IMC 2006: Sessions

Session 1326: Sanctifying Person and Place in English Hagiography

Wednesday 12 July 2006, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:	Helen Birkett, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Moderator/Chair:	Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Paper 1326-a	Sanctifying Landscapes: Topographical References in Anglo-Latin Saints' Lives (Language: English) Hilary Powell, Queen's College, University of Oxford Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Latin
Paper 1326-b	The Life and Miracles of St Bega: A Monastic Foundation Legend (Language: English) Helen Birkett, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Latin, Monasticism
Paper 1326-c	Translation or Adaptation: The Life of Saint Agnes in Ælfric's Lives of Saints (Language: English) Christine Phillips, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English
Abstract	The session aims to examine the variety of agendas for which English hagiography has been employed from the 10th to the 13th centuries. Beginning with a discussion of how loci sancti are portrayed in English hagiography, the session will then move on to examine the use of a specific saint to legitimise both persons and place. The final paper will investigate the adoption and manipulation of a foreign martyr's passio by an Anglo-Saxon author, for a native audience. The session seeks to explore both the similar and dissimilar uses of hagiography during an important transitional stage in English history - from Anglo-Saxon state to post-Conquest kingdom.