medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I defer to my learned colleagues who know more about iconography than I do
(for example, there may be stained glass and mural representations of the
type that Theresa is describing), but I suspect that the difference has also
to do with wider matters than social class, some of which are not directly
concerned with sanctity.
Factors may include:
a) differential levels of saint-making in the later middle ages (still to be
fully explored), in that 'newly created' British saints are few in number
after the eleventh century, whereas the mendicant movement in particular led
to large numbers of 'new' saints in Italy and elsewhere in southern Europe;
b) differences in the density and governmental autonomy of towns and cities,
Italy, for example, being densely urbanised in the later middle ages within
the context of decentralised government, while British towns in the same
period developed largely as a result of royal and lay seignurial initiative,
with self-government strictly delimited by royal charter within a
centralising state, and most towns continuing to have small populations and
a largely rural character;
c) competition within some English towns between two or more seignurial
bases, with frequent cases of territorial division between church and
secular power (e.g. 'the bishop, or abbot's fee' and 'the earl, or lord's
fee), and associated anti-clerical impulses;
d) the civic strength in English towns of Lollardy/proto-Protestantism;
e) the differential survival of medieval religious art; the continuation or
disruption of devotional elements in civic art in the early modern period; a
strong secular element in British civic heraldry (perhaps flowing from
seignurial origins, but again this is an area in which I'm no expert); and
the late development generally of civic heraldry, well into the later middle
ages when the previous factors were already in place or coming into play.
English towns did have 'civic' patrons, of course, in the sense that the
feast day of the patron saint of the parish church (in single-parish towns)
provided the cohesive ritual focus of the community's year. Processions
would have emphasised this role of the patron, very much indeed in cases
where the parish encompassed surrounding villages. Where the patronal feast
day was chosen as the date of the/an annual fair (by no means automatic),
this too, would have emphasised the saint's 'civic' role.
In the few large towns (and fewer cities) with more than one parish church,
the patron saint of the cathedral, or other primary church of the community,
was often assigned a similar role, often alongside or replaced by a saintly
founder (e.g. Wilfrid of Ripon, John of Beverley). However, in these towns
and cities the merchant and trade gilds had the potential to become socially
dominant, leading inevitably to the prominence of the feast days of their
particular saintly patrons, alongside those of the principal churches.
Thus a 'college' of patron saints might emerge, very much as is the case
with an Italian city like Perugia (see Gary Dickson's recent essay on 'The
115 cults of the saints in later medieval and Renaissance Perugia: a
demographic overview of a civic pantheon' (already reprinted in the Variorum
volume, 'Religious Enthusiasm in the Medieval West'). Or one pre-eminent
'civic' patron might give way to another over time, or a system of
co-patrons might operate, perhaps one male, one female, as I'm aware of in
cases in Catalunya (for example, St Magi and St Tecla for Tarragona).
Miriam Gill agrees, as an art historian, with my feeling that a comparison
may be made between Theresa's images and those to be found in Britain of lay
founders holding churches and charters and offering one or other or both to
the patron saint. She adds that the whole field of interpreting urban
religious art in terms of competing communities is rich in opportunities for
research.
Charles Phythian-Adams, by contrast, points out that the place of the
insular civic patron saint is perhaps filled in some places by a secular
hero or mythic figure - Brutus in the case of London, for example, and
Godiva ('Good Eve') at Coventry.
However, I ramble on...
Best wishes
Graham
****************************************
Dr Graham Jones
Lecturer in English Topography
University of Leicester
Centre for English Local History
Marc Fitch Historical Institute
5 Salisbury Road
Leicester LE1 7QR
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2764
Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5769
e-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Web pages: http://www.le.ac.uk/elh/grj1
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 21 February 2001 18:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: english town patron saints
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> I'm teaching a course on Medieval England, and while preparing
> material on towns, it struck me that I have seen no
> representations of patron saints (bishops, martyrs etc) hovering
> over or holding mod> Thanks for any elucidation... TGD
Dear Theresa,
Someone should explore the phenomenon of synchronicity on this list!
I am at present part way through the chapter on "Local Sainthood" in
Andre Vauchez' Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages. Although I can't
answer your question in detail, I can say that Vauchez distinguishes
two very distinct zones with respect to the perception of sainthood
in later medieval Europe: one extends from northwestern to eastern
Europe, including England, France and the Low Countries; the other
comprises Mediterranean regions, primarily Italy but including
Languedoc, as well. In the north, sainthood tended to be tied to
noble birth far more than in Italy, which might suggest that both
secular and clerical nobles would have played the part in England
that civic saints, generally of lower status, did in southern Europe.
Vauchez's text is so rich that, being only in the middle of it, I
can't claim to do it full justice, and you may want to consult it
yourself.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
**********************************************************************
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
**********************************************************************
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
|