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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Valeria of Limoges is a presumed martyr whose cult first appears in our sources in the early, pre-Adémar Vitae of Limoges' seemingly third-century protobishop St. Martial (earliest witnesses from perhaps the late ninth century and certainly from the tenth). These say that she was a young virgin who was betrothed to the duke of Aquitaine, who was converted to Christianity by Martial, and who then made a vow of chastity; the enraged duke had her decapitated and Martial built a martyrial church over her grave. A probably late tenth-century sermon on Valeria's life and miracles (BHL 8475-8477) documents a translation of her remains in 985 by the nuns of Saint-Martial at Limoges to their priory at today's Chambon-sur-Voueize (Creuse). Valeria's legendary Vita prolixior by Adémar of Chabannes (earlier eleventh-century; versions: BHL 8478-8480) retrojects her to the first century and, endowing her with the cephalophory frequently encountered in the hagiography of the early martyrs of Francia, has her present her head to St. Martial as he was saying Mass. Prior to its revision of 2001, when she ceased to grace its pages, the Roman Martyrology commemorated Valeria of Limoges on 9. December. Today is her feast day in the diocese of Limoges. It was also her feast day there in at least the later fifteenth century. Some period-pertinent images of Valeria of Limoges (the suffix distinguishes her from her homonym of Milan, the legendary mother of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius): a) as portrayed (martyrdom) on two later twelfth-century enameled reliquary châsses from Limoges; 1) in the British Museum (ca. 1170-1172): http://www.learn.columbia.edu/treasuresofheaven/relics/Reliquary-Chasse-with-St-Valerie.php Detail view: http://mtdata.ru/u28/photo0108/20892083500-0/original.jpg 2) in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (ca. 1175-1185): http://tinyurl.com/ztv5eaq Detail views: http://www.curatedobject.us/.a/6a00e54f9f8f8c88340120a5b275dc970b-pi http://tinyurl.com/pa2n7cm Views of Valeria's martyrdom as depicted on other Limousin reliquary châsses can be seen here: http://www.limousin-medieval.com/#!chsses-sainte-valerie/c1oh b) as depicted (lower left-hand panel; martyrdom) in a thirteenth-century French-language legendary (Paris, BnF, ms. Nouvelle acquisition française 23686, fol. 59v): http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8446925z/f120.highres c) as depicted (at left; the head at least seems medieval) in a panel of a greatly restored late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century clerestory window (w. 101) in the choir of the cathédrale Saint-Étienne in Limoges: http://therosewindow.com/pilot/Limoges/w101-det-whole.htm d) as portrayed (at right, presenting her head to St. Martial) as depicted on the head of a late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century episcopal or abbatial staff in the treasury of Bruges' cathédrale Saint-Sauveur: http://www.museebal.fr/sites/default/files/images/10102.jpg e) as depicted (at right; St. Martial consecrating her a virgin) in an earlier fourteenth-century copy of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1326-1350; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 185, fol. 134r): http://tinyurl.com/yhqogug f) as portrayed in a later fourteenth-century reliquary bust in the église abbatiale Sainte-Valérie in Chambon-sur-Voueize (Creuse): http://www.flickr.com/photos/regionlimousin/3292202595/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/regionlimousin/3292202601/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/regionlimousin/3292202603/ g) as portrayed in a fifteenth-century polychromed wooden statue in the église Saint-Michel-des-Lions in Limoges: http://roch-jaja.nursit.com/IMG/jpg/09-St-Michel-Sainte.jpg h) as depicted in grisaille in a panel of a later fifteenth-century glass window (w. 8; betw. 1460 and 1485) in the église collégiale Saint-Etienne in Eymoutiers (Haute-Vienne): http://therosewindow.com/pilot/Eymoutiers/w8-A1.htm Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion