medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Maddy,
This is not a shrine I've come across. Many thanks for pointing it out
to me! It's now in my database, with an acknowledgement of you as the
source of information. There are, in fact, a considerable number of
Marian shrines in the British Isles now known only through such bequests
in wills. And it is not uncommon for people to have "hedged their bets"
by making donations to more than one Marian shrine. Small Marian
shrines focussed on a miraculous image, usually a statue -- and often,
as you know, a miraculous spring -- were ubiquitous throughout England
and Wales. Not only were they systematically destroyed at the
Reformation, however, but it would appear that even the records of them
were destroyed in an intentional attempt to consign them to oblivion.
This appears to have worked rather well. Rather than thinking of this
one in terms of "me-too-ery", you might think of it in terms of a shrine
that would have served a fairly local population. By the end of the
Middle Ages -- and well past it in the still Catholic areas of Europe --
a whole medico-geographical network of local shrines became established,
to which people resorted, not simply for their salvation, but for their
health, fecundity, the welfare of their livestock, etc., etc. It is a
daunting task to reconstruct these networks, let alone put them into any
sort of chronological development. Might I ask the date of your will?
Cheers,
Jim
Madeleine Gray wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> I think this may be one for Jim Bugslag or Graham Jones -
>
> Trawling through early Glamorgan wills in the National Archive in
> London (and looking for something completely different - as you do - )
> I came across a legacy to an image (I'm presuming it was a statue,
> though the Latin word is ymaginum and could also mean a painting) of
> the Virgin Mary described as being 'at the blessed Mary of Creke
> belonging to the abbey of Margam'. This is presumably Capel Mair on
> the Crugwyllt ridge above the abbey and in roughly the same
> relationship to Ffynnon Fair, Margam, as the Penrhys chapel was to the
> well there.
> Have you (in your work on the cult of the Virgin and the churches of
> the region) ever come across a reference to this statue, or anything
> that could be interpreted as such? David Williams doesn't seem to have
> come across it. My own suspicion is that it's the monks of Margam
> doing a bit of me-too-ery! The testator does seem to have had a
> particular devotion to the BVM - in the preamble he leaves his soul to
> God and to 'Mary the virgin, queen of mercy' and he gives money to
> Penrhys as well.
>
> I've contacted Christine James and Jane Cartwright to see if they have
> come across any poetry that could be interpreted as a reference to
> this statue.
>
> Best wishes - hope all is well with you.
> Maddy
>
>
> Dr Madeleine Gray
> Reader in History
> School of Education/Ysgol Addysg
> University of Wales, Newport/Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
> Caerleon Campus/Campws Caerllion,
> Newport/Casnewydd NP18 3QT Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675
>
> 'You may not be able to change the world but at least you can
> embarrass the guilty'
> (Jessica Mitford)
>
>
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