eddie Stephen was unusually > credulous - > what does Bede say? It should be up to the person who is challenging Thacker to tell us what Bede says. My own inference from Thacker's silence on that point is that Bede is probably not helpful here. Thacker's next paragraph suggests that W.'s Translation feast began during a tenth-century revival of his cult (in which case, its mere existence pre-Conquest would not be dispositive as to the April date's _always_ having been such a feast): "Although Wilfrid's cult started early, it did not spread particularly rapidly. Stephen of Ripon's life survives in only two manuscripts and probably never had a wide currency outside Wilfrid's foundations. One reason for its limited circulation is that the Wilfridian confederation soon broke up; almost certainly, it suffered a severe blow when Wilfrid's heir at Hexham was driven from his see in 731. Thereafter, the main cult centre seems to have been at Ripon, where, following its sack by Eadred in the mid-tenth century, the cult was revived and patronized by Oda, archbishop of Canterbury, and his nephew Oswald, archbishop of York. There were, allegedly, two inventiones (discoveries), the accounts of which are mutually contradictory. Oda was believed to have brought Wilfrid's body from Ripon to Canterbury, whereas Oswald elevated the relics in situ and re-established a community at Ripon to look after them. Those events issued in a verse reworking of Stephen's life, by Frit hegod, a member of Oda's household, again a work which achieved only a very limited circulation. Thereafter relics were distributed to other great centres, including Peterborough." Best again, John Dillon ********************************************************************** 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