medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Elissa Henken's book The Welsh saints: a study in patterned lives (Brewer,
1991) has a very good chapter on the revenge and punishment theme in the
lives of the Welsh saints. She sees it as their response to defend God's
honour: but it seems clear to me that a lot of the revenge themes are
paralleled in secular literature (the Mabinogion and similar texts) and may
derive from pre-Christian hero myths. Henken's general thesis is that there
are a number of parallels between the life-pattern of the hero and the
saint. Of course, this may not be entirely applicable to saints from other
traditions: the lives of the Welsh saints are often idiosyncratic.
Maddy
Dr Madeleine Gray, in the foothills of God's golden county of Gwent
School of Humanities and Science, UWCN Caerleon Campus
PO Box 179, Newport NP18 3YG. Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675
He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low no pride ....
(John Bunyan)
History at UWCN: http://timezone.newport.ac.uk
Gwent County History Association website:
http://gwent-county-history-association.newport.ac.uk
Cistercian Way: http://cistercian-way.newport.ac.uk
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