medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At 02:30 PM 12/27/2002 -0500, Francine wrote:
>There is also Alba, the part of the island of Britain that was not conquered
>by Rome and thus was not part of the province.
Or provinces (for more than half of its Roman period Britannia was
organized into more than one province). Although this distinction is
commonly overlooked even by those who should know better, a reference to
"the province" [singular] would, strictly speaking, indicate only the
period 43-197/213. By which latter point (if "point" is an appropriate
term for the fuzziness of "197/213"), Roman arms had, to be sure,
penetrated as far north in the island as they ever did. But that leaves
another two centuries (ca.) before the final Roman pull-out during which
time Alba (which I think of as an area north of Hadrian's wall but not
including the Scottish highlands) was also not conquered by Rome, though at
several points in the 2d and early 3d centuries Romans seem to have
controlled some of it (i.e., from the Antonine wall south to Hadrian's).
> And perhaps we don't know the
>real name of the saint known as "Alban," if the figure is more than
>legendary. Others have been known more by place of birth than personal or
>family name. Whenever I see his name, I wonder whether he might be a native
>of Alba.
i.e., a Romanized Pict? Not impossible. On the other hand, he might have
come from the Swabian Alb (part of Germania Superior) or have belonged to a
family originally from those parts. Or from some other Alb- or perhaps
even Arb- locale within or near the empire. Roman Britain had people
living in it from many parts of the oikumene; the Tigris boatmen of South
Shields are only an extreme example.
Also, even if very largely legendary, Alban might have originally been a
real person subsequently endowed with a cult (and, a fortiori, with
saintliness). I can think of several central medieval instances of Roman
gravestones furnishing such saints; perhaps sub-Roman Verulamium was an
early pioneer in this sort of thing. If so, though, the inhabitants are
unlikely to have prized Albanus for any connection with distant Alba.
Best,
John Dillon
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John B. Dillon TEL: 608-262-0342
European Humanities Bibliographer
278E Memorial Library FAX: 608-265-2754
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