medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Christopher wrote:
>it would be a bit surprising if Paris were unique in the existance of
such... and i've been paying fairly close attention now to the obituary
notices in the necrologies and other documents dealing with wills, legacies,
etc...i'd be willing to guess that, no, the terms don't occur in the
Chartres documents.
On reading across the necrologies of France I never became aware of the
"stationes ferculorum", anywhere. Could this tradition of open air market be
specific for a river town, with an outstanding insular situation in the
middle of the Seine? In Paris, the pious mile was from its origin a well
defined area, surrounded at two third of its limits by broad sandy banks.
Even in the 12th century, most of the products being offerred in the
"stationes" arrived by boats and ships! Was there such like a chapter's
market house in Chartres, instead of the "stationes en plein air "? Despite
of religious tradition and topographic situation, I suppose that in Chartres
shoplifters or thiefs had much more chance to escape, due to its open site.
But I may be wrong. At least, until late 12th century, the city walls of
Chartres were much more perforated and permeable than the Parisian. When
Peter of Celle completed the walls of Chartres in about 1180, he gained much
sympathy among the citizens: "Civitatem enim istam a porta de Sparris usque
ad ecclesiam S. Fidis, quae in ea parte fossatis tantummodo cingebatur, ad
quorum reparationem ipsius episcopi terrae homines pro voluntate comitis
saepius urgebantur, de suo proprio novis muris vallavit..."
Pieter Breughels "Bauernhochzeit", hanging in my kitchen during student's
times, was archetypically fixed in my subcortex, when I reflected about
"bier with handles." Bravo for having digged it out! That's really my -
perhaps insane - imagination of "ferculum".
>if i'm understanding Werner's references correctly, over time four (or
five?) "stations" in (or around/near?) the cloister were established --by
custom--
for placement of the "anniversary distributions of food"... John, couldn't
"statio" also refer to a specific, customarily established "location", as
well/in addition?
Some additional information about the locality, from Guérard (Préface,
CLXIII): 6 of the 19 stationes were organized by the bishop, 5 by the
chapter, 1 by the chancellor. These "stationes" were all located within the
cloister. Extern "stationes" were located at: Saint-Victor, Saint-Benoît,
Hotel-Dieu = Saint-Christophe (Fulbert!), Saint-Eloi,
Saint-Gervais+Saint-Jean-en-Grève, Saint-Paul, Saint-Laurent. The "statio"
of the hospital was celebrated on the feast of St Christopher, 24th of July.
It was a quite warm and sticky season for Fulbert's "sagimen with
visceribus" (no refrigerator, danger of dysentery!) So the statio and the
fercula might have been fictitious and the "sagimen" went direktly from the
boats into the gullets of the poor people of Paris (or the greedy staff?)
Best, Werner
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