Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West

by Thacker, Alan; Sharpe, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780198203940
• ISBN10: 0198203942
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-12-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book explores the development of the cult of the saints in western Europe between c.400 and 1000 AD. 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.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
List of Abbreviations	xi
List of Contributors	xiii
Loca Sanctorum: The Significance of Place in the Study of the Saints	1	(44)
Alan Thacker
The Making of a Local Saint	45	(30)
Alan Thacker
Martyrs and Local Saints in Late Antique Britain	75	(80)
Richard Sharpe
Constructing Cults in Early Medieval France: Local Saints and Churches in Burgundy and the Auvergne 400--1000	155	(34)
Ian Wood
The Enshrinement of Local Saints in Francia and England	189	(36)
John Crook
Celtic Saints and Early Medieval Archaeology	225	(42)
Nancy Edwards
Erlam: The Patron-Saint of an Irish Church	267	(24)
T. M. Charles-Edwards
Irish Saints' Cults and Ecclesiastical Families	291	(12)
Padraig O Riain
Local Saints and Place-Names in Cornwall	303	(58)
O. J. Padel
The Saints of South Wales and the Welsh Church	361	(36)
John Reuben Davies
Scottish Saints and National Identities in the Early Middle Ages	397	(26)
Thomas Owen Clancy
Universal and Local Saints in Anglo-Saxon England	423	(32)
Catherine Cubitt
A Saint for Every Minster? Local Cults in Anglo-Saxon England	455	(40)
John Blair
A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints	495	(72)
John Blair
Index	567