
Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West
Oxford University Press
Published on 24. October 2002
Book
Hardback
596 pages
978-0-19-820394-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores the development of the cult of the saints in western Europe between c.400 and 1000. The main emphasis is upon Anglo-Saxon England, post-Roman Britain, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, but there are important contributions on Francia and on western Europe as a whole. No other volume combines such a broad geographical spread with such a wide range of disciplines and approaches - textual, archaeological, genealogical, onomastic, as well as historical. Veneration of innumerable local saints and martyrs is one of the defining characteristics of early medieval society. This book looks at how such saints came to be recognized and how they were enshrined, the circumstances in which they proliferated, and the factors leading to the development of their often extremely localized cults. Throughout, the aim is to emphasize the pan-European context, to place insular developments in a wider continuum extending from Ireland through to Rome and Byzantium. The volume combines wide-ranging surveys, providing fundamental orientation on a variety of core subjects, with crucial reference material (including a handlist of all known Anglo-Saxon saints). It will be indispensable to all interested in early Britain and Ireland, Anglo-Saxon England and to the culture of early medieval Europe as a whole.
Reviews / Votes
The editors must be congratulated for bringing together these studies on the early medieval cults of Britain and Ireland and for placing such cults in a wider context, thanks to the inclusion of some essays dealing partly or entirely with Continental matters. * Early medieval Europe * ... the studies in this volume are both stimulating and thorough with respect to the differing traditions which characterise the development of early medieval local cults in the British Isles. The editors are to be congratulated for bringing them together. * Sobornost * The volume is produced to a high standard, with wonderfully rich bibliographical information provided in the footnotes to each chapter. The editors have indeed provided us with a tool of lasting value. * Richard Pfaff, University of North Carolina * Richard Sharpe's "Martyrs and Local Saints in Late Antique Britain" ... is really an historiographical tour de force. * Richard Pfaff, University of North Carolina * It happens only very seldom that a volume of essays becomes a standard work of reference; but that, it is safe to predict, will become the fate of this collection. * Richard Pfaff, University of North Carolina *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
halftones and line illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
1051 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-820394-0 (9780198203940)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Editor
, Reader in Medieval History, Institute of Historical Research, London, and Executive Editor, Victoria History of the Counties of England
, Professor of Diplomatic, University of Oxford
Content
1. Loca Sanctorum: The Significance of Place in the Study of the Saints ; 2. The Making of a Local Saint ; 3. Martyrs and Local Saints in Late Antique Britain ; 4. Constructing Cults in Early Medieval France: Local Saints and Churches in Burgundy and the Auvergne 400-1000 ; 5. The Enshrinement of Local Saints in Merovingian and Carolingian Francia ; 6. Celtic Saints and Early Medieval Archaeology ; 7. Erlam: The Patron Saint of an Irish Minster ; 8. Irish Saints' Cults and Ecclesiastical Families ; 9. Local Saints and Place-Names in Cornwall ; 10. The Saints of South Wales and the Welsh Church ; 11. Scottish Saints and National Identities in the Early Middle Ages ; 12. Universal and Local Saints in Anglo-Saxon England ; 13. A Saint for Every Minster? Local Cults in Anglo-Saxon England ; A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints ; Index