medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hi, Jim,
William Wood-Martin, Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland (1902), has
disappeared from our library so I can't check, but if I remember correctly,
it has a fair amount of information about this sort of belief/practice that
was either current in the late19th century, or had been during living
memory.
Bernadette Filotas
From: "Jim Bugslag" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 7:57 PM
Subject: [M-R] Megaliths
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>> A menhir stands next to the building (presumably symbolizing the Church's
>> victory over pagan idolatry):
>> http://www.impenderevero.com/lem1.html
>> http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/flemans.jpg
>> What is known about medieval views of menhirs, dolmens, etc.?
>
> John,
> It is not, I believe, a heavily researched subject, but according to
> Francis Jones,
> The Holy Wells of Wales (Cardiff, 1992), megaliths and burials were often
> associated with wells, particularly the holy wells of the saints. Respect
> for
> megaliths seems to have died out fairly early in Wales, but in Europe,
> some
> megaliths continued to be venerated into the second half of the 19th
> century,
> most usually near fountains. Bathing or drinking from a holy well was
> sometimes followed by sleeping on a nearby megalith or tombstone. In
> 1810
> at Newcastle, Wales, was a haunted tumulus, near an ancient oak, said to
> be
> the rendezvous of fairies and elves, and a sacred well with healing
> powers. I
> think it was in Malcolm Jones's The Secret Middle Ages, that I ran across
> references from the Early Modern Period (which I'm more and more beginning
> to consider as the "late, late" Middle Ages!) to young women seeking out a
> megalith lifting up their skirts and rubbing their bellies against it, in
> the hope of
> encouraging pregnancy. More certainly medieval is the megalith in the
> Cathedral of Le Puy, in a chapel just north of the sanctuary, known as the
> Fever Stone, on which the afflicted lay in hopes of a cure. My impression
> is
> that this is a rich subject that deserves more attention. As early as the
> Romans, Neolithic polished stone axes were thought to be "thunderbolts"
> and
> hung in the roofs of houses to protect them against lightning, a usage
> that
> might also have survived into the Middle Ages. I'd be interested in other
> incidents of this nature, if anyone knows of them.
> Cheers,
> Jim Bugslag
>
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