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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture In Peter Lasko's, The Kingdom of the Franks, pp. 74-75, he calls it "St Radegund's so-called reading desk" and judges it "almost certainly" a gift from the East, the imagery on the top showing distinctly eastern Christian features (Radegund is known to have written to the Byzantine Emperor Justin II, who on her request sent her a relic of the True Cross in a reliquary, which is also preserved in Poitiers). The accompanying photographs show no lip at the bottom, but since the covers of missals -- precious ones, anyway -- would have had considerable surface texture, this could have interacted with the relief on the top of the "lectern" to stabilize the open text on it. Had this object, whatever it actually is, been used as a footstool, one might expect more wear on the top surface. In fact, had it been used much at all, one might have expected it to be in far worse shape than it appears to be in currently (surviving works made of wood from this early period are extremely rare). Whatever its original function, it appears to have come quite early to have been regarded as a "secondary relic" of the saint who apparently owned it and thus carefully preserved, rather than regularly used. Jim Paul Chandler wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > It is indeed slanted, measuring 10 cm at the front at 17 at the back, > if I have correctly made out the dimensions from the horribly scanned > page from Léon Palustre, "Le pupitre de sainte Radegonde", /Bulletin > monumental/ 44, ser. 5, t. 6 (1878) 258-265, at 259, note 1. It is > accessible on Gallica: > > <http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k308719.image.f268.pagination>; > there is also an illustration from the side, which shows the slant, on > the page following 264. > > > On 17 August 2010 01:12, Cyprian Rosen <[log in to unmask] > <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and > culture > > If it is slanted, I would suggest a missal stand. There does seem > to be a > slight lip at the bottom edge. > > Cyprian Rosen > > > > -- > Paul Chandler, O.Carm. > Holy Spirit Seminary | PO Box 18 (487 Earnshaw Road) | Banyo Qld > 4014 | Australia > office: (07) 3246 9888 | home: (07) 3246 9894 > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> To send a > message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] > <mailto:[log in to unmask]> To leave the list, send the > message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] > <mailto:[log in to unmask]> In order to report problems or to > contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > <mailto:[log in to unmask]> For further > information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** 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