Brepols

This volume explores the architecture and configuration of Romanesque cathedrals in Europe, especially around the Mediterranean, paying special attention to liturgical ritual, furnishings, iconography, and urban context. From the tenth to the twelfth centuries, cultural and artistic interchange around the Mediterranean gave rise to the first truly European art period in Medieval Western Europe, commonly referred to as ‘Romanesque’. A crucial aspect of this integrative process was the mobility of artists, architects and patrons, as well as the capacity to adopt new formulas and integrate them into existing patterns. Some particularly creative centers exported successful models, while others became genuine melting pots. All this took shape over the substrate of Roman Antiquity, which remained in high esteem and was frequently reused.

In these studies, Romanesque cathedrals are employed as a lens with which to analyze the complexity and dynamics of the cultural landscape of southern and central Europe from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. The architecture of every cathedral is the result of a long and complicated process of morphogenesis, defined by spatial conditions and the availability of building materials. Their interior arrangements and imagery largely reflected ritual practice and the desire to express local identities. The various contributions to this volume discuss the architecture, interior, and urban setting of Romanesque cathedrals and analyze the factors which helped to shape them. In so doing, the focus is both on the influence of patrons and on more bottom-up factors, including community practices.

The scene is Rome in the fi fteenth century, Golden Rome, a magnet drawing pilgrims by its architectural attractions and the magnitude of its religious importance as the mother of faith. The Austin friar John Capgrave attended Rome for the Jubilee in 1450, including the Lenten stations, and his Solace of Pilgrimes, intended as a guide for subsequent pilgrims, was written up following the author’s own pilgrimage. In three parts it covers the ancient monuments, the seven principal churches and the Lenten stations, and other churches of note, especially those dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The work has been described as the most ambitious description of Rome in Middle English. The present edition offers a new Text based on a transcription of the author’s holograph manuscript. Parallel with the Text there is a modern English Translation. The illustrations, mostly from a period slightly later than the 1450 Jubilee, aim to give some visual clue as to what Capgrave saw. There is a full account of the multiple sources that he used, most of which is the product of new research. Following the Text there is a Commentary that aims to provide some background information about the buildings and monuments that Capgrave focuses on, and to explain and illuminate any diffi culties or points of interest in the Text. Capgrave is an omni-present guide leading us towards what he considered an appropriate interpretation of the classical past as a foundation for the Christian present, which built on it and surpassed it.

This volume delves into the rich histories of the Jagiellon and Vasa dynasties, shedding light on the profound interplay between jewellery and socio-political forces. Readers are invited into an era where jewellery bore multifaceted significance, from symbolising power and piety to facilitating economic engagements. The royal perception of value extended beyond traditional treasures, with a keen interest in animal-derived artefacts. These unconventional items, such as elk hooves or eagle stones, were highly esteemed, reflecting both luxury’s diverse nature and the era’s cultural and mystical beliefs. Rather than merely cataloguing these artefacts, this study animates them, intertwining narratives of monarchs, nobles, craftsmen, and the lands from which these treasures emerged. It delves into a world where a gem’s glint signifies might, gold hints at empires’ expanse, and a narwhal’s horn could determine kingdoms’ destinies. Jewellery has long held a central position in history, particularly among the elite. These pieces were not simply decorative; they conveyed prestige, societal position, and authority. They symbolised both worldly and spiritual prominence, enriched with a complex symbolism. Beyond showcasing wealth, jewellery played crucial roles in diplomacy and politics. What meanings did these unique gems carry for their initial owners? This book uncovers the tales, magnetism, and mystery surrounding these jewellery collections. It paints a picture where jewellery transcends mere ornamentation, serving as a powerful testament to influence, devotion, and grandeur.

L’imaginaire ne se réduit pas au chimérique, au non-être. Depuis l’Antiquité, artistes, poètes et philosophes pressentent qu’il procède du désir et appartient en premier lieu au registre de l’individuel: forces pulsionnelles, messages de soi à soi, le rêve et bientôt la création n’ont pas attendu le discours de la psychanalyse ou des diverses sciences de la culture pour forger leurs mondes autour de la réalité partagée. Les sociétés à leur tour se sont lancées par cette voie dans la quête de leur identité et ont assigné à leurs mythes le soin d’exprimer leur structure. Pour autant, le lecteur s’apercevra au fil des douze communications assemblées ci-après que les royautés évoquées ressortissent rarement du pur imaginaire et conservent jalousement un lien organique avec leur référent concret. Il conviendrait davantage de parler de la royauté comme objet d’imagination, en ce qu’elle représente le point de fixation suprême du désir.

At the conclusion of the fifteenth century and well into the first half of the sixteenth, Florence underwent radical political and social transformations. The republic, which had nurtured the cultural phenomenon of the Renaissance, was finally overthrown and the Medici returned triumphant as outright rulers of the once-free commune. Throughout this period, the administration of the Florentine territory continued to be one of the single most important issues faced by successive Florentine governments, and yet very little is known about the people they governed. This study explores the nature of these communities and the relationships they forged with the central authorities; it provides an overview of the extraordinary diversity of rural communes, and looks in detail at three areas of the Florentine territory. The communes of Gangalandi, Scarperia, and the communities located in the Pistoian mountains provide the vivid contexts in which the fluid natures of local religious, social, and political ties are examined. The character of each of these rural communities was unique, challenging not only the Florentine government’s mechanisms of control, but our own understanding of the ‘peasant’ as a social category. Hewlett demonstrates that these communes were not one-dimentional social organizations, but rather vibrant communities of individuals who pursued a vast range of different activities within a series of complex cultural networks. Rural Communities in Renaissance Tuscany also addresses the importance of religion to these communities; an exciting addition to a field that has been until now dominated by the study of urban religious practice.

This volume describes the outlines of the 'state of the art' in the field of rural history for countries such as England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Northern France. The contributing authors, all outstanding specialists in the field, present an overview of the most important publications regarding the areas covered. They also point to the most important research topics as well as indicating the most important lacunae in the field of rural history during the last decades. The original texts of this book formed the basis of the international research group CORN, which studies the economic development of the Northern European countryside in a comparative way. The regional monographs are preceded by a short methodological introduction concerning the comparative methods used by this network as well as the possible pitfalls and problems.

Le 9 octobre 1943, neuf membres de la résistance belge et néerlandaise étaient exécutés à Rhijnauwen (près d’Utrecht). Parmi eux, deux moines de l’abbaye du Val-Dieu. En suivant le parcours de ces deux ecclésiastiques, le livre retrace de façon précise l’histoire des groupes d’espionnage et des lignes d’évasion. Ces lignes de secours étaient utilisées par des prisonniers de guerre évadés, par des pilotes alliés abattus, par des personnes d’origine juive et des ressortissants néerlandais en fuite vers l’Angleterre. La ligne d’évasion partait d’Allemagne et des Pays-Bas pour rejoindre Eijsden, puis Mouland et Visé. Une fois arrivés au pays de Herve ou de Liège, les réfugiés étaient conduits à Givet ou à Bruxelles, où d’autres groupes de résistance les prenaient en charge. En 1942 le contre-espionnage allemand infiltre les groupes au départ de Groningue et de Liège : l’Hannibalspiel. L’issue sera dramatique.

En cherchant à comprendre pourquoi, dans la région de Liège, ces deux moines se décident à entrer en résistance, l’enquête met en lumière le rôle joué par l’Église et par l’abbaye du Val-Dieu, mais aussi par leurs familles.

Résistance sans frontières est la première recension ayant trait à la résistance de chaque côté de la frontière belgo-néerlandaise pendant la deuxième guerre mondiale.

L’Ovide moralisé a joué un rôle significatif pour la connaissance des mythes antiques et la création de nouvelles œuvres littéraires qui se les approprient au moins jusque dans la première moitié du xvi e siècle, avant qu’il ne soit moqué et condamné. Dès son écriture au xiv e siècle, cette traduction en langue française des Métamorphoses d’Ovide accompagnée d’interprétations chrétiennes a rapidement connu le succès et une diffusion large auprès de publics divers qui la lisaient souvent, elle et ses gloses, plutôt que l’œuvre latine d’Ovide. De nombreux auteurs en français, en latin ou en anglais se sont inspirés de son texte pour créer leurs propres représentations littéraires de héros et héroïnes antiques, dans des œuvres poétiques, didactiques et historiographiques, ou pour élaborer leurs écritures de la moralisation. Les deux mises en prose de l’Ovide moralisé à la cour d’Anjou et à la cour de Bourgogne, les réécritures et remaniements qui sont ensuite imprimés, la traduction anglaise imprimée par William Caxton ont aussi contribué à prolonger l’influence qu’il a exercée. Cette dernière se lit aussi sans nul doute dans certaines des nouvelles traductions des Métamorphoses qui sont composées au xvi e siècle. Si cette influence a souvent été notée, si des emprunts de poètes du xiv e et du xv e siècles - Guillaume de Machaut, Jean Froissart, Eustache Deschamps, Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Gower - ont été étudiés, la postérité de l’Ovide moralisé reste encore pour une large part à explorer. C’est l’objet de ce volume collectif, le premier qui soit consacré à la réception du texte du xive au xviie siècle.

The aftermath of the Investiture Controversy left the relationship between the Church and imperial power in ruins. In reaction to these developments, the Concordat of Worms in 1122 sought a compromise to restore the association between the two sides. The Concordat was only the beginning, and a spirit of cooperation between the Church and temporal powers began to emerge. This collaborative relationship is exemplified in the writings of Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153).

Bernard of Clairvaux was both a Cistercian abbot and a major political figure in the twelfth century. He inherited the Latin vocabulary of earlier Christian writers, but needed a more nuanced language to express the complex political relationship between church and state during the settlement of episcopal investiture. In his writings Bernard distinguished between the authority (auctoritas) of the Church and the power (potestas) of temporal rulers. The language of separation was designed to delineate spheres of influence rather than to reflect opposition - a vocabulary that ultimately presents the relationship between the two powers as less of a fencing match and more of a dance.

Sacred Authority and Temporal Power emphasises and enhances our understanding of the significance of Bernard’s writings for the mediation of power and authority in the twelfth century.

Early modern objects, images and artworks often served as nodes of discussion and contestation. If images were sometimes contested by external and often competing agencies (religious and secular authorities, image theoreticians, inquisitions, or single individuals), artists and objects were often just as likely to impose their own rules and standards through the continuation or contestation of established visual traditions, styles, iconographies, materialities, reproductions and reframings.

Centering on the capacity of the image as agent - either in actual legal processes or, more generally, in the creation of new visual standards - this volume provides a first exploration of image normativity by means of a series of case studies that focus in different ways on the intersections between the limits of the sacred image and the power of art between 1450 and 1650.

The fourteen contributors to this volume discuss the status of images and objects in trials; contested portraits, objects and iconographies; the limits to representations of ering; the tensions between theology and art; and the significance of copies and adaptations that establish as well as contest visual norms from Europe and beyond.

The body or relics of a saint could attract divine protection on the community and the place where they were kept. If, in some cases, the monasteries were structures of assistance to sanctuaries of certain notoriety, starting from the 7th century, they increasingly played the role of protagonists, autonomously managing the devotional activities derived from the acquisition or translation of relics. The need to preserve the isolation of the 'clausura' and to manage, at the same time, an increasing flow of pilgrims led these monasteries to build new spaces for prayer, communion and assistance.

This book includes the Proceedings of the International Conference held in Naples (Italy) on November 28-29, 2022. The Conference - organized, as part of a Marie-Curie research project, by the Fondazione San Bonaventura with the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Culture - brought together historians, archaeologists, and art historians to discuss the theme of spatial articulation of monasteries chosen as places of pilgrimage during the Early Middle Ages in Western Europe. From this interdisciplinary discussion, exciting insights have emerged on aspects of particular relevance, such as the organization of the funerary space and interaction between monks and laypeople, the elements of balance or clash between 'clausura' and hospitality and the comparison between male and female monasteries as devotional centers.

In tribute to the scholarly legacy of Edmondo F. Lupieri, in Sacred Texts & Sacred Figures an international group of esteemed biblical scholars offer essays on the ways religious traditions, texts, and even the legacies of notable figures were received, re-interpreted, and used by the authors of gospels, epistles, and apocalypses to address the ever-evolving circumstances of emerging Christianity. In the first and second centuries ce, oral and written traditions about the life of Jesus proliferated and formed the basis for written narratives. The authors of the gospels received and redacted those traditions to make distinctive theological claims about Jesus and to address their specific milieu and the wider movement of Jesus-followers. Among some groups of Jesus-followers the sacred texts of Judaism remained paramount. Authors like that of the Epistle to the Hebrews re-examined their inheritance of Jewish scriptures in order to demonstrate the continuity of their novel claims about Jesus with the sacred texts and traditions of Judaism. Similarly, the authors of first- and second-century apocalypses drew on the heritage of Jewish apocalypticism to write and record new revelations of and about Jesus. In addition to traditions and texts, authors in the first and second centuries re-examined the legacy of significant Jewish figures and followers of Jesus and wrote about them in the context of their own contemporary circumstances. Using innovative strategies and written in an engaging style, the essays assembled here explore the reception and reinterpretation of sacred traditions, texts, and figures in the writings of early Christianity.

Les auteurs de ce volume, historiens des religions, anthropologues et archéologues, étudient des rituels traditionnellement appelés « sacrifices humains », choisis dans leurs domaines respectifs de recherche - des tombeaux royaux d’Ur aux rites anthropoctoniques égyptiens, grecs, romains ou indiens, et des mises à mort rituelles des Gaulois et anciens Mochica aux crimes d’honneur des rapports onusiens. Leur questionnement tourne autour de problèmes méthodologiques fondamentaux pour l’histoire des religions : quand et pourquoi ces rites ont-ils été décrits comme des « sacrifices humains » ? Est-il possible, souhaitable, voire nécessaire d’interpréter autrement de telles mises à mort ? Au fil des diverses interventions, on se rendra compte combien ces « sacrifices barbares » hantent notre imaginaire scientifique, aujourd’hui comme par le passé. Il s’agit en fait d’un concept opératoire, hérité de l’Antiquité classique et consolidé par la culture judéo-chrétienne, qui sert indifféremment de grille de lecture pour expliquer les rites les plus variés.

Dans son histoire du monde, écrite vers 1030, Raoul Glaber dépeint l’église préromane de Saint Bénigne de Dijon comme “plus admirable que les basiliques de toute la Gaule” (totius Galliae basilicis mirabiliorem). Commencée autour de 1001 et consacrée en 1016 (l’église) et 1018 (la rotonde), cette abbatiale bénédictine, dont seule la crypte de la rotonde subsiste, relevait des traditions architecturales romaine, carolingienne et ottonienne. Elle fut construite à un moment-clé de l’histoire politique de la France et de la Bourgogne et peut être interprétée en fonction de l’idéologie de ses bâtisseurs, l’abbé Guillaume et l’évêque Brun de Langres. Il faut également la lire comme un cadre exceptionnellement bien conçu pour la dévotion monastique et la liturgie de Cluny telle qu’interprétée par Guillaume. Cet ouvrage se veut une interprétation visuelle, politique, liturgique et théologique de cette église étonnante de l’an mil.

Carolyn Marino Malone est professeur dans le département d’Histoire de l’art, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USA). Elle est spécialiste d’architecture romane française et gothique anglaise. Son dernier livre s’intitule Façade as Spectacle: Ritual and Ideology at Wells Cathedral, Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions, vol. 102 (Leiden-Boston, 2004).

À l’origine de l’étude d’un monument qui reste emblématique de Marseille se présenta l’opportunité de programmes de restauration et de fouille. Un premier volume a répondu à la nécessité de rendre publics les résultats. La conjonction récente avec un moment historiographique paradoxalement sensible à l’histoire religieuse, en particulier à celle du monachisme, fut l’occasion de réunir des chercheurs, scrutateurs de sources diverses, afin de réaliser la confrontation si souvent invoquée de l’archéologie et de l’histoire. Ce fut l’objet du colloque réuni en novembre 2004 à Marseille, dans les locaux de l’ancien Alcazar transformé en bibliothèque. On se plaira à rappeler que ce fut la première grande manifestation scientifique qu’abrita le bâtiment qui venait d’être inauguré.

Pour paraphraser une formule restée célèbre dans l’esprit des médiévistes, existerait-t-il un Saint-Victor des archéologues et un Saint-Victor des historiens? C’est au lecteur de se forger sa propre idée. Sans doute l’écart existe-t-il, et, avant même d’aborder la phase interprétative des recherches, permet-il aussi de mesurer les lacunes de chacune des documentations disponibles. Au-delà du constat, les participants ont eu quand même conscience d’œuvrer pour une même histoire.

At the origin of the study of a monument which remains very emblematic of Marseille, there was a programme of restoration and excavations. The outcome of the work was made public in a first volume. The recent conjunction with a trend in historiography surprisingly aware of religious history, in particular the history of monachism, enabled us to bring together scholars dealing with various sources in order to achieve the often called on conjunction between archaeology and history. That was the point of the conference held in November 2004 in Marseille. The venue was the old Alcazar music hall theatre transformed into the municipal library. It is gratifying to think that this was the first scientific seminar to be held in the new library, which had just been opened.

Paraphrasing a famous expression among medievalists: are there two Saint-Victor, one for archaeologists one for historians. It is up to the reader to make up his own mind. There is undoubtedly a discrepancy which even before adressing the interpretative conclusions of the research underlines the shortcomings of the respective documentation avalaible. Given this realization, the scholars present intimately felt they were writing the same history.

Saints Edith and Æthelthryth: Princesses, Miracle Workers, and their Late Medieval Audience narrates the lives of two Anglo-Saxon princesses who were venerated as saints long after their deaths. St Edith, the daughter of King Edgar, was renowned as a patron of the arts and the church during her lifetime; her posthumous miracles included protection of Wilton Abbey and the English royal family. St Æthelthryth, who retained her virginity through not one but two royal marriages, also worked numerous miracles at her tomb at the Abbey of Ely. The poems, composed at Wilton Abbey in the early fifteenth century, allow us to see how late medieval religious women practised their devotion to early medieval women saints. The Middle English verse texts are presented here in the original and in translation with explanatory notes and glossary. A thorough introduction provides extensive contextualization and analysis of the two poems as well as description of the manuscript and its language and prosody. These primary source texts are important contributions to the study of English history, language, literature, religion, and women's studies.

This volume examines the cult of the saints and their associated literature in two peripheral regions of Christendom that were converted to Christianity around the turn of the first millennium, namely, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. The thirteen authors focus on how cultures of sanctity were transmitted across the two regions and on the role that neighbouring Christian countries like England, Germany, and Byzantium played in that process. The authors also ask to what extent the division between Latin Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy affected the early development of the cult of saints on the two peripheries. The first part of the book offers for the first time a comprehensive overview of the veneration of local and universal saints in Scandinavia and northern Rus’ from c. 1000 to c. 1200, with a particular emphasis on saints who were venerated in both regions. The second part presents examples of how some early hagiographic works produced on the northern and eastern peripheries borrowed, adapted, and transformed — i.e. contextualized — literary traditions from the Latin West and Byzantium.

During the seventh and early eighth centuries a number of influential saints’ cults were established within the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, most notably the cult of St Cuthbert served by the monks of Lindisfarne. Reacting to the Danish incursions of the ninth century, the Lindisfarne community gradually migrated south to Durham, where, in the early eleventh century, the relics of further Northumbrian saints were collected to join those of Cuthbert. Following the re-foundation of the Durham church as a Benedictine house in 1083, the community sought to legitimise itself by stressing its links with an ancient, saintly past. A century later, the cults of new hermit saints such as Godric of Finchale and Bartholomew of Farne, extensively modelled on St Cuthbert’s example, were added to the north-eastern Durham familia.

This volume takes an interdisciplinary approach to these north-eastern saints, offering a comprehensive snapshot of new scholarship within the field. The first section focuses on the most eminent saints and hagiographers of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria: Cuthbert, Wilfrid and Bede. The second section examines their utility for the twelfth-century, Anglo-Norman community at Durham, and surveys the cults which emerged alongside, including the early saint-bishops of Hexham Augustinian priory. The third section reviews the material culture which developed around these saints in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: their depiction in stained glass, their pilgrimages and processions, and the use of their banners in the Anglo-Scottish wars. A concluding essay re-evaluates the north-eastern cult of saints from post-Reformation perspectives.

Cambridge University Library, MS Additional 2604 contains a unique prose legendary almost entirely of female saints, all of whom are virgins, martyrs, or nuns. The manuscript, which also has varied post-medieval items, is written in one hand probably dating from c. 1480 to c. 1510. This previously unstudied Middle English collection features twenty-two universal and native saints, both common (like John the Baptist and Æthelthryth) and rare (such as Wihtburh and Domitilla). These texts are dependent on a complex mixture of Latin sources and analogues. Specific linguistic and art-historical features, as well as attention to the predominant female saints of Ely and post-medieval provenance, suggest an East Anglian convent for the original readership. Through an exploration of the manuscript and its later ownership (both recusant and antiquarian), a discussion of its linguistic attributes, a consideration of local female monastic and book history, a comparison of hagiographical texts, and a wide-ranging source and analogue study, this Study fully contextualises these Middle English lives. The book concludes with a survey of the structural and stylistic aspects of the texts, followed by three appendices, and an extensive bibliography. The texts are edited for the first time in its companion volume, Saints’ Lives for Medieval English Nuns, II: An Edition of the ‘Lyves and Dethes’ in Cambridge University Library, MS Additional 2604.

À la fin des années 1280, Salimbene de Adam, enfant de Parme et franciscain de la province de Bologne, compose une Chronique, dernière et seule conservée de ses oeuvres. Le projet, plutôt banal, est métamorphosé par la volonté de transmettre toute l'expérience d'une vie. L'auditoire restreint, qui contient en germe une faible diffusion, autorise une liberté de ton et une pratique débridée des digressions, qui font de l'oeuvre un prodigieux réservoir de choses vues. Prédicateur, Salimbene a le sens du récit et du détail croqué sur le vif. Jadis marqué par le joachimisme, il traque les signes, consigne et commente les prophéties. Ce qu'il a vu d'espoirs et de déchirements dans l'ordre franciscain, où il a vécu un demi-siècle, de drames et d'ambitions dans la vie communale, dont il connait les ressorts et les protagonistes, de dévotions et de curiosités dans les villes et les campagnes qu'il a parcourues, il veut le transmettre. Hommes et miracles, sanctuaires et prêches, chants et bons mots, joutes oratoires et travaux publics, guerres et éclipses sont évoquées avec l'art du conteur et la science du clerc, nourri de grammaire et d'Écriture: histoires vraies, histoires vues, histoires édifiantes, insérées au fil des années et le plus souvent dans la trame de démonstrations savantes, donnent ainsi naissance à une oeuvre foisonnante et inclassable, qui tient du recueil d'autorités et du répertoire d'histoires exemplaires, du martyrologe et du traité théologico-moral, de la chronique urbaine et du recueil de mirabilia. Salimbene arrive à s'y perdre et les seuls fils que l'on suive de bout en bout sont l'apologie de l'ordre franciscain et les préceptes éthiques. Sa mauvaise foi éclate quand il veut noircir les adversaires et concurrents de l'Ordre, ses préjugés aristocratiques affleurent partout. Sententieux dans ses portraits et partial dans ses préférences, toujours curieux et passionné, il livre sans détour, mais non sans apprêt, un témoignage profondément humain.